A quiche made with red and yellow peppers.
Since I believe art should have a place in every student's life in some form or another, my intentions of finding a teacher that could give Rose and Charlotte art lessons this year were strong. That's when a friend of mine informed me her college-aged daughter was planning on giving art lessons and would be happy for my girls to be a part.
We climb the stairs to arrive at her third-floor apartment. The tables are covered with protective cloth while the pencils, pads and tubes of paint with their variety of colors are all within everyone's reach. For one hour creative juices flow along with helpful instruction.
I was sitting outside, a bright sunshiny day, literally soaking in the ray's warmth. A mug of Celestial Seasons Apple Cinnamon Spice Tea, a granola-nut crispy cookie, and a newly arrived cookbook itching to be read, were my immediate companions as the girls entertained themselves around me with their various activities.
It was a moment worth catching.
Another telltale sign that frosty weather is coming and I better get a move on, is the final pulling up of my basil plants to be made into batches of pesto in the food processor.
Over the course of the winter and up until I have fresh basil growing once again in my garden, they are frequently tossed into soups and tomato sauces. 
There's a camellia bush near my driveway that softly displays white blooms edged in pink...lovely. It drops blooms onto the left behind flip-flops, that started out on the bare feet.
We pop pieces of candy corn from the traditional glass candy dish that officiously resides on the dining room buffet. Unless you have mastered quietly replacing the glass top, it will give you away every time.
But this afternoon, nothing said warm and cozy to me like a fresh cup of brewed coffee with a stick of biscotti for dipping, naturally. A drizzling cool rain was falling , a pumpkin spice candle was burning and chili was warming in the crockpot. 
Not a parking lot exactly, but my neighborhood is changing as they have cut down trees and shredded a variety of wildflowers in order to put in a large thoroughfare smack dab in our secluded residential area.
Since Charlotte has learned to count in tens, the one candle for every ten years made perfect sense!
A collection of old enamel pots of various sizes and shapes were selected and filled with plants or nuts gathered in the fields and the woods, or maybe grown in my herb garden, and set on an open fire outside. A wooden spoon stirred the simmering mixtures, all pungent with their earthy smells.
Through a path in the woods I strolled this morning to gather flowering goldenrod. I snipped the yellow blooms and green leaves and stems to place in a stainless steel pot. The smell wafted throughout my kitchen and out the open windows as it simmered on my kitchen's stove top.
After several hours of selecting clothes for both Rose and Charlotte, we were tired and slightly hungry for a treat.
*Coldstone* was running an afternoon half- off special on their shakes and smoothies. Rose chose a Caramel Latte shake. I can see a coffee drinking girl in the future since this girl already has such a distinct taste for coffee flavored anything.
A Pineapple Coconut Orange smoothie....that's more my style.
Charlotte, my sprinklely kind of girl, ordered watermelon ice cream with colorful sprinkles, she must appreciate crunch with her ice cream. The wrought iron chairs sitting outside the ice cream store were pulled into the dazzling sunshine and we basked in a beautiful fall day. Until it was time to head back to the parking lot, to the car, and take Charlotte to her ballet lesson." We'll all have chicken 'n dumplings when she comes...." ( 4th stanza , She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountains, ...
