Who needs lights?

   My little bit of decorating for Halloween meant putting a few pumpkins on the mantel in the dining room.  To be honest, that area looks like it has Halloween vibes all year so adding the pumpkins was all it took.  "Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate"...remember that poem from grade school?  That was going through my head when I placed the five Jack-o-lanterns in their home for the next few weeks.  "The first one said "Oh, my!  It is getting late!"  Yes, it is getting late...to be decorating and I have called it complete.  So, on to other things now!

  The five, glitzy pumpkins are from way back when the kiddos were young some 30 years ago.  Other folks would have tossed them a long time ago but not me!  They came complete with battery operated lights.  You can still get these at many different places but sure not for the $1 that I paid for them!  (I was amazed to still find the price sticker on the bottom!)  Now they are anywhere from $10 to $15!  I have treasures!

  I did not place batteries in the pumpkins as it does not bother me that they are not lit,  I thought that I would let them stay as they were instead of having to turn them on and off.  Well, that was the thought, anyway.  The setting sun had a different idea!  As I ambled through the room on my way to the kitchen, the pumpkins were all agleam!  The sun filtered through the trees, through the windows and hit the mantel in just the right angle to light my Jack-o-lanterns!  Well done, Mr. Sun!  Well done.

I Am Missing The Halloween Spirit!

   Being isolated down here on the Bayou has good points and bad.  Good...I am getting a lot accomplished, I do not have to fret if my hair is a mess and I have a whole lot more time.  Bad...I miss interacting with people (some), the Clue Hunt on the Bayou had to be cancelled (yet, again) and I am sort of entering a "dark" phase where I have an intense need for things to be eerily moody and shadowy.  Cheerful, pastel colors, perky sunflower themed things and overly sweet knickknacks are almost irritating.  The tastes have taken a sharp turn toward deep, jewel-toned colors, an obsession with crows and Victorian decor complete with heavy furniture and poor lighting.  (The lighting thing is great except when trying to read or do art pieces but it does disguise those dust bunnies under the sofa!)  

  You would think with this trend going on in the Little Bayou House, it would be exciting for me to be decorating for Halloween.  I love Halloween and all of its trappings but, this year (like last), there will be no trick or treaters, no clue hunt teams or even family members to appreciate the decorations.  I actually pondered if I wanted to go through the trouble of pulling out the boxes of decorations.  I did...finally and I attempted to throw a few things around to make it appear a bit more festive.  

  The china cabinet now looks vastly different with its overload of oddities.  I figured if I could get everything into the cabinet, the dusting would be a lot less.  I spent the better part of the morning unloading the usual dishes and then started filling the cabinet with strange things that have been collected over the years.  Well, that was done!  According to Son, the china cabinet is the "new storage bin" for Halloween decorations.  

  The only other decorations to make the scene are in the entryway.  It begs for anything in the way of Halloween since it has been painted a color called Burnt Umber. (Very dark, very moody...oh, and the same color as the living room.)  Instead of the usual Jack-o-lanterns and other orange baubles, a theme of off white and black set the stage for the small room.  Nothing fancy.  Just a few things here and there and, wham!..it is time to call it a day.  The decorating for Halloween is complete.  I am done...so done.  Hopefully, Christmas will find me feeling the holidays a lot more.

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!

Its Creepy Time!

   Well, we are back to this again.  This is eerily similar to the problem we had just 8 years ago.  Same wall, same problem, almost to date 8 years later.  My Halloween decorations were just coming down then when I noticed a wet spot on the wall behind the large picture.  Walls are not supposed to be wet.  Well, not only did the Halloween decorations come down but the entire wall did.  It was a mess!  A leak in the roof had caused severe damage.  All of the studs and braces had to be removed and replaced.  Then, new stuff was installed and a new wall was built.  The dining room was a giant mess and I had dreams of living in a haunted house.  Creepy walls are a must! 

