Novembrrr brings a colorful leafy medley and on those cool mornings evokes the senses with comforting earthy aromatic notes, frozen and frosty blue lavender, and white amber dusted with cool mint and chilled, sparkling citrus.
Top: Chilled Citrus Mid: Blue Lavender, Spearmint, Peppermint Base: White Amber, White Birch
May your stuffing be tasty, May your Turkey be plump. May your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump. May your yams be delicious, and your pies take the prize, and may your Thanksgiving dinner stay of your thighs.
Katelynn, Sara, and I went to the DFW Founder’s Plaza in Grapevine. The girls are out of school for this week. And the day is too beautiful to sit in the house all day. We watched several airplanes launch and land at the DFW International Airport. When Sara got “ants in her pants”, we had to walk around for a little bit before we drove back home for lunch.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ~ Melody Beattle
Aloe Vera, Jade, Lety’s Sedeveria, Portylacaria Afra, and Wax Agave
I remember when I was little, my paternal grandmother used to love cacti. And she also had them for years. Every year, she re-potted some of them. And therefore, she had her fingers bricked by a gazillion of the stingers. But she didn’t care, because she loved these plants so much. I like them too, but not that much. I love the beauty and sight of cacti. And I love that these plants can live without water for months. Their blossoms look so beautiful.
So, to make this story short: I went to the local nursery to get a small Juniper and a Pine tree for the Christmas season. While I made my choices on these trees, I stumbled across a shelf with succulents. The ones with the ceramic pile of books caught my interest. And I decided to take one home. It contains an Aloe Vera, a Jade, a Lety’s Sedeveria, a Portylacaria Afra, and a Wax Agave. The girls are fascinated, and keep asking: “Are these real plants?” After I explained a few facts about succulents to the girls, they just kept looking at these small plants. Let’s see, how we will do in a few months. 😉
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
Hiking wasn’t always the fashionable pastime it is today. Before the Subarus and the Jeeps and the Patagonias built an industry around the activity, walking – of any kind – was considered an activity for the impoverished or the vagrant. The Romantic era of the Victorian years inspired the likes of Walden and Thoreau to reconnect with nature and that, in turn, inspired the landscape architects to design parks with excellent walking trails (looking at you Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park fame). Walking then became something of the educated, the unhurried, the luxurious.
Until John Muir came along and walked his way through the Sierra Nevadas in California and demanded that not only hiking, walking, meandering, sojourning, whatever you want to call it to be accessible to every American citizen, but that the country should actively preserve natural areas of pristine ecology and beauty. So in 1890 he petitioned to create the National Park System and we were endowed with “America’s best idea” – Yosemite and Sequoia National Park. But even before Muir, on the east coast, a small group of people had banded together in 1876 to form the Appalachian Mountain Club, which aimed to protect and preserve all hiking trails along the historic mountain range and develop new ones.
This morning, we experienced our first frost in Connecticut. But this didn’t stop Kevin and me from driving to the Kent Falls State Park and doing a little mid-morning hike along the falls. We made sure, we had an extra layer of clothes on. And up the trail, we went. The part of the Kent Falls, seen at the bottom of the trail, is only a small portion. The falls have a drop of 250 feet in total. Since they wind around the corner, they can’t be seen simultaneously. Kevin and I had to hike up a steep trail to get an idea, of how big and how long the falls were running through the hill. Unfortunately, we still didn’t make it to the top. However, the part of the trail we’ve hiked was so worth it.
Today I cleaned out our greenhouse. It was time to get rid of the wilted tomato plants. The basil and peas were ready to get pulled up as well. When the cool wind blows outside, I’m still protected from it inside the greenhouse. It’s not too warm or too cold. Therefore, it is fun to work in there. The sun was ready to set when I was done for the day. I captured several photos before I went back into our warm house.
I decided to make a Woodland sign since I still had another unused pumpkin wood sign. Recently, I ordered some rub-on transfers from Amazon. And they are perfect for making signs and ornaments with them, after coloring the pumpkin wood sign completely in white chalk paint. Once, the paint was dried I rubbed on the transfer sticker. As a finish, I used antique wax to stain the sign. Now, the wax is dry. And the sign hangs on our living room wall.
Kevin told me two deer were in the forest when I returned home from picking up Sara at school. So, we went down to the upper tree line to check if they were still there. And sure enough, the two young ladies hung out on our property. Deer #1 kept her distance at the other end of the tree line while Deer #2 hid behind a tree. It took us a moment to see her. She was well camouflaged in the forest. Smart girl! After we watched them for a while, we guessed Deer# 2 got spooked and made a leap onto the neighbor’s property, where she was waiting for her sister to come along with her. Soon, they were gone in the underbrushes of the forest. Kevin mentioned getting a deer blind. We can watch all kinds of wildlife visiting our property. We still haven’t seen Bruno the Bear yet.
