Beth Carpenter Books

I love autumn. Love the harvests, the cool evenings, the pumpkins. I usually make an apple pie. One of the few downsides of living in Alaska and Arizona is we don’t get those incredible fall colors. Oh, we get some nice golden aspens, and the mountain ash are lovely and covered with berries. Just not the incredible blend of warm shades I’ve seen in pictures of hardwood forests. But I’m hoping I’ll get my fix. Next week, we’re visiting my husband’s grandmother in southern Illinois. I'm always amazed by the huge variety of trees there, and if we’re lucky maybe the leaves will have started to turn. I can’t wait to find out. In the meantime, this is my own spin on a fall display. Mums, because they’re traditional and beautiful. Sweet alyssum, because the lacy honey-scented flowers appeal to my romantic side. And hot peppers, just to spice things up a little. How are you celebrating Autumn?

I've always lived in the West. West Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Alaska, and Arizona to be exact, all different, but similar too, with a certain spare, rugged beauty. I love the West, the wide-open spaces, the rocky landscapes, and the big blue skies. It's only this time of year that I get a little jealous of those of you on the East Coast, because of your trees. Western forests are mostly evergreen, pines or spruces, with some cottonwoods along the creeks and golden aspens high in the mountains, but we don't get the glorious masses of autumn color like the hardwood forests in the east. I see the amazing yellow, red, burgundy, and bronze of oaks and maples in neighbors' yards, so much more luminous than the pictures I've seen of autumn foliage, and can only imagine a whole forest of rich, glowing leaves in so many different shades. Someday, I'll visit New England in the autumn and see it for myself. In the meantime, I try to make up for the lack of outdoor au...