  Now, 8 years later, the same thing happened when I removed that large magnolia picture. There was another wet spot!  (I am thinking that picture will not be rehung!)  I had grand ideas of decorating for Halloween a bit early. We had been in a month of rainy weather so it was a grasp at some type of entertainment.  I got far too much entertainment, as now, Son and I had to rip out the wall once again.  This time, a leak was found around the chimney.  Our "life-time" guaranteed shingling job is a laugh!  As a point here...NEVER, EVER hire a "friend" to roof your house after a hurricane.  That guy was a jerk!  Now we are dealing with his underhandedness and he skipped town not long after doing multiple houses. (This was after Hurricane Katrina.)  But back to our new-found problem.  Son is doing an excellent job of rebuilding what the rot took away.  The leak has been patched, rotted wood removed and the wall is drying. He has some really good ideas that should remedy this situation and make life easier for any future problems. He is my hero!

                          

  Since this is prior to my decorating the mantel for Halloween, I am almost tempted to leave that "haunted house" look for a bit.  I could throw a few skulls up there and maybe add some fake rats, spiderwebs and creepy "curtains".  The red glow from the heat lamp (trying to dry the wall) fits right in with the idea.  In all seriousness, folks, there is nothing scarier than knowing your home is falling down!  It makes me thankful that there are some pretty good repairmen in this house. 

Mummy Frog!!

    It is no small wonder that strange things can often be found on the Bayou.  Just mentioning the fact that I live on a bayou, gets folks' minds reeling with all sorts of odd ideas but, then, a lot of those ideas are factual and not in the least odd.  Still finding oddities on my hikes, in the gardens or even inside the Little Bayou House has become a quest of mine.  If a "treasure" is discovered, it often makes its way into a trove of quirky keepsakes.  These are often kept in the greenhouse as I have been told that the Little Bayou House is overflowing.  Just so you will know, it has been brought to my attention several times that I have been designated "The Keeper of Weird and Wonderful Things".  Perhaps this is an honorary name but, more likely, it is a nice way of saying "You are a hoarder."  To be honest, I do have a lot of things.  To be equally honest, not all things are permanently housed here.  They often go as quickly as they come.  

  Today, I had to laugh as yet another oddity was found.  I cannot call this one a treasure although the thought did fleetingly pass through the brain that I "should" keep it.  Better judgement ruled...this time.  Thankfully!  This was a frog.  Yes, a frog.  No, I did not keep it.  

  Just outside the kitchen windows, there sits a small pond.  Once, this held beautiful goldfish but Hurricane Katrina took my fish elsewhere so the pond sat empty for several years.  Now, the "Goldfish Pond" has become the "Frog Pond".  I am just as happy to have about a thousand assorted frogs playing happily in the pond as I was a dozen fish.  (A "thousand" is pushing it as far as the number but you get the idea.)  Early this morning as I was sipping my first mug of coffee, I sat listening to the froggy symphony, as I do each morning.  Then, a frog was much nearer!  Uh, oh!  First thought was that the critter was inside the house but then I realized that it was trapped between the window and window screen.  That little rascal had squirmed its way in there then could not get back outside!  When Son awoke, I told him the predicament and requested a bit of help in catching the critter.  I do not mind catching and holding a frog but I really did not want to lose it in the kitchen.  He obliged and set forth with the quest.  The tall french window was opened and he found a frog.  Well, THAT was definitely not MY frog!  Mine chirped!  This frog was a corpse!  It was a mummified, dried out, dead critter!  The poor frog had gotten itself tangled in a spiderweb and I suppose the spider ate well, I guess.

  Son handed me the dead frog.  Well, thanks.  Just what I needed.  I proceeded to go out the backdoor  to dispose of the rock-hard critter when I heard Son say "You know, that frog would make a really cool Halloween decoration. He looks kind of evil with his mouth open.  Sort of looks like it is giving an evil laugh."  I stopped in my tracks, peered down at the dead frog and started having wild thoughts bounce around in the brain.  I could....if I would...maybe by doing...NO!!!  NO!!! NO!!!  I AM NOT KEEPING A DEAD FROG!  With that, the frog was tossed out the back door but not before Mummy Frog and I had a photo session.  Yeah, not the best way to be disposed of after its untimely death but I did not want to give myself any time for second thoughts.  NO! I AM NOT KEEPING A DEAD FROG!  It IS rather evil looking, however...maybe?  NO!! NO!! NO!!  He is rather cool looking, though...in a sort of morbid way.  By the way, we never did find that live frog!

