Better Ghouls and Gardens

Better Ghouls and Gardens: Decorating for Fall


Yay! One of my favorite times of the year- Fall.


And with Fall comes Halloween and with Halloween comes decorations. And candy. But for me, mostly decorations.

I shared my pine cone balls last week.  They are hanging outside.

Inside I decorated the mantel since there really isn't much else to decorate around here. And this mantel is so crazy odd...weird proportions.  Any help it can get is always welcome.

There are bats left over from a previous Halloween.

Bats that I stitched up last year.

Love the plates from Safeway with Mr. and Mrs. Skull.

Lots of bones found around the neighborhood.

Deer vertebrae.

I love bones.

A wine bottle with a black crow plus gourds and little pumpkins.  A candle cork tops off the bottle.

 A plaster cast of Carlos's paw seems to fit right in.

 Beautiful votive candle holders from Target add a little shine.

Felt leaves from the pumpkin patch made by my chicas add a little whimsy.

In the mirror you can see the ghosts from last year 

flying over the doorway.  

Happy Haunting!

A Halloween Follow Up

A Follow Up on the Scary Halloween Story:

Last Halloween I wrote about a real life horror story that happened just around the corner. 

Click here for my Halloween post.

The neighbor who was charged with animal cruelty has  finally been to trial.

He was convicted of 57 counts of animal cruelty.

He will be sentenced in May.

Until then he is out on his recognizance.

The newspaper article here.

It's still a sad story. 

But I guess justice has been done.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!


Because this is a blog and because I have nothing else for today, I will do what all bloggers do in December. (Unless they are better organized, then they do it in November!) I'm sharing the Christmas decor from around the cabin.

Not much this year, guess I haven't been feeling the spirit yet. I wanted to do a pine cone garland again but for some reason the pine cones are just now falling. Not sure what the delay was. And we have not had snow in December. A couple of little snows in November got me thinking that maybe this winter would be like last: snowy. But so far, I think that was just a tease.  Not to worry. I know the snow is coming.


Mostly I decorate the fireplace because a) it could use some decorating- it has the oddest proportions! and b) there just aren't many other surfaces to decorate. The cabin has a tiny living space.  The living/dining area measures 18 feet by 12 feet. My bedroom is bigger than that.


And doesn't this look cozy?

A fire in the pellet stove.

Stockings hung by the mantel with care. 

(That crazy sun making it impossible to take decent pics.)

And some detail pics:

 Love these stockings. They reverse to "Nice".

Antlers make great stocking hangers.

 So do geodes. 

Last spring when the Big Guy was up, he went rock hunting with the neighbor.

Beautiful rocks now decorate every flat surface in the cabin.

My gorgeous Nativity scene.

In Salida there is the Holiday House. 

It is a non profit that accepts donations of gently used holiday items.

They then offer these items on a "whatever it is worth to you" basis.

I took a wicker light up Christmas tree in to donate and came home with this nativity.

The outdoor animals get in on the act.

Kaiser the carved bear wears a bow.

So does the unnamed reindeer.

(Again, that pesky sun, hard to get a pic. 

On this side of the house it is either bearing down or totally shaded.)

Reusing the frames from Halloween:

A little "Joy" on a ledge.

And last but not least, the Christmas tree!   Straight out of "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

 Many many thanks to my neighbor Sue for sending me this tree.

I was complaining mentioning that there was no room for a tree here and she had just the solution.

In the foreground you see the Thanksgiving puzzle, almost finished. 

One piece left,  waiting for Bunny to get home and do the honors. 

I will be so happy to get that thing off the only table in the house.

Outside I have the Christmas trees in the yard wrapped with lights. The neighbor and I wrapped them last year and because the trees are in "cages" to protect them from deer, I just left the lights up. All year. I was holding my breath when I plugged them in again in November. Amazingly, all the lights came on. A tiny Christmas miracle.

This pic is from last year.

One of my favorites.

The lights look the same this year, only NO snow. 

Bah humbug.

Happy Holidays to all.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

And I have to share.

Yesterday Carlos and I were walking down by the Arkansas River. There was a young American Bald Eagle fishing for his breakfast. We walked down hoping to get a closer look and he flapped off. I thought we had missed him but then I looked up. Always look up! He was perched in a tree about 25 feet away, preening. 

So incredibly awesome. 

Of course, my camera and phone were both safely tucked away at home. 

We will go back looking for him.  With a camera. 

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Something Strange in your Neighborhood?

Something weird and it don't look good?


I ain't afraid of no ghosts.*

In fact, I love ghosts. And costumes. And Halloween.
And with Halloween comes decorations. Or at least it does at this house. Or this cabin.

