Christmas Thought?

   Christmas has come and gone and has taken a part of my heart.  My eldest son, wife and grandkids have gone back to their home in Florida and daughter and son-in-law have made their escape over a couple of towns from here.  Elizabeth and Robbie will be back tomorrow to share New Year's dinner with us but, for now, the place seems to be empty.  I am still not ready to tackle the task of "de-Christmasing" so the decorations shall stay for another week...maybe more unless I get the energy.  

  Christmas decorating at the Little Bayou House is never the same.  Sure, most of the ornaments are used year after year but the manner of decorating can be entirely different.  This year, the living room was outfitted with as much "Victorian" clutter that it could hold while the dining room was nothing less than country/bayou.  Both seemed fitting...both were enjoyed by all who visited so I count it as a success.

  After unleashing the frenzy of gift-opening, a thought occurred to me.  Why do this?  Every year, we stress over what to give, panic over undelivered or late packages and overspend.  Why?  All gifts were received with grace and appreciation but the most oohs and ahhs were expressed over the handmade gifts. My three adult kids handmade a gift for their siblings.  I was fully impressed with their creativity and the excitement, giggles and love proved that those simple gifts were the best!  No, I did not get photos.  I wish I had.  Hopefully, I will do better next year.  Now, I am in "gift-making" mode.  I do believe I shall try to handmake each and every gift for this next Christmas.  

  Perhaps, if I stress this idea enough, each member of the family could jump on the bandwagon and give homemade gifts.  Nothing needs to be overly elaborate nor expensive...just something given from the heart.  Isn't that what Christmas is all about anyway?  Love?  Even though the official "day" has passed...the love and giving should continue.  So....Merry Christmas, folks!  

Waiting for Next Year.

   Here it is December 24th and I am still pondering the decoration thing.  In fact, tonight...TONIGHT...I feel like decorating.  For the past month, Christmas felt as if it was far in the future.  It felt as if we were pushing things.  I did not decorate.  I did not buy gifts.  I did not bake.  I did not "Christmas".  Actually, I think I could have best been described as the Grinch and Scrooge all rolled into one.  I was not happy.  Health issues, the lack of family nearby and hurricanes all tend to get in the way of feelings.  That aside, I now want to pull out all of the decorations, go into a flurry of wrapping gifts and fill the house with the aroma of cookies. Well, the cookies are there and a few gifts are under the pitifully decorated, obligatory tree.  I was in a pathetic stage.

  So, my decorations sit in the old trunk awaiting to be brought out for their time to shine.  I am sorry but they will have to wait for another year.  It is too late to adorn the Little Bayou House.  Hopefully, next year will find the place filled to the brim with laughter and happiness.  Hopefully, the lights will twinkle a little brighter, the stockings will be hung by the chimney and the entire place will smell of cedar and vanilla.    Hopefully, I will be me again and will be able to do the things I so love to do.  

  Merry Christmas, folks.  May the Light shine brightly down upon this old world and bring peace, love and joy.  

When Halloween Got Sick!

  Halloween is meant to be fun.  It is meant to be a bit scary.  It is meant to be so chock full of candy that you get sick to the tummy but Halloween, itself,  is not meant to be sick.  Ok, so that seems to be going in the direction of how some folks decorate or celebrate the holiday but it was not meant to be a prim and proper chastisement to others.  Nope.  I really meant that Halloween got sick...nauseated...and puked all over my entryway..literally.  Actually, that was Son's description of my decorations this year.  The "Man of Few Words" stated "Looks like Halloween ate too much candy and threw up out here."  Well...sorry!  Poor Halloween.

  Actually, I did intentionally "over-decorate" if that is even possible for the holiday.  Each October, we have a grand time with the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou.  This is the sixth year that the clue hunt will be held and I am late!  Our first running has been postponed until this next week but back to those decorations.  During this hunt, we needed "color stations"...that is all I can tell you at this time!  One of those color stations just happened to be orange!  Woohoo!  Orange!  Halloween!  Yep!  A myriad of Jack-O-Lanterns would adorn the entryway!  Every orange item in the house (which just happened to be Halloween themed!) was pulled into the entryway and plopped in any available spot.  To top things off, orange glitter seemed to rule...much to the vexation of Son.  He hates the stuff! While I am not particularly a fan of glitter, it seemed to fit in perfectly with this total orange-out of a room.  All I can say is....I cannot wait to do the purple station!  Again...woohoo!