"Not For Human Consumption"

  Have you ever wondered just what they do to items that should be edible but are labeled "Not for human consumption"?   I never thought much of it until the past week or so.  After Halloween, Mark and I were wandering around one of the local stores when I came across an aisle full of seasonal decorations.  Well, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays so I racked up on wreaths, garlands and such.  Mark...well, he bought some of that Indian corn thinking it may be something I could plant.  I shrugged my shoulders and agreed that it might be interesting.  Now, I am not so sure.

  Back on Christmas Eve, the sweet Grand Princess suddenly exclaimed that we had to feed Santa's reindeer.  "MawMaw, do you have any reindeer food?"  Umm, well, maybe?  I did a bit of quick thinking and had the brilliant idea!  The Indian corn!  We had exactly enough ears for the reindeer!  Eight for the regular crew and one for Rudolf!  How could we go wrong??  I figured corn being corn would quickly draw every raccoon in the county to our yard and what they did not devour, the local deer population would finish off before morning.  Out we went to hang the lovely ears of corn on the driftwood trees that line the board path.  The kiddos were elated and I felt assured that all was well.  My ease soon turned to anxiety when about 2am, the corn was still intact.  Nary a critter came to eat the corn.  On the other hand, a few feet away, the sunflower seeds in the bird feeder were gone!  Nothing wanted to eat that corn!  Son, being a fine uncle to these tots, climbed out of bed, went out barefooted in the cold to wrestle with that corn.  He twisted and turned the kernels enough to make it appear that the reindeer feasted.

  Now weeks later, the corn is still dangling from the post.  What was done to that corn to make it unappetizing to critters?  Coons eat anything!  Anything except things marked "Not for human consumption" obviously.  Smart critters?  Anyway, Mark will be happy to know that a healthy crop of corn has sprouted on the ground where the kernels were dropped.  Perhaps I should salvage the rest of the corn to put in the garden next spring.  Maybe the coons will leave it alone and I can have lovely Indian corn for Halloween decorations!  It is worth a try and maybe it will be a tad more appetizing for the critters come a later date.  Of course, with the grandlittles not coming to the Bayou next Christmas, there won't be a lot of need for reindeer food.

Prettily Creepy! (Not to be confused with pretty creepy)

  When you are doing something like a haunted house or, in my case, a clue hunt, decorations demand a bit of thinking.  It is wise to plan out things far in advance then visit flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales since you never know what you might find that can be revamped into just what you need to set the mood.  While my theme for the clue hunt this year was not creepy and did not take a lot of time, it still needed items that I do not normally keep at the Little Bayou House.  Mark took me to thrift stores just about every week and we sifted through mountains of stuff to find just the right things to use.  A masquerade ball requires "pretty" things not creepy.  So, I went with prettily creepy!

  Last night, something was added to my decor without my intentions.  A floor lamp stand had been fitted with a hanging, beaded lamp from my daughter's room when she was a teenager.  Yep. I still had it.  The lamp was needed to bring ambiance to the "parlor".  While I did put the lamp in place, I did NOT actually know how nicely the thing would fit.  The lamp added a bit of flair to the room but the shadow added the ambiance!  Quite by accident, I discovered that the lamp would cast a remarkable shadow into the darkened hallway when positioned in just the right spot!  Ohh!  Creepy!  Or not...I think it is rather pretty!

  Shadows are some of those things that can set the mood for any type of Halloween decorations.  Shadows flitting across the porch wall and windows bring dread.  Shadows in the corners of a room causes the light in the middle of the room to be a bit cozier.  Shadows of lamps in the hallway...are just a happy accident!

Elegant yet...

  This time of year, Halloween decorations are plastered everywhere.  While I am all about the season, I am NOT all about some of the grisly items some folks deem as decorations.  I mean, yes!  Go for haunted, creepy, forlorn but you do not have to do gory.  It may be ok if the only ones to see it are adults but little ones do not need to be exposed to gruesome things while they are out trick-or-treating.  At least, cordon off the ugliness and make one section kid friendly.  That said, I am not against having skeletons, ghosts, mummies,  witches, Jack-O-Lanterns, black cats, bats etc...but it goes too far to see bloody body parts, torn out eyeballs and dolls made over to be zombies.  Folks expose their tykes to this mess then wonder why in the world the kiddo is afraid of the dark!  There is enough evil in this old world already.  We do not need to smack our little ones with it on a holiday meant for them.  Leave it be, folks. Leave it be.

