Victoria A Return to Loveliness

Welcome Autumn

This is a special edition of A Return to Loveliness celebrating the arrival of Autumn.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

~Albert Camus

Autumn – The Season Of Plenty – associated for years with the Harvest and the Fall of the leaves to me has a sense of maturity – of being settled. The wild growth of Summer has settled into a mellowing of color and temperature. I feel a sense of renewal and of peace in the Autumn season.

An Autumn Harvest by Sidney King

Autumn is a time of celebration of what the year has brought our way. Harvest festivals were common in times past and are celebrated even today by some.

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting  and autumn a mosaic of them all." - Stanley Horowitz

I was tempted by the Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake on the cover of the Southern Living Magazine.
It is wonderful! Recipe follows.

Autumn is a time of celebration of what the year has brought our way. Harvest festivals were common in times past and are celebrated even today by some.

La Fete De Vendange by Charles Edouard Edmond Delort

Autumn is also a time of preparation – looking toward the future. Flower and garden beds need to be cleared and put to rest. Spring bulbs are secured and planted in anticipation of their bright beauty in the upcoming Spring.

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains."

James 5:7 NIV

Asleep In The Woods - Arthur Hughes

Autumn here is a mixture of clear, cool air that is sweetened with the fragrance of Sweet Autumn Clematis and Tea Olive. Swirls of smoke float in the sky from chimneys and from the burning of garden debris.

The bright colors of mums and pansies bring renewed cheer to gardens wearied from long, hot summer days.

Burning Leaves by Ernest Lawson

Inside the home, Autumn is bringing out warmer, more rustic colors in décor and the preparation of warm soups and stews, hot apple cider and cakes and pies.

Convivial is this time of the year – a time of

Joy and of Cheer –

"There is a harmony  In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,  Which through the summer is not heard or seen,  As if it could not be, as if it had not been!"  - Percy Bysshe Shelley

John Everett Millais - Autumn Leaves

I welcome Autumn with an open heart and open arms.

dancing in the piled fallen leaves like a child.

Apple-Cream Cheese

Bundt Cake

Cream Cheese Filling

1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Apple Cake Batter:

1 cup finely chopped pecans

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light

brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground all-spice

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

¾ cup canola oil

¾ cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups peeled and finely chopped

Gala apples (about 1 ½ lb.)

Praline Frosting

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

¼ cup butter

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

1. Prepare Filling: beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed

with an electric mixer until blended and smooth. Add egg, flour, and vanilla; beat just until blended.

2. Prepare Batter: Preheat oven to 350°. Bake pecans in a shallow pan 8 to t10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring half-way through. Stir together 3 cups flour and next 7 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in eggs and next 3 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in apples and pecans.

3. Spoon two-thirds of apple mixture into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan. Spoon Cream Cheese filling over apple mixture, leaving a 1-inch border around edge of pan. Swirl filling through apple mixture using a paring knife. Spoon remaining apple mixture over cream cheese filling.

4. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 2 hours).

5. Prepare Frosting: Bring ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup butter, and a3 Tbsp. milk to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth; stir gently 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture begins to cool and thicken slightly. Pour immediately over cooled cake.

and of Cheer –

"There is a harmony  In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,  Which through the summer is not heard or seen,  As if it could not be, as if it had not been!"  - Percy Bysshe Shelley