Eerie Elegance!

   Being more or less confined (by choice) to the Bayou, I have to find things to do as entertainment.  One can only work so much.  A bit of frivolity is a necessity to keep the mind in good spirits.  Normally during this time of year, I am running hither and thither trying to make the Clue Hunt on the Bayou run smoothly.  To say that I miss it is an understatement.  I feel lost.  So, to compensate, I find things to ease the pain.  

  Since there is no theme of a clue hunt to follow with decorating this year, it occurred to me that I can play with Halloween decorations and do a few fun things that have been rambling about in the brain for some time.  It was time to dust off the cobwebs hidden there and pull a some ideas.  "Hauntingly Beautiful" is becoming a thing for the Little Bayou House.  While the place is not some haunted "mansion", the decorations still can give that illusion.  Decorate with whatever is here, add a few weird and wonderful items and enjoy the results.  

  It seems that the china cabinet is always a starting point for any seasonal decorations done here.  This year, as always, everything was removed, the cabinet dusted and then the fun began.  Whatever struck my fancy was stuck inside!  Black dishes, wedding crystal, a few pumpkins and some beads rounded out the collection.  In the lighted bottom portion of the cabinet, an urn of purple roses demand notice!  (I make it a rule to never use artificial flowers daily but, for Halloween, you just have to have purple roses!) 

  Now that the china cabinet is complete, I can move on to the newly repaired mantel!  Son completed repairing the water damage just in the nick of time!  The Hauntingly Beautiful theme will carry over there and then to the entire house.  It saddens me to think that no one else will see my efforts but, if it saves the sanity of being here alone, then it is worth it!  I shall enjoy living in this eerie elegance for a month!

Garden Glowies!

  So...I had another "Wow" moment tonight.  Just out of curiosity, I took a blacklight out to the garden.  It was amazing!  So many of the blooms glowed in the most curious hues.  Some leaves turned blood red while others were a more purple/red.  White blooms were far more brilliant than at other times.  There were rocks that glowed, some weird spot on the ground that glowed, some mushrooms and fungi glowed and even a critter glowed!   On a pure coincidence, a centipede creepy-crawled across the dirt and through the beam of light.  Yep.  That centipede had glowy legs!  The garden glows!  Who knew?

This whole experiment occurred simply because I had yet another idea for a future Clue Hunt on the Bayou.  I have been collecting odds and ends that glow in the dark (under the blacklight or alone) with the idea of having a glow hunt. These items do not include the normal "toy" type things but unusual items that no one would normally think have glowing abilities.  I have actually started taking a small blacklight with me on trips to the thrift stores in hopes of finding "glowies".  Since this is to be a future hunt, I figure I had plenty of time to hunt and collect things.  Pondering how I was to use the items, I wanted to test the blacklight in the garden to see how much effect it had.  I was worried that things would not be able to glow with the distance.  To my amazement, there were already natural "glowies" out there!  

  The camera did not want to participate well with the photographing of the 4 o'clock blooms that were brilliantly gleaming under the light.  In the photo, the extreme glow cannot be seen nor can the true colors.  I will have to play with things a bit to see how I can photograph things a bit more efficiently but, in the meantime, take a blacklight to your garden or patio.  You might be astounded by this different view of what is there!

Sometimes you just have to be a bit weird!

  For the clue hunt last year, I needed lots of paintings of cats and ravens.   When the hunt draws near, I get a bit antsy and have trouble sleeping so most of the paintings were done in the wee hours of the morning.  It was not uncommon to find me splashing paint on a canvas at three in the morning!  I found that exhaustion can bring out the creativity in a person or at least lessens the inhibitions of brush strokes.  I flipped out paintings right and left!  I had an entire wall of nothing but critters!  Granted, some of these were from things found on the internet but others were just from a very tired brain.  

  This year, I reused all of the paintings.  Not that they were needed in the hunt but just because I liked the pictures.  As matter of fact, they stayed hung on the wall in the living room for the whole year!  No one thought any negative thoughts of my weird choice in artwork or at least they never voiced it.  Then again, no one has ever thought to comment on the fact that I have a full sized portrait of Edgar Allan Poe in my living room either.  I guess maybe they just think that I am so unusual that anything else might be considered weird.

  Now, it has come to the point that I really do like these paintings and have been considering doing many more.  Why?  No clue.  Perhaps it is just for the fun of it!

 

The Fun Begins!

  The third Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou has started!  Our first run was last evening and I must say it was a success.  Things went off without a hitch and all seemed to have a great time.  The laughter and chatter were sure signs that the team members were having a good time.  

  One of the favorite places in the hunt seemed to be my greenhouse. Since the theme of this year's hunt is "Bayou Legends", this small outbuilding was transformed from greenhouse to "Hattie's Shack".  Son did an amazing job on building a "wharf and bayou" for the team members' enjoyment and puzzling.  Several of his ingenious clue-hiding spots were included in this area.  

  Inside, I removed all of my usual greenhouse stuff and did a major redo of the place.  I imagined myself as Hattie and how she might have lived.  Becoming a character in my hunts gives me a good insight on how to decorate.  I figured Hattie was a simple woman who gathered what she needed from the Bayou so I included items that had washed in with the tide.  This was easy since hurricanes tend to deposit some pretty unique items in my yard.  It is strange how I save these things and then can find the perfect use for them in the hunts.

  I will post more pictures as we progress with the hunts.  (I can't give away any secrets!)