This afternoon, I watched Momma Squirrel having an adventure with her two pups. The weather was sunny and warm enough to hop around in the trees. Since most of the leaves dropped to the ground, Momma Squirrel had a better eye on her offspring. She made sure, they were all safe on their playground.
Later on, I went over to my neighbors’ for a little chat, while my dinner was simmering on the stove. Now, that it gets colder, he provides the birds and critters some sunflower seeds. I haven’t put mine out, yet. It is still too warm. And Bruno, the Bear, might roam around in our neighborhood. Probably in another week or two, I’ll be more comfortable to add a bird feeder to my yard. For right now, I do some birdwatching in my neighbor’s yard.
Joshua is not happy that Daylight Saving ends tonight.
Joshua was not happy when I told the pack that they had breakfast and dinner one hour later, from now on until March: “WHAAAT? Do we have to wait until dawn? What is this sorcery? I don’t understand it. But if you say so, I guess it is what it is. Only humans get this crazy idea, of changing their clocks back and forth. And they are supposed to be the most intelligent species on this planet. … ” … As we can tell, Joshua is on a rant about the end of daylight saving. In the USA, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and some Caribbean Islands, we will change our clocks one hour BACK.
Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is a traditional Mexican holiday celebrated on November 2. On this day, it is believed that the souls of the dead return to visit their living family members. Many people celebrate this day by visiting the graves of deceased loved ones and setting up altars with their favorite foods, drinks, and photos.
This afternoon, I took another peek at the leaves in Echo Lake Park. And with sadness I have to say, the “Leaf Peeping Peak Season” is over. Here and there are trees still dressed in Autumn leaves. A lot of them are bare, now. I can tell, that November has arrived in New England. Well, I will enjoy what is left for the rest of the season, before I experience my first real Winter in almost two decades.
Now in the darkening of the year the veil between the world wears thin and those gone on ahead draw near. In the hours of quiet remembrance that the waning season brings, we may feel their whispered presence like the brush of a gentle wind.
Blessed Samhain!
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Samhain ~ The Summer’s End
Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on October 31st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. The most magically potent time of this festival is the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle. In the country year, Samhain marked the first day of winter, when the herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre. The hay that would feed them during the winter must be stored in sturdy thatched ricks, tied down securely against storms. Those destined for the table were slaughtered, after being ritually devoted to the gods. All the harvest must be gathered in, barley, oats, wheat, turnips, and apples for come November, the faeries would blast every growing plant with their breath, blighting any nuts and berries remaining on the hedgerows. Peat and wood for winter fires were stacked high by the hearth. It was a joyous time of family reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. As a feast of the dead, it was believed the dead could, if they wished, return to the land of the living for this one night, to celebrate with their family, tribe, or clan.
Before I drove Sara to school, I warmed up the car and captured some photos with my Nikon. The sun just rose above the horizon, when I could see the fog past the trees in the valley. While we had no fog up on the hill in Watertown, Oakville was covered in a blanket. Sara’s school is about 300 ft lower in altitude than our home. The Autumn fog looked so pretty this morning.
Another Sunday has arrived to show off some of my Jack-o-Lanterns of the years 2013 and 2014. Some I carved for our local “Family Fright Night Campout”. And a couple of pumpkins I carved for Halloween night. The white skull pumpkin is from Courtney. She asked me if I could capture a photo of it. It looked so cool I had to add it to my Jack-o-Lantern photo collection.
Yesterday, I went to the Veteran’s Memorial Park in town after I was at Echo Lake Park. I had a nice Autumn photo walk around the place before I went back home.
It has been two weeks since I visited the Echo Lake Park. And there is a difference almost like day and night. More trees have changed into their Autumn dresses. And the ones, that had changed already show their bright colors of crimson and gold. The sun peeked from behind the clouds. And it was quite windy, today. But this didn’t stop me from shooting some photos.
There still are a lot of emerald-colored trees in the forest. However, the golden colors become more and more present as the month of October goes on. I just hope we will get some crimson mixed in as well. Nothing in sight, yet. But, I don’t give up hope. It’s still too early to say, how the leaves will be at their peak in another week or so.
Diddlina is Diddl’s girlfriend. When I was younger, I collected everything about Diddl and his friends. I even made my own journals by drawing pictures of them. In October 2005, I created Katelynn’s Trick-or-Treat- bag myself. The bag I had from a previous occasion. I imaged the concept, traced, and clued the tracing to construction papers. The broom got some tinsel I found in an art supply store. I used a black pen for coloring the face, hands, feet, hat, and costume to give it character. And voilà, Katelynn had a Trick-or-Treat bag like no other.
The remnants of the post-tropical cyclone “Philippe” moves through New England and Canada’s southeast Atlantic coast, this weekend. And we have a cold front approaching from the west, which brings heavy rains and gusty winds. So, we are getting drenched in Connecticut. With all the rain we had this past Summer and in September, there seems to be no break from the rivers rising over their banks and therefore flooding the region.
