99 Days Of Halloween

Pumpkins in our front yard Yes, I planted pumpkins in our front yard 2 months ago and I'm as excited as a little kid, watching them grow! I've never grown them successfully before... EVER! The seeds I used were from last year's jack o'lanterns that I carved with the grandkids. Theirs were 2 different kinds of mystery squash-kins... squat and super hard to carve. Mine was a classic carving pumpkin from a local grocery store. I started the seeds in my greenhouse exactly 3 months ago (April 29th) and you can see how successful that was!  Classic pumpkin Piggyback (oops, the top one rolled off) Dangler (I'll have to add a support this one) Jack-B-Littles for the dolls! There's 6 mounds of pumpkins across the front of my new flower garden bed with some fresh compost/soil. Maybe that's why they're so very happy. The 'Jacks' are marching forward across the lawn and sprawling backwards towards the house thru the bed of cutting flowers and sunflowers.  Su...

and it's freaking HOT! I have to admit that once again I hadn't planned ahead. Getting myself psyched up for a late October holiday when it's only July and hot as Hell is a lot harder than I expected. Here in S Portland it was 100 degrees today, 85 degrees in my work room. I live in a large old house without AC. Yeah, I suffer in the heat. I could put a small air conditioner in my window but it gets really hot maybe 10 days total... I decided to not bother. A fan does the job okay and when it gets too hot I move my project downstairs or outside to some shade. Today I worked on sorting & organizing my supplies, for decorating and crafting. I've been a vintage seller and avid crafter for decades so I have a LOT of sewing and craft supplies... fabric, yarn, buttons & beads etc. Keeping it organized is a constant challenge. I thought about going 'Kondo' on it but as soon as I donate something, I need it within a month and it's not easy to replace a 50 ye...

October 31st. Halloween! That word makes me nostalgic for a night of plastic masks, bowls of homemade vegetable soup for dinner, a steady drizzle (classic Oregon late October weather) and dashing from door to door yelling Trick or Treat! Afterwards we brought our loot home for Mom to examine before we got to eat the full-size candy bars. This was a yearly one-night event when I was a kid growing up in the outer suburbs of Portland, Oregon in the 60s.  Fast forward to 2020. Yep, if you do the math I’m an old lady and I still LOVE Halloween! It’s a billion dollar industry and commercialized, monetized and advertised up the wazoo but that doesn’t bother me a single bit. Bring it on! I’ve always said I love the MONTH of Halloween… all October long. This is a big birthday month in our family including both the grandkids, sister, niece, honorary daughters AND myself. We have parties and cake galore! The weather is downshifting into winter but fall is often sunny and warm during the d...