Because this year's decorating budget is less than zero and all of my real Halloween decorations are in Texas, I had to get creative.    It is so true that necessity is the mother of invention.
And poverty is the father of decorating on the cheap!

What did I have to work with?
Three tiny pumpkins that I actually harvested myself back when I volunteered with Colorado Farm to Table.  Some card stock in black and white plus some twine. A straw pumpkin leftover from last year. I looked for pinecones but had to settle for seed pods. Some pumpkin candles. Three smallish frames. And an empty Ball Mason jar.

What did I go buy? Two squashes and a couple of larger pumpkins. A $3.00 felt Halloween banner from Target.

And what did we end up with?

A wonderfully festive mantel.

Ghosts guarding the kitchen.

And B-O-O propped on a ledge.

Aren't you jealous?


Want to know how to make your own garlands?

It is so easy peasy I even made a ghost one to send to Belle in Florida.

The Ghost Garland requires twine, white card stock and a small hole punch.  (Or something to make holes for stringing.)

Search ghost images online or you can just use the one I found:
http://lizoncall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Happy-Haunting-Ghost-Banner.jpg
from the blog Liz On Call.

Print out three sheets of the 4 to a page ghosts on white card stock.
Then I enlarged to 150% and printed two sheets of 2 to a page ghosts.
Enlarge again to 175% and print one large ghost.
When you enlarge, you may have extra ghost parts on your pages so make sure you just print PAGE ONE only.

Then plop down in front of your favorite TV show and cut out all your ghosts. Punch holes in the top of their little heads. Cut a length of twine about 8 feet long. Tie a loop at one end.
Arrange your ghosts like so :
6 small ghosts, 2 medium ghosts, 1 large ghost, 2 medium ghosts and 6 small ghosts.
String them in that order and tie off a loop at the other end.
Done!

The Bat Garland requires a sewing machine in addition to black card stock.

Again, search bats online to find a template.  I used this one:
http://www.madebymarzipan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/bat.pdf
from Made by Marzipan. (She used hers for felt bats, mine are just card stock.)

Print out one bat, cut it out and then trace around that bat onto your black card stock.
Trace as many bats as you want, then cut them out. I had 13 bats, some a little smaller than others.
Get out your trusty sewing machine and, leaving a tail of thread, start sewing at the end of one wing, all the way across the bat body to the other wing and then once you are off the wing, let the machine keep stitching for about an inch. Add another bat, stitch all the way across allowing the machine to make some extra stitches again at the end.

Yes, you can sew through card stock.
Continue sewing your bats in a row until all of them are attached. Leave another tail of thread at the end.
Voila!  A bat garland.

The framed B-O-O just required some small empty frames and white card stock.
Using Microsoft Word I started with a blank document and picked the scariest fonts I could find.
The only real trick here is to space the letters apart enough to give you room to frame them.
Also, I may be the only person in the world that did not know this, but if you can't get the font large enough, you can just type in your own number for font size.   As in my font only goes up to 72 points but I wanted 100 points. Type 100 in that font size box and there you go.

My final project was the flower arrangement.

Bare branches and dead sunflowers stuck in a Mason jar. No water required!

Have a deadly time decorating.....


*Ghostbuster lyrics

No. 54:  Go out to dinner by myself...

or what it really says on the list:

54. Go to dinner in Salida by myself, sit at the bar and be fearless 
rather than eating frozen pizza at the cabin alone

      Thursday night was Halloween. 

   

      There are exactly ZERO children anywhere near our cabin so I knew I wouldn't be having any cute trick or treaters.

      The girls had cheer leading practice and then went on their merry ways, leaving the mama (me) at home alone. 

      But I had heard that in town there would be a re-enactment of the zombie dance from Michael Jackson's Thriller being performed on F Street.  F Street is the "cool' street.  (Hmm...how dated does that sound? As my girls would put it: "F Street is life." )

      A zombie flash mob.  

      Sounded entertaining to me.

    

      So after being abandoned by my darling children, I bundled up and headed into town. 

    

      I swear I passed a couple of zombies driving a Subaru station wagon on the highway- but maybe I  

just had zombies on the brain. 

Anyway, I think you can agree that this was totally worth it. The fact that I am living in a place where

fun stuff like this occurs, well, it just blows me away.  

          

If for some reason you can't see this video, please click HERE.

      Afterwards, I was frozen.  Standing on a street corner in 40º weather with the wind blasting through would have been no problem if I had realized just how chilly and windy it was. But I was underdressed for standing around outside.   

      Also, I was hungry

   

      And so, No. 54. was accomplished. 

      I walked into one of my favorite restaurants, the Fritz, and settled my behind on a bar stool. 