  Like I said, I am not against Halloween decorations.  In fact, I decorate...or over decorate.  The difference is, I use a lot of what I call "Implied Creep".  Lighting, a few dusty antiques and..yes...plastic skulls or skeletons. It is just enough to make things creepy yet not gory.  The clue hunts each year allow me to have fun with decorating.  This year's theme is a murder at a masquerade ball.  Elegance is needed...albeit creepy elegance.  That said, the greenhouse is now an aviary/conservatory complete with tons of birds, plants and our resident hostess of the ball, Lady DeadMadam. She is attired in her lovely ball gown as she awaits her invited guests.  In a way, the Lady DeadMadam looks quite demure as she coyly peers from behind her butterfly mask.  I am not sure that anyone could possibly be frightened by our hostess.  Although she has seen better days, she is still rather elegant.

  So, folks, please consider the little kids that come to your door and set up a none gory spot for them.  It can be full of fun decorations but not gory, bloody body parts that will leave a bad lasting impression on their young minds.  Let them be tykes as long as they can.  

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!

October Time!

  Ok, so I am a day or so late but, hey, its October!!!  That means one thing.  I can admit publicly that I am decorating for Halloween.  Well, actually, I am a day or so late saying its October.  The decorating has been going on since about mid-September.  Yes.  I know.  There are those folks who would chastise me for being eager but, in my defense, I sort of have to put up the decorations this early.  The Clue Hunt on the Bayou runs the month of October and if the decorations are not up early, they will never get put up.  Besides...its no one's business when I decide to stick a Jack-O-Lantern in the window.  Don't like it?  Go home.  The Bayou is far enough down the lane that it is my decorations are not intrusive to any one's attention.  They cannot be seen unless you venture down that 400 foot driveway.  So, I decorate.

  As I was passing by the china cabinet earlier today, I stopped to glance inside and just had to smile.  The mishmash of decorations that fill the lighted cabinet is filled with memories.  Some recent...some from long ago.  It is sort of neat how Halloween can pull together both modern and antique pieces without a problem.  Usually, this cabinet is the first to get attention just because it offers so many possibilities.  The prized pieces fill each nook and cranny of the cabinet.  It does, indeed, make me smile.
  

 The entryway and bathroom are usually next in line to receive a makeover.  Each receives a new look with the orange and black.  My decorations are never gory but are either reminiscent of days past or have an implied creep.  It depends on the mood of the day.  With the first run of the clue hunt just days away, the entryway is receiving its "orange" makeover.  By the end of the week, the entire Little Bayou House will be happily adorned!  I love this time of year!

Whooo's there?

  With the old body still not cooperating in full, I have decided to postpone hikes to the far back corner of the property.  It seems too tiring to even make the attempt.  So, instead of whiling away the time outside, I am getting caught up on indoor chores.  While doing a bit of dusting in the dining room, I had to smile at the china cabinet.  Inside there is a wild assortment of fall and Halloween decorations.  Yeah, very rarely do I have china in my china cabinet. It just seems to be a waste of a good display area so it is usually filled to the brim with whatever seasonal decorations are on hand.  This time, owls seem to have taken roost in there!

  Mingled in with everything else is an odd assortment of owls none of which could be confused with a real owl.  Nope, those "realistically hand painted" owl decoys are left outside in hopes that they will scare away a few of the squirrels.  (That effort has proved futile, by the way.)  The owls in the china cabinet range anywhere from bright aqua to glittery black. They are just fun things that I have collected over the years.  I pull them out in the fall and leave them until the Christmas decorations force them back into storage.

