Yo-Yo Pumpkins

I made these by making yo yo's. I cut cardstock into 7 1/2", 7", 6", and 5" circles. You will need 1 of the 7 1/2", 2 of the 7", 2 of the 6", and 1 of the 5". I made the yo yo's and then stacked them in this order: 6". 7". 7 1/2", 7", 6", and 5" on top. My husband cut a piece of plywood into squares and countersunk a 3" screw into it. I then threaded the yo yo's onto the screw by pushing scissors into the center of the yo yo to make it go over the screw. He cut a twig into to make the stems and made a hole in it so that it would screw down onto the top of the pumpkin. I got the leaves from fall foliage I had.

I placed mine with some Fall leaves on the ledge of an antique bookcase.

Sweet Potato Cobbler

This smelled so good when it came out of the oven and as you can see we could not keep from trying it before I could take a picture. This is very rich! You may want to use less sugar.

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk

Preparation:

Melt butter in 12 X 2 -inch baking dish. Mix together the flour, sugar, and milk; pour into the center of the melted butter. Do not stir.

Mix:

2 cups cooked but firm, peeled and sliced sweet potatoes (I added these last)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or other preferred spice)

Pour this into center of melted butter and batter. DO NOT stir. Bake at 350 degrees
for 45 minutes or until light brown.

Color-Coded Therapy

I wanted to share my husband's joy of working with his flowers. At the time of this newspaper article, we were married 33 years and this August made 48 years for us. I was in bed with my back for a year before I had my surgery. I was in so much pain and really did not want to live. One Saturday morning my husband went shopping and came back with flower boxes, dirt, and flowers and began to fix boxes around the deck. I thought to myself, why are you doing this because I probably will not be alive. As the flowers grew and he got me up into a chair in the den, the beauty that I was seeing through the kitchen bay window was unbelievable. His joy of growing the flowers for me made me want to make it. He has continued this ritual every year. Of course when he became unable to walk last year, he has not been able to do as many boxes and have as many flowers in the yard. He still gets on his scooter and goes out and waters and takes care of all he planted.

Fig Cookies

The squirrels got most of our tomatoes and usually the birds peck our figs, but this year the birds are leaving the figs to us. There will not be enough to do a lot with but when my husband brought in enough the other day that I thought I could do something with, I went to Google. I found this recipe for fig cookies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup chopped figs
1/2 cup walnuts - I used toasted pecans

Cream sugar and shortening and add beaten egg.
Sift dry ingredients and blend with creamed mixture
Fold in figs and nuts.

Drop by spoonfuls on greased sheet. Bake 15 to 20 minutes
Mine were done in 15 minutes.