The Fritz from the street.

      After ordering a beer and dinner, I chatted with the owner and then waited for my food.    

      A couple of people with their faces painted like "Day of the Dead" figures came in.

   

      A comment by the gentleman sitting a few stools over got me into a health care discussion.  
      While I think the Affordable Care Act is a good idea in concept, obviously it has not had a successful start up. This gentleman had definite/different opinions and while I devoured a yummy ham and provolone sandwich with the most delectable french fries ever, we weighed the pros and cons of health care as we know it.  
      Unfortunately we did not come up with any solutions to improve the Affordable Healthcare Act or health insurance in general. 

But dinner was wonderful and I was totally comfortable sitting at a bar chatting with a stranger.
      This could have been a challenge because I did not want to sit by myself at a table, eating and  staring into space or at my iPhone. But I also didn't want to come off as looking to be "picked up".


      So I guess the reason for my success was simple. I went someplace small, where I was comfortable and where I was familiar with the staff.


      Easy-peasy.

     One more challenge accomplished. 

It's a Boo-tiful Morning!

Happy Halloween!!
It's a Boo-tiful Day!

Busy, busy and no pre-prepared post for today. Shame on me.  Running a bit late.

Instead I have a collection of ghosts and goblins and spirits from Halloween's past.

My kids don't usually read my blog much which is a good thing. Unfortunately for them, some of their friends do read it. I may be in trouble tomorrow.

But this is probably the closest I will get to trick-or-treaters out here in the country.

We've had:

Lala and a Geisha-

Love that Teletubby.

A butterfly.

A pirate and a Raggedy Ann

                                               

A devil.

(I won't say anything about playing to type here...)

Another devil and a... rockstar?

Boy has a theme going here..

I believe KISS inspired.

 Also rockstar inspired:

(And that moment where the parenting skills lapsed)

Teenage daughter as Amy Winehouse

At least it is just a Coke bottle in her hand.

Halloween Spiders and...

Halloween cats.

Halloween Hillbillies.

Another Halloween cat.

Plus Pikachu.

 Even some Halloween moms playing with a group selfie in the baño.

Not sure what these girls were- but 

the Halloween cast on Bunny was real.

And to make your Halloween complete, a recipe for dessert tonight.

Severed Halloween fingers:

Red or green food coloring if desired
Sliced almonds
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pinch salt
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:

Heat oven to 350°. I line my cookie sheets with Silpat liners.

Separate 1 egg. Set aside the white. In a small bowl, whisk together yolk, remaining egg, and vanilla. Set aside.

In the mixer, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add egg mixture, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, and mix on low speed just until incorporated. You can add the food coloring at this time or leave them "natural".  Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill until firm, at least 20 to 30 minutes.


Take out small chunks of dough at a time, keeping the rest chilled. Roll each piece back and forth with palms into finger shapes, 3 to 4 inches long. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. Score each knuckle lightly with the back of a small knife. Transfer fingers to baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.

When all fingers are formed, brush lightly with egg white. Position almond nails; push into dough to attach.

Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Cool completely.

To make the knuckles more creepy just shape them big and uneven. To keep them from puffing out too much roll the fingers extra skinny (skinnier than you want them to look if that makes sense). Try to get them out of the oven before they brown.

(Recipe adapted from here.)

Happy Halloween.

And this morning on my walk I passed 22 of these:

You know what that means, don't you?
Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

Everyone is Decorating...

The Fall decorations are out....

Everyone seems to be decorating!

I have company this week, my friend Cherrilla from Martha's Vineyard.   We have been playing and so I have NOT been doing any blogging.  But we did take care of knitting class earlier today.   (No. 51: 

Learn to knit or crochet)    I'll post on that next week. 

In the meantime, it seems the Fall/Halloween decorations are all over.

So a few pictures to inspire everyone:

I'm decorating:

The mantel gets pumpkins and antlers.

The front porch gets a mum and more pumpkins and gourds.

Another shot of the pine cone garland.

Kaiser the bear holds greenery.

The neighbors are decorating:

Maybe I need to take a little banana bread to 

the neighbors. They are looking a little thin.

"Witch's House-1 mile"

Wait, do I live one mile away?? 

Maybe no banana bread for them after all.

And O! Goodness!  Look who else is decorating!

Mother Nature herself.

The trees are turning...

Seriously, isn't this amazing? 

No, this tree is not on fire.

Looks like molten gold. 

And maybe this is jumping the gun a bit.

But isn't it pretty? 

Someone left their sprinkler on last night.

So Colorado may not have the reds of New England, but we certainly do have our Fall displays going on.

Get out and enjoy the scenery.

Back to my list next week.