   My smile broadened as a memory of Friend Owl wormed its way into the thoughts.  Friend Owl, if you recall, is the small Screech Owl that seems to have befriended me over the summer.  The little critter still hangs around the edge of the woods and will make a cackling noise when I am out hiking.  If I follow that sound, it is not hard to find the bird in amongst the branches.  It is as if the bird is calling for me.  Over the course of a few months, our friendship went from me first spotting the unsure bird to our being within inches of each other.   Not seeing the bird is one my regrets about feeling poorly.  Hopefully soon, I will be out and about once again.  Friend Owl and I can make up for lost time!  In the meantime, I will have to be happy with the owls in the cabinet.

Where has all the cuteness gone?

  Now time for a rant.  I was pulling out my Halloween decorations when something struck me.  Where has all the cuteness gone?  Back in the day...eons ago during my childhood...decorations were cute.  They were pretty.  Where has this gone?  

  Darling Daughter and I were shopping not to very long ago when, as usual, we ventured down the Halloween decoration aisle.  (You know the spot that pops up in July and is located right next to the Christmas decoration aisle that pops up in August.)  Anyway, she and I love to bedeck our houses for each holiday starting with Halloween.  As we ambled down the aisle we were bombarded with some of the most gruesome items to have ever been found on the shelves of a department store.  These things might just as well been found in some zombie movie set department, which is fine, that is where they need to stay.  I fully understand that some folks like this sort of stuff but not me and I do not think it is necessary to fill the brains of tiny tots with this garbage.  While we were searching for the elusive pumpkin or even a skull, there were three tots ( between the ages of say two and five) being subjected to severed heads with realistic wounds, dolls with hatchets in their heads and bleeding eyes and some pretty realistic looking innards.  These items were mixed in with all sorts of life-sized zombies that would reach out or scream at you whenever you walked past them.  At one point two of the little kids started crying because they were frightened.  Their dad started laughing at them instead of consoling the tots.  My heart was breaking.

   While driving home, Elizabeth and I talked about the whole scenario. The fact that the little kids were terrified of these so-called decorations says a lot.  This type stuff is not a good thing.  Some folks argue that since the stuff is not real, it should not matter.  It does.  Nothing needs to be so gory that little ones (and some of us older folks) are repulsed by it. Life is scary enough for kids, why make it worse.  Why desensitize our kiddos by slamming them with garbage that they are not ready to see.  If you want to have all of this stuff at your place...fine...keep it for older kids and adults.  Toddlers are not ready to handle it and they should not be expected to be able cope with it.  Stores need to keep this in mind as well and not display things in view of tots.  

  Keep in mind, I am all about having a bit of "fright night" fun but being scary and being gory are two different things.  The Little Bayou House does, indeed, have its resident plastic skeleton complete with top hat and bow tie.  It does have plastic skulls on display along with spiders, ghosties and bats.  There are the occasional groups of crows and ravens that inhabit the entryway and Jack-o-lanterns on the hearth.  None of these strike dread in anyone.  None leave lasting scars of fright.  They are just pure fun.  What happened to nice Halloween decorations?  Why has it all gone to gore?  I just shake my head in disbelief.

First Fire of the Season!

  Fall has just hit the Bayou and I have already made the first fire of the season in the old wood stove.  The old, cast-iron parlor stove never looked so inviting as it does right now.  The glowing embers give the entire room a bit of ambiance that it lacked just yesterday.  This stove is one that my dear Uncle Alfred gave to me just before he moved from next door.  He and I were big buddies so when he offered the old stove to me, I was quite honored. "Crawl up under the house and on the west side there is a stove.  You might have to dig around a bit to find all of the pieces but it is there and should be in good shape." he told me. Thankfully, my oldest son was still at home and did not mind going up under the big house.  Granted there was an ideal crawl space under the house that allowed plenty of movement.  My son toted out piece after piece and Uncle Alfred helped me to assemble the stove in his front yard.  We worked until he was satisfied that all the parts had been found. The stove has sat proudly in my dining room since that day and I would not have it any other way.  Every time I use it, I think of this dear old man and my buddy!

  Now, back to that fire and why it has been lit even though our temperatures were in the triple digits this afternoon.  No, I am not daft.  No, I did not have a fit of sudden chills. I just wanted the ambiance that only the old stove could offer.  I promise that it did not heat the Little Bayou House any hotter than it already was!

