Wishing I was fishing....

Oh..this weather is delightful! I am so loving the fall-like days and the almost downright cold nights! Weather like this so makes me wish I could spend all day out and about the Bayou and spend the evenings with a cup of cocoa! Today, however, I knew that I really had to get all the decorating finished if I was going to get it done before company arrived this weekend. So, I made creepy cloth curtains. Creepy cloth being the dyed cheesecloth. Being the lazy person that I am..I was not about to make a trip to the store to buy fabric dye so again this year, I used the "old coffee/paint method"! After drinking my fill of coffee this morning, I poured the grounds into the pot and let the stuff brew until it was what my husband calls "tar". Once it was good and strong, I poured that into a plastic dishpan, added about a tablespoon of black acrylic paint and another two quarts of hot water. Once this was stirred well, I added the unfolded cheesecloth, smished it around a bit and took the whole shebang out to the clothesline!

I shook out and hung my...ahem...beautiful, new curtains. I draped them this way and that just to create odd stretches and wrinkles. No nice smooth curtains would do for my creepy parlor! A couple of times a curtain would drop to the ground but, again, that was fine! A little dirt..a few twigs..a couple of snags..all add to the creepiness of the cloth.

While outside, my eyes were constantly being drawn to the Bay. From the clothesline, I have a wonderful view of the back of the Bayou and I could see fish breaking along the shoreline. Maybe if I hurried, I could possibly have time to do a little fishing! As I was climbing the back steps, I spied a fish! There on the steps was a fish! Now that is just a bit too much of wishful thinking! My brain was playing tricks on me..but there on the steps was a fish..or at least the image of one! A leaf from the Black Gum Tree had fallen on the steps and the way it was twisted formed the body of a fish. This was odd enough but a seed from a Red Maple Tree was plastered to the side just where the pectoral fin should be. Odd..yes..odder was the exact place on the steps where the leaf had fallen. When I had carried the pan of dyed cloth down the steps, a few droplets of water had fallen on the wooden steps. Sometime after I went down the steps, the leaf had fallen from the tree and landed right on the water splotch. The wet spot was in the perfect position to be the dorsal fin of the imaginary fish! Oh, my goodness! I really need to go to the pier! The leaf fish was like an omen that I would catch a huge fish today! I hurried in to finish my projects of the day! The creepy cloth curtains were hung and about half of the decorations were in place when my sister-in-law came to visit. No fishing..but more coffee! We downed several mugs while I continued to put out decorations. I was making good progress! She left..I hurried...my brother came..no fishing. He stayed until after dark, so my fishing omen had passed with the daylight hours...drats...oh, well, I might as well have another cup of coffee......