Ladder Time!

  As it sits, I am exhausted.  Today was spent mostly standing on a ladder hanging fabric, clambering about a balcony draping still more fabric or with the glue gun in hand creating candlesticks. If this sounds weird...it was...very.  I have never done anything like this before other than on small scale.  I helped my daughter and niece decorate and entire community center for a major dance production.  The showcase is being put on by my son-in-law who owns a ballroom dance studio.  Not only will there be many student performances, there are also professional dancers who will be strutting their stuff!  Their job is the hard one...mine is menial.  I prefer it that way.  I would rather be in the shadows with duct tape and a string of lights to be hung than in the spotlight on the dance floor.  My only hope is that the decorations stay in place through the entire show!  What a fiasco it would be to have thirty feet of tulle fabric fall from a balcony right smack dab on some one's head!

  With that explanation, I beg your forgiveness for such a short post this evening.  As we speak, we are headed back for the two hour long show.  Afterward, what goes up...must come down.  The backtracking will begin and all of the decorations have to be removed before midnight (or we will all turn to pumpkins!..Sorry...I could not resist...Blame it on sheer exhaustion!)  

Decorating the Garden

  It is funny how things work in nature.  Most plants flower even if we cannot recognize it due to the fact that we are jaded in our views of what a flower actually is.  The showy blooms that we see in florist's shops or in our gardens are flowers but other plants have tiny, nondescript blooms that look nothing like the aforementioned blooms.  These flowers serve the same purpose as the showy blooms.  They are there to induce pollination and then produce seeds.  We enjoy the beauty of the blooms and a lot of critters benefit from the pollen created by the flower.  Then, there are those plants that, not only create a showy bloom, but also produce an equally showy seed pod. 

  Yesterday as I was hauling firewood, I had to pass by the gardenia bush on the side of the house.  Memories of the gorgeous white blooms and heavenly aroma flitted through my thoughts but as I passed the bush, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the bush was almost as ornate now.  Even though the flowers are long gone, the seed pods were brightly shining in the sunshine.  The pods resembled some elaborate ornaments and are just in time for Christmas.  My gardenia bush has been decorated for the holidays!

  In the next few months, these seed pods will turn dark and become dried.  It is then that they should be harvested and planted.  Either the entire pod can be planted as is or they can be broken open to reveal the tiny seeds held therein. If I was in need of more gardenia bushes, I would definitely be anxious to plant these but, since gardenias are so easily rooted by cuttings, these will probably slip my mind and plant themselves under the bush. Soon, there will be a hedgerow of gardenias between the Little Bayou House and my brother's house over the way.  Not that I am complaining.  I love gardenia bushes whether they are blooming or filled with seed pods.  

Please! I Want It To Be Fall!

  If I asked pretty please, could it be fall?  I yearn for cooler nights, bright hued leaves and pumpkins...pumpkin everything!  I miss all of this!  I miss the decorations hung up in the Little Bayou House, the smell of cinnamon/ginger wafting from the kitchen and Jack-o-lanterns peeping from frosty windows.  I miss fall.  I miss Halloween!

  Just today, I mentioned to Son that I would like to get the fall and Halloween decorations down from the upstairs' closet.  He said "NO!" No, in no uncertain terms. No, as in, well, no.  He informed me that July is too early to decorate for Halloween.  Well, boo on him!  Since tomorrow is supposed to be a stormy day, he did agree, however, that I could at least get the stuff from the closet.  He, also, agreed that maybe I could put out a few....a FEW...fall decorations.  Yep...when have I ever put out a few decorations of any kind?  What he does not know, cannot hurt him...right?  