  The lighting of the old parlor stove is a "parlor trick".  It is merely a string of orange Halloween lights, some bubblewrap and a few twigs from the yard.  I needed the "look" for the upcoming Clue Hunt on the Bayou.  The dining room has been transformed into a study so the fire was a must.  Obviously, there is nothing better than curling up in a comfy chair in front of a fire place while reading a good book.  Fireplace with glowing embers...check.  Comfy chair....check.  Good book....check! The stage is set!

  I am sure that in the coming weeks, the parlor stove will be called into actual use.  Since nothing has been done that cannot be "undone", I am good to go.  In the meantime, I will light my "fire" and dream of cold, winter nights.....and a good book!

Its Halloween! Almost!

  With the clue hunt falling in the month of October, I do a vast amount of decorating.  Things need to be festive for Halloween but, also, render the impression of the theme of the hunt.  This year, most of the hunt was in out buildings so I was able to do a bit of actual Halloween type decorating.  It made me happy to pull my boxes down from upstairs and sort the accumulated items.  I have a LOT!  Still when it came to doing a tablescape for the clue hunt meal, I was at a loss.  The first hunt of the season saw the table decorated in a typical "Bayou" style with seashells and Spanish moss but since the month has progressed and it is closer to Halloween, I decided to change all of that.  I went strictly Halloween.

  First, an orange base tablecloth, then a black lace over top set the mood.  I had acquired some orange and black dishes that would look perfect so those were next.  My silverware and some cheap dollar store wine glasses were added for a bit of creepy elegance.  Now all I needed was finishing touches.  The same base centerpiece that I had used for the previous hunt came back into play.  I merely pulled off the seashells and the lantern from the top.  A skull and assorted bones were added to the moss and several large spiders were thrown in for fun.  Yep, it is always quite tasteful to have bones on the dining table!  Since I would be using the black bowls to prepare a vegan pasta dish, the plates looked a tad plain.  That needed fixing!  Hmmm.  I tried just about everything I had on hand but always seemed to wind up with one short.  Mini skeletons were meant to be napkin rings but one was missing a head!  Not that this should matter but, hey, my theme was not the "Headless Horseman"!  I pulled some small skulls and, once again, I lacked one.  Geez!  Then inspiration struck!

  Folded black napkins were placed on the orange plate and a single tiny lantern was set on top.  With the miniature lanterns lit, it gave the table a wonderfully warm glow!  I completed the look with lanterns hanging between the windows around the table.  Yep, I am satisfied with my last minute tablescape and think I will use this again for the next running of the hunt. In the meantime, the table will stay decorated!  Love it!

Family Portraits!

  October has to be my favorite month!  With it, not only do we have the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou, but it is the month of fall and Halloween!  It is a time that I can decorate to my heart's content with no worries of anyone thinking I am slap crazy.  Well, a lot of folks think that anyway but at least during October, I have an excuse.  This year is especially happy for me since I can decorate for Halloween AND the clue hunt.  With most of the clue hunt being in outbuildings, the house is mine for Halloween decorations!  

  One of my most missed decorations for the season is the "Family Portraits".  Several years ago, I did Halloween on a budget.  I wanted to see if there was a way to fully dress the house with minimum cost. There was.  For a mere $10, I managed to outfit the entire house.  I pulled a lot of Christmas lights, strange knickknacks from the cabinets and used my computer and printer to no end.  My favorite of these was the "Family".  I did a search for vintage movie monsters and came up with a jackpot of goodies!  These were printed in black ink and framed with an assortment of old frames (some with no glass).  The frames had seen better days so a quick splash of black paint covered a multitude of sins. 

 That first year, I placed them on a long sofa table with a string of white lights under a piece of cheesecloth.  This year, they proudly hang above the mantel and have the eerie lighting provided by a blacklight. It is amazing!  The light causes the paper to glow a weird blue and the shadows to deepen.  Perfect!

  My "family" portraits bring compliments from visitors to the Little Bayou House.  It seems that these bring back a lot of memories of happier times...memories when movies were decent. (With the exception of two photographs all are vintage movie monsters.  One is of Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd...not so vintage but definitely from a movie! And one is of a long ago mayor of Biloxi...not a movie monster but definitely vintage!) They are all from an era when times were better. I love my "family"!

