Happy Halloween!

Have a safe Halloween!

I hope you have a great one!

 

Shelter from the storm...

After last week's ambitious fall cleanup I brought in 

my last roses of the season.

It's a good thing too because after Hurricane Sandy hit we received a share of the storm with lots of rain and wind. The trees are stripped bare and there is a coldness in the air now- It feels like mid November already.

  I took this picture the Monday evening from my office window.  I felt a little guilty enjoying such a beautiful sky when I knew how bad it was getting back on the East coast.   My heart goes out too all who have been hit by 

this storm in the East.

Such an unbelievable amount of devastation 

in such a short time.  

Just goes to show you when it comes to nature 

we are not in control. 

This Friday I am joining Liz @ Rose Vignettes

for Fresh Cut Friday

Queen Elizabeth Grandiflora roses

A bittersweet reflection....last roses of the season

Come in I'll give you...Shelter from the storm

click- Donate to The American Red Cross

I'm Joining Rose Vignettes
Fresh Cut Friday

Thanks for visiting!

Liz

Halloween Birthday Party!

Someone I know in San Francisco just had a Birthday  (#55) to be exact!

Because his birthday falls so close to Halloween he often has a party at his home.

He goes all out with his decorating and I thought I'd share some pictures with you!

Let's check out the details!

 As you enter in the front hallway he's got it all decked out...check out the chandelier!

 Things have gone batty!

 On the table in the entryway...

Tommy has a flair for ghoulish decorating!

  Let's make our way into his living room...

 Check out that mantel! 

Lace, skulls, tree branches, spider webs, spookie faced pumpkins and a graveyard cross!

 Spooky!!

In front of the sofa sits this arrangement...I like these fern branches, they almost look like their moving!

 Across the room is this freaky light fixture

he created...

 Spider webs and skulls 

(sorry it's not more clear) 

 Moving over to his dining room....

 What have we here....a skull served up on a tray!

Looking out to the back yard he's even got flair for the trees!  I bet these are cool at night with a light on them!

 Moving up to the bedroom..he's created a black chandelier draped with red curtains...

I think the he left this one waiting just a little too long!

Charming isn't she!!

She graced the bed during the party!

Black and white always makes things more mysterious!

 Happy 55th Birthday Tommy

 I think you threw a fine party!

 Tommy and Taylor 

Thanks for visiting and Happy Halloween to everybody!

I'm joining 
Kathe with an E for
Your'e Gonna Love It 

Fall Review!

I'm relaxing indoors (perhaps too much) 

these days.  

It's become quite a bit cooler here and I'm glad we've taken care of the outside prepping and now are ready for winter- a reality here in northern Michigan.

Today I thought I'd do a review my Fall

and Halloween decorating! 

(I've included links to each post)

Beginning of fall...

 My back entryway

First Fall Decorating

 Adding some fall touches to the mantel

Fall Mantel

 Crafting decorative projects

Centerpiece Harvest Basket

Pottery Barn inspired Indian Corn Project

White Pumpkins and Warm Fall Tones tablescape

 Scary adventures!

M22 Nightmare

Fun Halloween tablescapes!

Winnie the Witch is Back tablescape

Goulish Dining tablescape

My favorite!

Halloween table vignette

My Halloween Deco

Ready for Halloween and starting to

make plans for Thanksgiving!

I'm looking for a Turkey!!

Gobble gobble!

Linking up for the following parties:

Between Naps on the Porch
Metamorphosis Monday 

 

 A Stroll Thru Life

Tabletop Tuesday 

"

 
The Dedicated House
Make it Pretty

Sit With Me In My Garden

I just did a post on my garden 

blog, stop by and check it out!  

I love visitors!

Sit With Me In My Garden

Autumn Leaves have fallen...

The leaves are down and our yard was carpeted with them!  I took pictures before Dan started to clean them up.

 Everything is coated with leaves! My garden fairy looks cute sitting in the pot with leaves all around her- I had to take a picture!

 The sweet alyssum is still blooming

 So is the Sweet Autumn Clematis

 My garden statue stands among the heap of dead plants and leaves.  

 A cobbled set of stairs my husband and a friend created when we were doing the flagstone patio.  I thought they looked like they were a hundred years old yesterday and made for an interesting picture.

 They are at the end of this long half wall we had built many years ago.  This land has a continueous downward slop.   The original owners left it natural but the dirt was right up next to the side of the garage which rotted the wood.  We had our septic field rebuilt and while the bulldozer was there we had him swing around back and make us a path.  Then we had the wall built and replaced the siding.

 I finally gave in and removed the rest of the annuals so everything is now empty.

 Objects like this will go into the storage barn for the winter.

 What a mess of leaves! They're everywhere!

 I would have bet money these roses were never going to open up!  This is why I don't gamble!!

 Love the silvery tassles of this grass.

 We have a new species of shrubs- they grown their own brown leaves!

 The Weeping Mulberry tree made for a nice picture!

 The leaves of this Japanese Maple are just about to fall off but their color is so striking I had to take a picture!

 Leaves...leaves and more leaves!

 It's pretty to see but if we don't remove them our lawn will be ruined and it will get ugly quickly!

 These old Double File Viburnums have all been forgotten about.  They were transplanted here when we put on our new addition in 1996.  Their color struck me as interesting yesterday.

 Dan against the leaves-  it's a losing battle at times!

Are you familiar with the "Cat in the Hat" book by Dr. Seuss?  Do you remember the crazy contraption the cat brought in that was for cleaning up the house after he nearly destroyed it!  I've always said that this device with Dan's garden tractor reminded me of that crazy machine

Snicker....

It certainly makes a shorter job of cleaning up the leaves!

Hmm...where are Thing 1 and Thing 2 when you need them!

This old tree broke in half one year....needless to say it was dead and I talked Dan into leaving it for the birds...as you can see they've made good use of it!

It's big enough for me to stick my hand in but I didn't have the guts to!!  We have a Pileated Woodpecker that visits a lot.  I think he's resonsible for most of the larger holes on this tree.

 The sun was in and out all day and we actually got up to 80 degrees.  That was primarily why we spent a Thursday doing yard work that we would normally have done on a weekend.

 Almost done out front!

 The back is cleaned up now too!

This looks like an ad for John Deere don't you think!  He filled and dumped 10 loads of finely chopped leaves.  20 years ago we raked, and drug the leaves out on a tarp but after the new tractor came into our lives so did some new handy gadgets!  This was the largest garden tractor we could get without going into the higher priced diesels.  It's all hydrostatic controlled. 

Now after all the credit I've given to Dan I don't want you to think I wasn't doing anything! That's my corner I worked at through the day.  I emptied the dirt from all my planters and set them over here and washed them up for storage.  I got them all put in the garage too!  The three big planters in front of the garage are still there. Those plants are still strong and hearty so I decided they look nice for now and I'm leaving them for a bit longer.  I would bring things like this inside if I had room, but I don't!

I make a pile out back and in the spring I reuse it.  I buy that pre-fertilized potting soil in the bags but since some of my pots are so large I fill them with the old soil first and then top them off with some new.

The last thing we have to do is cover the lawn furniture.  I think we're about ready for the winter now!

Are you ready!!