scattered pictures

 I've been taking picture of trees all over town like crazy for a month. They have  been so pretty here this year. But, most of them just don't translate. The sky is grey, often it's late in the afternoon and well, I'm no professional photographer.

But, since Friday marks the beginning of the Christmas season, I figured I need to get these posted now. It kind of irks me that autumn is just dropped the day after Thanksgiving. I mean, there are 3-4 weeks left - one third of the season.

Oh, well, I'm sure I'll get all Christmassy on you soon. Here are some random autumny fall type pics I took over the last month (Oh, yeah, I had a birthday in there, too). Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

up to the mountain

I have a few blog posts piling up in my head. I've been pretty busy working on The Cedar Chest blog and updates. I've added a lot of new postcards and photos in the shop recently (including some Christmas postcards) and started a Facebook page. I hope you will want to check them out.

I have also been working more on the website for my dad's film and have created a Facebook page for Gifts of an Eagle, as well. 

I would love it if you "like" one or both of my new pages.

So, because of these things (and others) this blog has been a little ignored. But, I have posts and I need to get them out of my head and onto the computer. Here is a belated one.

At the beginning of November the mister and I went on a trip up near Mt Hood. There is a cabin we like there and we've gone to it a few times (if you're looking to go I highly recommend Mt Hood Rentals).

Here are some pics from a day that we went out for a drive. It was pretty clear weather when we were there, which was a different experience for us. It was neat to see it like that, but I kind of missed the snow.

First let's start with a nice breakfast at The Zig Zag Inn

Sometimes the Mountain would suddenly just show up as you turned in the road and it just took my breath away. So close and big. It was neat to see it so bare. We hadn't had much snow yet.

We came across this meadow as we were on our way to find a lake we never found. It was just so pretty. All golden and secret the way it just showed up. The whole time we were there no one even drove by.

There was this little cabin that just made the whole picture perfect. Just like a Bob Ross painting.

And more views of old Mt Hood on the way home.  Nice.

This whole mountain is covered in snow now. There's been about 40 inches since we were there.

no pressure mini apple pies

I have always been intimidated to make pie crust. If I make a pie I usually buy the pre-made pie crusts. But, the other night I made two mini apple pies for me and the mister. I didn't even think about the fact that I had made pie crust until it was done. I think the fact that they were little and I could just patch it together made it a lot less intimidating.

I used this recipe. But, instead of making them in muffin tins I used ramekins, which are bigger. I then halved the recipe (because I was only using 2 ramekins). It turned out real good, but I needed to pack more apples in. They cooked down and we definitely needed more ( I used 2 medium and one small). The baking time was a bit longer in the ramekins.

I had a hard time getting the pie crust to not break up. Let me know if you have any tips on that. In general this was a really easy recipe and pretty fast - and no pie crust pressure! 

There are so many apple recipes on Pinterest right now! If you are wondering what to make this weekend or for Thanksgiving, check them out. You can start on my Food and Drink Board, which has a lot of them listed, including the one I used here.