When Boredom Strikes

  It has been a busy few days with the yard looking like a rain forest from the overgrowth of vines and bushes and the house beginning to resemble a flea market with boxes of stuff being packed to move to Darling Daughter's new home.  Even with all this busyness, I was beginning to feel a bit bored.  Little time has been allotted for crafts much less any sort of relaxation.  I knew this boredom was going to lead somewhere but I had no idea which direction.

  As my daughter is unpacking her belongings, she is also discarding things that do not match her decor.  Well, that is fine and dandy except that they get "discarded" to my house and I cannot leave well enough alone.  I wish I would have taken a "before" picture of the most awful looking hat rack that she so sweetly discarded my way.  It was one of those things that was popular back a few years when everything was coming up roses.  For some reason for a while, rose decor was all the rage.  I like roses...just not painted on everything from teapots to chairs...and surely not on hat racks. The hat rack was supposed to resemble a window frame that was repurposed into a useful item.  It had three "panes" (pains!) that were painted with some odd looking roses. That thing was, well for lack of a better word, ugly! That is when inspiration struck!  Halloween!

  Halloween is the time when you can take ugly, unwanted items and turn them into the most adorable decorations.  A little black paint does wonders on most anything!  It did on the hat rack.  What was once a weird creamy white "chippy" paint was smeared (literally smeared!) with a coat of flat black. I did not want this to look like some factory painted doodad.  The "panes" were then painted off white and Halloween inspired silhouettes were painted in each. I found the inspiration for these by doing a computer search for just that....Halloween silhouettes.  Since there is not a lot of detail in this type thing, I did not even draw the pictures...just painted.

Repurposing an old hat rack.  It once had pink roses painted on it but now..Halloween!!!

  I do think the hat rack is much improved.  So much so that I can now hardly wait until mid-September gets here!  Yep, I do decorate early for Halloween but it is just because of things like this hat rack...and boredom!  Moral of this tale...never throw away a good hat rack!  Turn it into a Halloween decoration!  You just cannot go wrong like that!  Ooooh!  Halloween!

OOOH! Creepy!

  Creepy Cloth is the new name given to old-fashioned cheesecloth.  Any of you that are near my age will remember the stuff that was a staple in the kitchens of folks who made a lot of cheese or jelly.  People nowadays have long since forgotten that the fabric was ever used in the kitchen during food processing.  This miracle cloth was also a staple in sheds and workshops at the same time.  It was great to use as a cleaning rag or in applying stains on woodworking projects.  The stuff was just all around useful.  Now, it has seen a rebirth as Creepy Cloth.  Creepy Cloth (aka cheesecloth with a little dye) fills the department stores this time of year.  Halloween decorations just would not be the same without the fabric. I know that my decorations would be lacking if I ever stop using it!

  My whole point of this is to tell of a new use I have found for cheesecloth.  Yep, it is still using it as a Halloween decoration but this time not as curtains or tablecloths.  Elizabeth and I have discovered the stuff is best used as wigs! We had a skeleton that needed dressing for her debut so she now has beautifully coiffed hair...err cheesecloth!  It is amazing how wonderfully this worked!  Elizabeth styled the cloth into an elegant updo for the skeleton and I think the bony lady approved!

  Then I was in dire need of a bit of Spanish moss for an arbor.  The moss I had was old and starting to shed a bit so I used a bit of ingenuity. Cheesecloth!  I dyed cheesecloth in a weird mixture of black paint and stale coffee.  The result was a delightful shade of "old gray".  The panels of cloth were stripped to about three inches wide, looped over the arbor and tied.  Once in place, the cloth was again stripped.  This created long, flowing "moss" trails.  I was pleased with the results but need to dye a bit more to complete the arbor.  A few lights and the walk-through arbor shall be "hauntified"! 

  Cheesecloth still remains a lot cheaper than the same stuff marketed as Creepy Cloth.  With a few things most of us have on hand, the cheaper version can be made look just like the more expensive type.  This will save you a ton of money if you use as much as I do each year.  Even though I carefully recycle the cloth from year to year, I still find the need to have more.  I keep a ready supply of the stuff on hand for decorating but, also, for jelly-making!  Imagine that?  I can use my "creepy cloth" in the kitchen!

Shall we dine?

