Despite the dip into fall weather this week, with accompanying fog and grey skies and even the occasional splutter of rain, this weekend turned out to be absolutely lovely. I don't expect to be able to open all the windows and turn on the fans and air out the house in November, but right now, that's exactly what we are doing.

We had a whole list of little errands to run today, but luckily none that required us to be anywhere until about 10am. I was up by 7am anyway, unable to sleep any later, so I decided to make good use of the extra time and peeled and chopped a few pounds of apples to turn into apple butter. This is kind of an experiment, based on a recipe we tried a few weeks ago that didn't turn out like what we were expecting, but instead turned into a delicious apple butter, so the hope is that I can somehow duplicate it, in a large enough quantity to pour into jars and seal away for next year.

Today was the first day of the new schedule at the church - they've added a third service in between the original two - and to kick it off, they've also started a little breakfast buffet that runs in between the first and last services. So we decided to take advantage of that and went over to church a little early, instead of doing our usual run to one of the local bakeries for breakfast. We ended up sitting and chatting with some friends, which was nice, and then joined the ending of the new service (the choir was encouraged to do so, since all the singing in this new service happens at the end) and discovered that another long-absent friend had returned. There was choir rehearsal and then church, although Richard and I snuck out right after the choir sang so we could get a head start on all the things we had planned to do today, which was good, because we had a lot to do, and in a short amount of time.

First up was a run to CostCo, to stock up on veggies and food for lunches and some great stocking stuffers and presents (because I am all about getting the holiday shopping done as early as we can get it out of the way). Next up, after unloading the car, was trip in to Davis. Richard needed to return a power cord to one of his writing buddies who'd left it at the cafe yesterday, and I needed to swing by the new yarn store to drop off the yarn swatch I did for them, and to pick up a pair of needles for my next lace project. And then we met back up at Borders, taking advantage of all the lovely weather by just parking the car and walking all over town to do our errands instead of driving. Finally, fruit smoothies for lunch, followed by a trip to the grocery store to stock up on baking supplies, and then back home to unload and put everything away.

While Richard ran off to the drug store to pick up some prescription refills, I stayed home and whipped up a batch of pudding (which upgrades from ho hum to positively divine if you simply replace 1/4 cup of the milk with 4 ounces of cream cheese). Then I stirred together another batch of pumpkin bread and handed him the recipe for the low fat, no sugar added banana bread recipe that we found and he really likes, so that he could put it together instead of me, thus successfully avoiding my having to deal with, in any way whatsoever, any nasty overripe squashed banana goo.

So now the house smells delightfully of baking - luckily for me, the spices in the pumpkin bread far outweigh the banana (I am not a fan of banana, if that wasn't obvious). The apple butter is still simmering away in the crockpot, adding an overlay of cinnamon to the whole mix. The air coming in from inside still holds a faint scent of the rain from the other night, and the cats are not the only ones walking through the house, pausing by the open windows, taking in the smells and the sounds of this very late, and oh so lovely autumn night.

This is a NaBloPoMo entry