  Since the "Clue Hunt on the Bayou" does not involve every room of the house this year, I can decorate to my heart's content in the unused rooms.  I figure that since most of September will be spent preparing for the clue hunt, August should be used readying the house for fall and Halloween.  I am so eager to get started even though I do have a bit of trepidation lingering in the brain.  The last time that I decorated fully this early, we had a hurricane whip through and put a damper on any festivities.  Still, I cannot let that stand in the way!  Decorations....here I come!  Let the fun begin! (I promise...no Jack-o-lanterns.....yet!)

Brigadoon Returns!

  Years ago, the kids and I used to love watching musicals on TV.  One of our favorites has always been "Brigadoon" starring Gene Kelly. There was just something so magical about the whole concept of a disappearing town. We loved it or at least I loved it.  In fact, I was mesmerized by the movie as far back as the first time I watched it at my grandparents' house. That said, it is only natural that I would name my little Christmas Town after the mythical village in the movie.  Since this village disappears as quickly as it appears just like the one Gene Kelly visited, Brigadoon seemed to be an appropriate name.

  My Brigadoon came to life this afternoon.  Mark and I hauled out the houses, trees, townspeople and other accessories.  We still have to put the finishing touches on our village but at least the houses are in place. This year (like every year), we managed to find a few new pieces to add to our ever growing village.  A fire station, a second gazebo, a post office and (my favorite) a chocolate shop were purchased.  Most of the buildings are secondhand pieces that we find in thrift stores or garage sales.  It matters not that these are someone else's discards.  They all add a bit of charm to our happy little community.  

  If these purchases continue, we will soon have to find a much larger table to serve as our base.  It is not my desire to have a mishmash of buildings but rather a nice, homey village that can inspire kids' imaginations.  I know that if I had seen such a tiny village when I was a child, my imagination would have run amok!  Hopefully, this little town will have the same effect on the little tykes that visit the Little Bayou House.  If the town brings a smile to a child's face, then it is so worth our effort.  Brigadoon returns to the Bayou!

Feeling a bit nostalgic about Carnivals, Halloween and Ditch Daisies!

  It always happens just about this time of year.  My brain starts telling me that I should be pulling out all of the Fall and Halloween decorations.  I long to drape the stair rails with garlands of orange and red leaves and place pumpkins in every nook and cranny.  My son always tells me that it is too early and squashes any hopes of the place being festive any time soon.  His view is that one week of the decorations is enough.  If I had my way, the Little Bayou House would be bedecked year round!  Secretly, as soon as I finish refurbishing the craft room, I plan on pulling the decorations from the upstairs closet.  At least I can get a "feel" for the upcoming holiday season!  I mean, my goodness, why wait?  There are too many pretties hiding in the closet!  They should be showcased not hidden away in the dark depths of some creepy closet!

  To further push my yearning for Fall decorations, Mother Nature splashed the edge of the woods with daisies!  The bright yellow blooms brought back a flood of memories!  When I was just a youngster, Pop always seemed to be in charge of the Halloween Carnival at the local elementary school.  Since everything back in the day was a lot simpler, decorations for the event were made not bought.  His budget for staging the huge, fun-filled carnival was about $50!  Hundreds of kids made their way through the carnival playing games and getting prizes.  The tickets were twenty for a $1 which made it highly affordable for most everyone. The PTA was the sponsor and always made a hefty profit off of the event. That money was immediately spent for the betterment of the school. 