Our pets seem to enjoy resting in the cooler sunroom, listening to the rain, and taking a snooze on their beds. Except Zoey: She wants to get out so bad. But she doesn’t like to be wet while doing her business. She looks outside and hopes for the rain to end soon.
The fog was so dense this morning. Kevin told me, his co-worker ran almost a deer over because it was standing in the middle of the road. He saw it just shortly before he almost hit it. The deer must have been disoriented due to the density. Who knows, what happened to the deer this morning. Let’s hope, it made it safely to its destination. Up at our house, the fog rolled in, rolled out, and rolled in to roll back out. It came in waves until the sun had enough strength to make the fog disappear. The rest was a nice Autumn day.
Katelynn was at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch for the first time. Oh, she had so much fun playing with the straw. Kevin and I had to fish it out of her clothes later, She was so busy throwing the straw in the air, it went everywhere. The next day, we dressed her up as a lamb. I made the costume myself. The head was a bit big for her. She enjoyed going to Trick-or-Treat with it.
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2005
It was the first year, we celebrated Halloween at our new house. I made a DIY-Diddlina candy bag for all the goodies, we would receive from going to Trick-or-Treat. On the other hand, Katelynn was still little and a bit unsure, if she really liked this whole “Trick-or-Treat” thing. When we walked from door to door, she wasn’t very happy. Once she had some candy, it wasn’t nearly as bad anymore. But she did not like the door-to-door walk at all. A year later, this would be a whole other story. …
Kevin and I hiked in the park for a little bit. Unfortunately, I had the wrong shoes on. We didn’t make it far on the trail before we turned around. But we enjoyed the slow change of leaves. When we walked past a fish pond, Kevin saw a chipmunk and wanted to see where it hid after he went up a small hill. He found an entrance to a den. When he walked down, something jumped against his leg. Kevin looked closer and saw it was a frog. The little Pickerel Frog was patient enough for me to take some photos before it leaped across the trail to get back to the pond. Beautiful critters, we see when we go outdoors.
Since the weather was sunny and warm, I drove down to Echo Lake Park. The Autumn leaves are coming along well. The gold and crimson are showing through. But there is still a lot of green at the lake. Maybe another week or two, when Autumn will be at its peak for this year.
In 2004, I saw a little lamb costume for Katelynn. She was so cute. Unfortunately, I made the hat piece a little bit too big. But that was okay. She had a lot of fun getting candy on Halloween night.
Colonization of the area today called Watertown began around 1657. At that time, the colony was called “Mattatock”, though it had several variations in spelling through the years. The land where Watertown is now located, having originally belonged to Mattatock, officially changed its name to Watterbury (now Waterbury) by record on March 20, 1695, by consensus of a council. The original Colony of Mattatuck, which became Watterbury, then Waterbury in name, comprised a much greater land area than Waterbury does today. Thomas Judd and other families were among the first investors to buy the land as a group. The Town of Watertown was officially incorporated in 1780.
Back in 2003, Kevin was on leave for Katelynn’s birth, from Iraq. Before he had to go back for another couple of months, we went to the Commissary. Kevin looked in a box filled with ‘Jack-o-Lantern’ and found the perfect pumpkin. That squash looked like it fell out of a painting or was in the story of Cinderella. Kevin knew he couldn’t be with us for Halloween. And I wanted to make something really cute for Katelynn. Kevin and I found a booklet, and we picked the perfect stencil. Kevin said: “I want you to make the pumpkin as beautiful as you can, capture a few pictures, and send them to me on Halloween! I will be stuck in Iraq, again. But I want to be a part of it! It is Katelynn’s very first Halloween.” Said, and done! Since our little family was ripped apart for this special day, the ‘Pumpkin 2003’ will always be my favorite. It was an emotional one. From that day on forward, I made a tradition out of pumpkin carving. Every year, Katelynn gets her stenciled ‘Jack’. And when Sara came along, she got her own ‘Jack’, as well.
I will introduce some pumpkins every Sunday throughout October. Enjoy, and maybe get your own ideas! If you like to show me pictures of your Jack-o-Lantern, feel free to drop a link in the comment section below. I would love to see your artwork.
October Autumn leaves of red and gold that crunch beneath your feet, Pumpkins on front porches, candy corn, and trick-or-treat, Tart and tangy cider, apples ripened on the trees, A hint of winter coming on the chilly autumn breeze.
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My favorite month has arrived! October has all the beautiful Autumn activities I like the most. We can go pumpkin picking at the farms; wear sweaters, while shopping for Autumn goodies; and eat and drink a lot of Pumpkin Spice everything. and watch the leaves finally turning in beautiful shades of gold, orange, and red. In the meantime, decorations will go up to make our house and yard look more spooky for the Halloween season.
Tanja's Little Corner of The World 