It was really overcast a couple of days ago.  For some strange reason, the cloudy, cool weather gave me a huge urge to bake.  I gave in and became a mad baking lady.   I kicked off the baking session with these easy scones.  We treated ourselves to a couple of warm ones that afternoon with butter and jam.   I sometimes like to eat them with just butter and sprinkled sugar.

Once the scones came out of the oven, I prepped a peach crumble.  Since I am allergic to all fruits with pits and cores, I can only eat canned peaches.  First I drained the syrup from the peaches and added shredded coconut and sugar.  Then I prepared the crumble, added some coconut to that as well and then into the oven it went at 375F for 30 minutes.   If I could, I would add coconut to everything!  I almost wanted to skip dinner and go straight to dessert that night!

Last but certainly not least, I baked three loaves of bread.  I really love homemade bread, but I haven’t been able to bake for a while because I had been a bit under the weather.   Since I am feeling a lot better now, I just had to bake bread.  Once I had made up my mind, there was no going back.  This bread is really not that hard to make, just a lot of waiting around.  Since I was puttering around the kitchen anyway, the timing was perfect.  I love the smell of freshly-baked bread wafting through the house.

After I finished all that baking, I felt like Charlie in this picture.  By the way, this is the reason why this quilt is still not finished.  I partially hand quilted it.  Every time I got up for five minutes, he was on it, sleeping.  I finally finished the quilting last week and I am feverishly hand sewing the binding now.  It is a queen size quilt, so there’s a lot of binding to sew.  Currently this is the only quilt I am working on.  Since I am not touching anything else until it’s finished, hopefully I will be able to show it here very soon.

It’s not all his fault though, for my not finishing the quilt, I must share part of the blame.  Puffy clouds and cool weather have been inviting me to go play outside, and I must heed their call.  I have been out and about with my camera a lot lately.  This is our first year here in the Napa Valley.  Fall is like a second spring, only all the leaves turn into blooms.  I thought I’d share some of my favourite photos here.

 Napa Valley Vineyard

  Napa Valley Vineyard

 I had no idea that grape leaves change colour too.

Afternoon sunlit leaves

 Looks like red blooms – it’s spring in fall

Gorgeous reds

 Yellow-softened asphalt

 Soft leaves under my feet

Dark, overcast clouds or puffy white clouds, I am happy to be able entertain myself on all occasions!

Cheers!
-Soma