   But back to those decorations!  Months before the carnival, Pop would start getting prizes, food and equipment donated.  Decorations were handmade.  I can remember creating a lot of the decorations even as young as I was.  Painting cardboard Jack-O-lanterns, folding orange and black crepe paper streamers and hand-stamping brown paper goody bags all needed the attention of the younger kids in the family.  The older siblings were put to work sorting prizes and filling goody bags.  The day before the actual carnival saw the whole family in action!  Pop's booth was always the Balloon Burst!  The object was to throw a dart at a board filled with balloons. (Yep, he used real darts with metal points.)  If you popped one, you got a prize...with Pop, if you didn't hit one you got a prize!  He thought every kid should be happy!  We blew up all of those balloons!  (Thank goodness for an air compressor!) Those several hundred, inflated balloons were awfully fun to tote to the school!  Also on the day of the carnival, we headed out in the old Studebaker station wagon to pick any and all daisies we could find on the sides of the road. (Hence the name "Ditch Daisies"!)  It never dawned on me back in the day but I am certain that more than a few folks thought we were crazy as the kids scrambled about in the ditches to pick armloads of the weeds!  Back home, Mom would place these in paper covered buckets and they, too, were hauled to the school.  Every classroom had daisies!  The hallways had daisies!  The cafeteria had daisies!  It was gorgeous!

  I am quite certain that none of this could ever be done today.  If a carnival at all was to be held nowadays, it most likely would have to be a "Fall Carnival" to be "politically correct".  The PTA (is there even any such organization today?) would have to set forth a huge budget to pay for the attractions, not to mention have to charge a huge admission to cover that budget.  Those attractions would not consist of things like "Beanbag Toss", "Cake Walk", "Balloon Burst", "White Elephant Booth", "Fish Pond", "Fortune Teller's Booth" or most likely not even the "Basketball Throw".  Nope, now they would be some strange inflatable or electronic games.  Prizes would not be donated (sometimes broken) costume jewelry, old toys, pencils with company logos and baggies filled with homemade candy. The food would not be homemade treats such as popcorn balls, brownies or pies.  Everything would have to be prepackaged, store-bought, sugary treats.  Something is very wrong with this picture....very wrong.

  I miss the old time Halloween Carnivals.  I miss the homemade decorations.  I miss the popcorn balls, brownies and pies.  I miss the simplicity of the times, the innocence of Halloween, the family oriented events and months-long preparations that involved whole families not just the adults.  Believe it or not, it was fun for the kids to be included and not just have everything handed to them.  Yep, I sure had a blast of nostalgia today.  These wonderful memories fed a yearning to take a step back in time...or maybe one into the future.

Easier Transition

I decorate for most holidays.  I have no clue as to just why I go through so much trouble as visitors to the Bayou are far and few in between but I do every year.  Just as one holiday is winding down, I will pull down all of the many, many decorations that adorn the Little Bayou House and pack those away for another year.  Then with renewed enthusiasm, I start to pull out and put up decorations for the upcoming season.  It is a lot of work..it is tiring but still I do it every year.  Why?  Why would I put myself through so much work for no apparent reason?  I have no clue but I do..year after year.  Today while I was trying to put together the artificial Christmas Tree for the dining room, I asked Michael just that question. Why?  I went on to ask if he thought there was some possible way to make the transition any easier.

We discussed the fact that already I leave the base garland up on the stairs year round.  The green Natchez Pine garland is always in place.  The white lights and pine cones never come down.  Each holiday sees just enough seasonal additives such as ribbon or ornaments to change it up a bit.  Just last week, there were fall leaves interspersed with the pine.  Now those are down and red berries took their place.  This is the easy transition and I was pondering what else could be simplified.  By this time, he had the base of the artificial tree in the stand and was attempting to put up the next section.  This is one of those pre-lit trees that is actually in four sections.  It is simple enough to put up so I was not referring to the tree when I was posing my query.  At that exact moment, he looked at me in all seriousness and said that he already had a jump on the season!  I stared at him and he pointed to the half of tree.  "An Easter Tree!" he proclaimed!  I had to start giggling when I peered at the tree.  While mounting the second section, two branches stuck high as if reaching for the ceiling!  "Rabbit ears!" again he proclaimed!  Hahaha! He was right!  There in the dining room was a wonderful Christmas Tree in the shape of a rabbit!  Bunny ears for Easter seemed like a great transition!  We shared a light moment with lots of joking and laughs.  Then it hit me..I do it for the few moments like this.  The shared giggles, the light-hearted banter, the love being shared by those who happen to be at the Little Bayou House at the moment.  That is why I do this!  That is why I spend hours..no days..making sure every inch of the Little Bayou House is transformed into some holiday wonderland..no matter what holiday.  I will probably continue to do this even when there is no one here..then...then I will do it for the memories.  For now, the music will play..the tree will be decorated..the house will be adorned for another holiday and I......I will smile.