  The Second Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou is drawing nigh so the Little Bayou House is quickly taking on a different facade.  Instead of the comfortable cottage-look, we are now living in some surreal world of Gothic visions and highly ornate surroundings.  Although this is most different than how I am accustomed to living, it almost feels as if this is how it is supposed to be.  Today, I kicked it into high gear and added more dark "glamour" to the house. Sheer bed curtains, tapestry coverlets, black lace tablecloths and crystal...lots of crystal!  Yep, this is about as opposite of how I normally live as you can get but, as I said, it feels comfortable.

  I scavenged about and found some unique table settings that should make my "detectives" feel as though I set a most elegant table for their pleasure.  A small repast is always provided for the participants but this time it will be a tad different.  Without giving away too many clues, I can safely say that this should pique the curiosities of those coming to visit this next week!  

  I am thrilled to open the doors to the groups that are attending.  There should be several nights of fun intermingled with a bit of fear. Excitement builds!  I extend a hearty welcome to those that will attend...."Shall we dine?"

I WANT IT!

  I have always had strange ideas of what would make a perfect gift.  It would either something highly useful (even a broom or a box of nuts and bolts!) or something sort of "off the wall" or uniquely, ummm, weird!  Since I am in the midst of this year's Clue Hunt on the Bayou, most everything tends to lean towards that weird side a bit.  I was on the pier and found the perfect gift for me if anyone ever volunteers to go get it for me!

  If you look westward to where the shore U-turns to the south, there is the most unusual looking dead tree.  Yep, a tree...and a dead one at that!  I just think this tree is strangely beautiful and would make a perfect addition to my clue hunt decorations. It has been there for some time now and the bark seems to have all peeled off from the trunk.  The small branches have also fallen into the marsh.  All that is left are the main trunk and large limbs which splay out like some gigantic hand with the fingers twisting wretchedly about.  It is amazing!  How neat would it be to have this in the yard!   To be honest, I do not know any possible way to move such a large tree, even a dead one such as this.  Still, as I sat staring at this gnarled chunk of wood, all I could think about was the creep factor that it would add to the yard. 

                                

 I want that tree!  I need that tree!  Any volunteers?  Isn't there someone out there who would just love to trespass on my neighbor's property, traipse about a half mile into the snake-infested marsh, chop down an insanely heavy dead tree (and not let it crack while falling!) and haul it to my yard and sort of reestablish it in the ground?  Please? At least it is free....sort of..kind of..maybe.  Rats!  I did not think I would have any takers on that request!  Still, I want that tree!

Its a good thing she's my cousin!

  I have company (well, family) coming to stay at the Little Bayou House this coming weekend.  My cousin, her husband and their adult son will stay three nights with us which makes me happy as this cousin and I are more like sisters than anything else.  She and I grew up together with only a couple of months apart in our ages.  When we get together, it is like things have never changed.  Still, I have to wonder just what folks think when they walk into the house and get a glimpse of my "decorating skills"!  Especially during this time of year, the house is quite....ummmm....different. It is Halloween! AND time for the second annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou!


  Since I have some heavy duty planning to do to get this clue hunt to be a success, things are plopped just about everywhere.  I have skeletons on the bed in one guest bedroom.  I have "ghost" portraits in the other guest bedroom.  One dining table is set for "high tea" while the other has typical Halloween stuff.  (Yes, I do have two dining sets at least for the time being as one is being stored for my daughter.)  The gaudiest black satin valances adorn the windows!  (Black satin with tassels to boot and none of that fits with the Bayou but Halloween brings out the best in me!  You can't get much better than that!)   Plus, I have acquired any number of broken clocks and have decided those should be displayed, too! And that, my friends, just shows how close my cousin and I are!  She went out of her way to find some more unique clocks to add to my collection!   Anyway, with everything stashed about in weird places, I am sure it should be an interesting visit for my guests.  

  The good thing is that, like I said earlier, my cousin and I pick up right where we left off with the last visit.  She has volunteered not only her help but that of her husband and son! My daunting job of cluttering...errr..decorating the house for the hunt will be a lot easier with many hands at work.  Hopefully, they will not get the heebie-jeebies over sleeping with skeletons!