All Saint's Day

Wishing I was in Poland today celebrating All Saint's Day!  As it is I am celebrating by making a spicy spinach and artichoke dip for my man.  I like to put lots of extra cheese in it, but I forgot to pick up mozzarella at the store so I'm going to be trying out colby jack and seeing if that is a total bomb.  I'm using jalapeno cream cheese to give it a nice kick :)

Who out there just loves All Saint's Day?  Oooo oooo pick me!  Pick me!

What's there not to love?  A day that is in honor of a specific saint has traditionally been celebrated by all who share that saint's name; St. John's day is celebrated by all John's and so on.  It is still a bigger deal than birthdays in some countries!  Presents, special food, everyone is happy for you.  Its great!

On All Saint's Day, however, EVERYONE gets another "birthday" because we are celebrating ALL saints!  Wooo hooo!!

Its also a day where you get to really think about all of your loved ones who have passed on already.  Don't think about them in a way that gets you all down and sad though!  Pray for them in case they are in purgatory (if you haven't been doing that already) and think about them being all crazy happy in heaven :)  That's why its a required day of going to Mass....there are so many souls in Purgatory who need our prayers!  Life is busy and we so often forget to pray for those who have gone before us; this is our built-in opportunity to remember.

What a great day!

Fall Around the World

In light of the fact that I have no pictures of changing leaves this year, I thought it would be fun to post pictures of all the places I have been in the past during this wonderful season.  Enjoy!

Kirksville, Missouri: my college town :)

A view from my home in O'Fallon, Missouri

The fruits of Polish soil!

I made so many things with that pumpkin!  And its 3 brothers....

I was shocked that there were different pumpkins than our orange ones in the States.  These, as you can see, are big and green and have quite a bit more meat than our Jack-O-Lantern counterparts!  I definitely got a work out cutting those pumpkins into small enough pieces to fit in pots to soften them up!

Polish Fall

Poland's Autumn was 99% golden.  The world was literally paved in gold!  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  The few bushes that were ruby red stood out like jewels in a crown.  I would go back in a heartbeat!

Polish Cemetery on November 1: All Saint's Day

Another Cemetery

All Saint's Day is a huge deal in Poland.  For weeks beforehand there are groups of people cleaning up the cemeteries to prepare for every citizen to come traipsing through.  Wherever there is family or close friends buried near you, you go to the grave with flowers, a special candle, and a broom/rake.  You clean up whatever leaves may have fallen on the grave since the massive clean-up, light the candle, place your flowers on the stone, and say a prayer for the soul's release from Purgatory.  My host family and I visited 3 different cemeteries in the Poznan area that day and the Autumn splendor mixed with this wonderfully strange tradition made for one of the most memorable days in my year abroad.  The best part was going back to a cemetery that night; all the candles were still burning and the effect was so lovely that its hard to explain.  Here's a picture to not do it justice at all:

Each candle represents a family/person who visited that day!

And then there is last Autumn...my one weekend of blissful escape from the heat to experience a little bit of New England fall for the first time!!  This is a Vermont Inn that just begs you to come inside and enjoy the fire with a cup of your favorite hot beverage!

Sorry if this took forever to load...hopefully the pictures were worth it :)  I have definitely been blessed in my ability to travel around.  Maybe next year I'll have some new pictures to add to my collection!

What is your favorite fall memory?