Haunted trees, wasp attacks and...stick flies??

I finally convinced my son to help me rig up some "haunted" trees for either side of our door. This was not a particularly difficult job as it just involved sticking two small, dead trees on either side of the steps. I get these brilliant ideas of decorating for Halloween but he sometimes needs a little "urging". I do not think he was at all convinced that we really "needed" haunted trees at our doorway but he did drag out the post hole digger and set to work! All was going well, the trees were "planted" and the bats were hung! My haunted trees looked great! Then I noticed a large paper wasp nest hanging under the eaves of the house. Oh my goodness! This would never work! I just knew some unsuspecting visitor would be brutally besieged by the beasts! They had to go. Armed with bug spray (I was taking no chances with these boogers!), we crept up as close as we could to the nest. I sprayed..he sprayed..it was a veritable fog of spray engulfing the nest! Ummm..we soon found out that bug sprays are not the weapons of choice against wasps! They did not die! They did not drop to the ground writhing in pain! They did however get really, really angry! ....... RUN! ...... Daring to venture back outside about ten minutes later, we peered at the nest. No bees were to be seen. Maybe it did work.. maybe.. just maybe they died! He took a stick and poked at the nest. No wasps! He poked harder and dislodged the nest from the house. It hit the ground and then from the corner of my eye..wasps! They were lurking in the azaleas .. still mad as wet hens. ...... RUN! ...... Later this evening, I counted five more large nests around the house. This could prove to be interesting to say the least! I will head to the store before attempting to rid the house of these next nests, though. A few cans of automotive brake cleaner will get the job done! (For some reason, brake cleaner kills them on contact and it shoots at a nice twenty or so feet!)

Later this afternoon as I was meandering about the hill, I noticed a cloud of whatever in my brother's yard. I say whatever because I had no idea what was making the swirling cloud. I knew it was some type of flying insect but even up close and personal, I could not identify them. This mass filled his entire front yard around his swimming pool. Thousands upon thousands of tiny bugs swirled.. not in one large spiral but more like small eddies each swirling at their own speed. Some bugs would leave their group to join up with another and then that would split up. It was a never ending storm of insects. I would like to say that they were some type of gnat but most gnats here on the Bayou are the little monsters with very large "teeth". (I know they do not actually have teeth but geez, can they ever bite!) These little bugs did not bite..I stood in the midst of them and received nary a nibble. I did however wind up with quite a few in my hair, on my clothes and somehow even inside my camera zoom lens. Later as I looked at the photographs that I took, the critters look more like flying sticks! I am supposing that the speed that they were flying created this effect. To me, it looks as if I took a picture of sawdust being thrown from a chainsaw or some mulch being tossed in the air..not bugs! And there is my answer! Little

bitty, stick flies! Sounds like a good name to me! I really should be frustrated just about now since all attendees of the "Ugly Bug Ball" seem to now have migrated to my windows! Obviously, they are attracted to the light so my window screens have creepy crawlies on them! Hmm, the geckos will eat well tonight!

"Creepy Cloth"

