An autumn wreath, a few pumpkins, and a multicolored mum announce the season at the entrance to my house. Let’s celebrate fall, y’all!

If you think my front steps are covered in leaves, just look at my yard. And while you’re at it, check out my season-appropriate orange suede shoes. I’ll put them back in the closet in another month. I don’t wear white after Labor Day or orange after Thanksgiving. It’s my Southern girl thing.

It’s almost Halloween, and I have a visitor lounging on my bench under the backyard gazebo. Whooo! Spooky! I bought the outdoor “Boo” pillow for only five dollars at Walmart the other day. The other pillow peeping out was also a Walmart deal. I love these seasonal pillows and now have several with summer and winter designs too. All for only five dollars each! At Walmart! (I know I’m repeating myself, but I get excited about a bargain!)

Do you still have tons of Beanie Babies you bought back in the late 90s when these plush toys were all the rage? Remember how we were supposed to get rich by investing in all things Beanie Baby? Ha! At least I’ve found a way to use a couple as accents in my fall decor.

Fall is all about food too. Digging through the freezer this week, I discovered a Ziploc bag of apple butter I made last year. Forget the jellies and jams on toast: I’m enjoying this apple butter right now.

Apple butter is easy to make in a slow cooker. There are plenty of simple recipes online, and if you like it chunky, as I do, then you can skip the step that calls for pureeing once it’s cooked.

Soon I’ll be cooking a new batch of apple butter with some of the apples my husband and I bought in the North Carolina mountains a couple of weeks ago. We fetch home a box full of different varieties each year. It’s one of our fall traditions.

Along with the discovery of apple butter in my freezer, I also noticed how pretty my sedum looked in a bed beside my house. I clipped some to bring indoors. Combined with the last of my miniature zinnias, I have fall flowers in the house.

Finally, to complete this celebration of all that is fall, here’s a photo taken by my new son-in-law, who captured an early October morning at the ski lift on Beech Mountain. I could title this “For Purple Mountains, Majesty.” Or even better, “What Hath God Wrought.”

Photo Credit: Franklin Keathley