Ok, so maybe I am jumping the gun a bit here with Halloween decorations, but for me it is never to early to decorate for any holiday. My dear daughter-in-law sent me the Martha Stewart Halloween Guide magazine and that was enough to make me turn all of my Fall decorations into Halloween themed decorations. The magazine is so full of fun things to make that it seemed a shame to let it just sit on the coffee table collecting dust (everything in my house collects dust faster than you can shake a stick). I perused the magazine from cover to cover and wild ideas started flowing in the brain! One thing led to another and I just had to get started. First room to be "Halloweenized" would be the entryway as that is the first room anyone sees when they visit my house. The usual cutesy little signs and ghosties would have to find a new place to dwell, I had a vision! This room is small..very small..area-wise but it is huge in possibilities. My entryway was to become a haunted parlor! Everything had to go! And it did! Now that it is almost a blank canvas, the fun begins! First for the windows. Three sides of this tiny room has windows (and they all needed washing). Aha!..this is to be a haunted parlor..no washing windows. Dust is your friend when creating creepy, old parlors! I had found some stuff called creepy cloth in catalogs but it is so expensive. It is about $6 for 4 yards..I know, I know that is not terribly expensive, but when you consider it is just dyed cheesecloth, it seems outrageous! I could do better! I hit a sale in the paint department where their cheesecloth was only fifty cents a package..ooohh!..there are 4 yards to the pack..big difference! Personally , I did not want my curtains to look like new dyed cloth..I wanted it to look old and faded. Dyes are too even so I "invented" my own. This is the point of this whole post..how to make really old looking cheesecloth curtains! Buy the cheapest cheesecloth you can find..and while you are about it..by a bunch! It is so versatile and I will show how to use it in several ways over this next month. Now to make it appear old. Rip open as many of the packs of cloth as will cover your windows or however you plan to use the "old" cloth. Unfold and sort of fluff it out a bit. Now go make a pot of good strong coffee as you are going to need it! Make it really, really strong! When the coffee is ready, pour yourself a cup and pour the rest in a large heat resistant bowl. To this hot coffee add about 3 tablespoons of black acrylic paint and stir it around to mix it well. Here comes the fun part..plop all of your cloth into this concoction and with a large spoon start poking it around, all the while pretending you are a witch stirring some brew in a cauldron! Hey! You might as well get into the spirit of things! "Double, double toil and trouble! Fire burn, cauldron bubble.." Ok, enough of that..now leave the fabric to soak in the "dye" while you drink your coffee. After about thirty minutes, the coffee/paint should be cool enough for you to squeeze out the excess from your cloth. Once this is done..hang the cloth outside being careful not to smooth out all the wrinkles..leave folds and pleats here and there. This will add variations in color and makes a "natural" faded look. It will only take a short while before it is dry and then you can hang your curtains. Add a few rips by gently tugging at the cloth in different areas if you want to go that route. There is no need to hem or sew these at all. You can either drape them over curtain rods or use tiny nails to secure them.

I added a row of "family portraits" and will add a "diary". The portraits are simply old horror movie pictures that I found on the computer and printed in sepia tones. A bunch of old frames were haphazardly painted with the same paint we used earlier. Up lights will add a creepy ambiance to the room at night. A few more doodads from around the house and my parlor will be ready to receive visitors! Doing full blown decorations like this need not be expensive. You can incorporate things that you already have in your home. Sometimes, you just have to look at things a bit differently to see the possibilities. Granted, I already had some of the "props" for this room..the woodburning stove being stored there until it is reinstalled in the dining room and a few other things that I swiped from other parts of my house. Overall, my cost has been minimal. This entire room has been decorated for under $3! Not bad, not bad at all! A "finished" picture will come soon!

Moonbeams and Mimosa "Maracas"!

Tonight is supposed to be a prime night for "moon watching". According to the news media, our moon will be at the best position to view craters and mountains that make up its terrain. (Their quote made me snicker a bit..they said that our moon was getting "its day in the sun".) It seems that the three/quarter stage is the best time to view the moon. During a full moon it is too bright to get a clear view. I was rather excited about the upcoming opportunity to photograph this satellite in all its glory. I made sure that the camera batteries (plus extras!) were fully charged and dragged out the tripod for steady shots. A few extra amenities were gathered to make this outing a bit more enjoyable.. a blanket to sit on, a thermos of coffee and a few Beautyberry leaves to ward off any mosquitoes. I was ready to sit out for several hours of just staring at the moon. Actually, it was more like a few hours of just enjoying the cool breeze and the moon was just an added plus! As soon as it was dark, I headed out the door. Ezzy the dog ventured with me just in case any monster rabbits decided to roam the yard tonight. I peered at the sky..no moon. Clouds covered the entire sky, there were no visible stars nor a moon. I sat there a bit thinking that maybe it would clear enough for a few pictures but to no avail. Gathering up everything, I hauled it all back inside rather disappointed that my moon had jilted me. It did pique my curiosity though and I searched through my photographs. I found one picture of the three/quarter moon that depicted the craters well but I have a passion for the full moon and most of my pictures were of it. Still the craters and mountains were visible as dark blotches so I suppose I will be satisfied with what I have...until next time!

Earlier in the day, I visited my brother for a few minutes and on the way home I heard a curious sound. The path from his house to mine takes me through some rather large clumps of Sawtooth Palmettos. The noise was a quite loud rattling noise. I stopped to get a bearing on it and discovered it was coming from a Mimosa tree. There hanging in the tree were thousands of dried seed pods and the wind from the Bay was shaking them like maracas! My mind went flitting off to the story of the "Headless Horseman" with Ichabod Crane. The reeds and seed pods clattered about in the Disney movie to make perfect creepy "special" effects. Aha! If Disney can use it, why, oh why, can't I? I plan to use some of these seed pods in the entryway to my house for Halloween decorations. They are quite "dead" looking and will rattle marvelously if anyone brushes against them! It is just too sad that I live so far down on the Bayou that no Trick or Treaters venture here. It would be so fun! Occasionally, we have an impromptu party that night, but it would be delightful to share the decorations with others!

Its Fall!

Not really..not yet..well, maybe.. but only in my mind! Fall officially begins on September 22 and that is several weeks away yet. It is close enough though, for me to pull out all of the Fall decorations so my house will at least be ready for the change of seasons. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part that if I decorate for Autumn, cooler weather will follow. Or maybe I am still just a kid at heart and have never outgrown the wonderment of crisp, cool nights, bonfires and Halloween carnivals. I love Fall! There is almost a sensory overload with all of the glorious colors (oranges, reds and browns), the haunting sounds (leaves rustling, crows cawing and owls hooting) and the enticing aromas (baked apples, pumpkin bread and roasted peanuts!). With all of my senses bursting at the seams, I tend to over-decorate. I move from room to room towing boxes of stuff behind me. No room is safe..there is no place that is off-limits to my madness..well almost no place. I decorate the stairs..the kitchen..living room and dining room. Then the bathroom and laundry room get whisked into the frenzy. The bedrooms.. here I have to be a bit sneaky. My son really does not want pumpkins on his computer desk or pillows of orange adorning his bed and my husband refuses to have pumpkin and bat lights strung up above him while he sleeps. He is, however, ok with the orange pillows! (Need I mention here that he is colorblind??) But the guest rooms are free zones! Oh, and the entryway..my favorite..because it also qualifies as an outdoor decoration! There are lots of windows so everything in this tiny room can be viewed as anyone approaches the house. FUN! The entire house will be covered in garlands of bright leaves, pumpkins and scarecrows. I am like a mad woman..rushing around as if my very existence depends upon every inch of this domain being plastered with a bauble of some sort. Here, I must admit that my favorites are the scarecrows and the crows! There is just something about them that tickles my fancy. I have started collecting them so soon I will have an entire family. They just make me smile as they stand there with their painted on grins while holding tiny rakes or baskets of vegetables. It is funny how growing up on a farm, I never remember having a scarecrow in the cornfields. I suppose there were enough kids running around that putting up a fake man was rather pointless. You turn five wild and rowdy, country kids loose in a field and not too many animals dare stick around. Nor do I remember our house being decorated for Autumn, but mine will be! Everything will be in place, then I can start slipping the Halloween gewgaws into place! What a word! (Gewgaws -doodads.. trinkets. Pronounced as googaws") It seems to be a fitting word for Halloween trinkets.. gewgaws! Yep, sounds quite nice! Anyway, the house will be bedecked in its fall finery by the end of the weekend if all goes well and then it will be time for bonfires, s'mores and ghost stories! I love Fall!!!