Friday, December 10, 2010

It's Snowtime!

Are you ready for some snow?


Or maybe you're already experiencing some where you live? We're getting a snowstorm Saturday night/early Sunday morning, but only about 2 inches, maybe 3. All right, so it's not a true snowstorm, but where I live people will go crazy. The grocery stores will be packed as everyone will rush out to fill their cabinets and fridges as if they were poor Mother Hubbard. I'll probably join the madness, too, as there's something about snow that gives me the munchies!
From February earlier this year, snow covered berries in my backyard:


Of course, snow means Snowman time! I don't know what it is about Snowmen, but I love them. Below is a pic of a small part of my collection, seriously, only a small part.


Here is my favorite fellow. He is Rodin, sculpting "The Thinker".


This next guy is my second favorite. I totally fell boots over hat when I saw him with his bucket of snowballs for sale.


The tasmanian devil and a snowman.


Rudolph and the Abominable Snowman. I dropped him one year, breaking his finger. I didn't have the heart to throw him out.


This little guy can't seem to figure out the lights.


And in case you're wondering, I'm a total Hallmark addict. I'd like to say that I avoid their stores at Christmas time, but I can't. It's like my feet make me go inside and before I know it, I'm spending money on some horribly cute (to me, anyway) item!

Thanks for dropping by :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

~Goodbye Fall~

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape - the loneliness of it - the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it - the whole story doesn't show."
- Andrew Wyeth



Gathering Leaves
by Robert Frost

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Tea Under the Halloween Moon

What a lovely day to be outside!


Autumn is such a delight with it's warm days and chilly nights.


Today's beautiful weather is perfect for sitting outside and reading a good book!


While pumpkins are everywhere with their silly carved faces!


But, oh my, look at the time.... The sun has set and now I must set up for the tea party.


Let's see... whatever shall we make for our tea?


Pie sounds divine! Oh how yummy!


The table is all set.


And the moon is sitting high, lighting up the night with her round face.


Please pull up a chair and have a seat. There's room for everyone here!




Would you care for a cup of tea? You shall have any tea you wish for. All you have to do is think of your favorite tea and that will be the tea that flows from the sprout.


Sweet sugar cookies with a pumpkin face! They are sure to rot the teeth.


Cupcakes galore! And covered in sprinkles, too!


Chocolate is soooo hard to resist! And these little cupcakes I could eat morning, noon and night! Couldn't you???


Thanks so much for dropping in for tea!


It's been such a delight having company!



Thanks to the marvelous Anna at Frosted Petunias for hosting this Halloween Tea Party Under a Full Moon. Please visit her blog for other magical Halloween tea parties!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Welcome To My Lair!

Looking to hex your ex... Or turn yourself into a femme fatale... You're in luck then!




Welcome to my lair!


Don't worry about him. That's just my cat Mustafa... he only bites on command!


Come inside...


My magical teapot. When plumes of smoke fill the air, your true love's face will appear.


Now here are my potions. All guaranteed to work in some way.


The essence of Aphrodite resides in this Greek vase.


Every good witch should know how to read!


Shall we get to work then? Remember, what we do here is secret and you must never tell.


Here is your potion so off you go!




Stop back anytime as long as coin is in your hand!


After all, you're now:



Thanks for visiting my Halloween Party. Please visit all the other Halloween partiers hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist.

Friday, October 15, 2010

My Haunted House!

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a little girl and her two sisters.


One day, their parents whisked them all away to a whole other state. A state that had no hills or valleys. Only rows and rows of yellow cornfields and a flatness without end. They moved into a very old house in a very old neighborhood. The house was made of a grey stone far older than anything the girls had ever known.


The main living floor was quite normal: Living room, dining room, kitchen, master bedroom and spare room.

But the staircase... the staircase was like something out of a movie and so amazing to their little eyes. It went up a few steps, turned squarely, then more steps, another square turn and then the last of the steps. They had never seen a staircase like this before!

The second floor was a large dormer that became my sisters' room with an unfinished room off to one side. Now this unfinished room had no real floor and was very dangerous for anyone to walk across. The door was always kept shut. My grandparents came shortly after we moved and my grandfather finished the room and it became mine. And oh, how I loved that little room with it's slanted walls!


Being so young, I'm not sure how long we lived there before it became apparent that the house had ghosts.

In the living room, my mother had hung her cuckcoo clock. Alas, one of the ghosts didn't care for the little birdie that sang out on the hour. Every so often, at night, when the clock struck 3am, the ghost would pull it down from the wall.

Now maybe you're thinking that it just fell on it's own, but see... the clock would always be on the floor on the other side of the room! And in the spare bedroom, there were 3 shelves on the wall above a desk. These shelves "fell" at night, but instead of landing on the desk, as if they'd fallen on their own, they'd be on the floor past the desk.

My mother saw one ghost quite often. She’d catch a glimmer of something passing by the living room or the dining room. Usually, it was a flash of a long white gown.

Now upstairs in the big dormer room, the ghost roamed as well. Sometimes in the mornings, my sister J would say "My white blouse came out of my closet and floated by the end of my bed." J also saw something 'dark' floating directly above her bed. Our parents thought maybe a bat or some bird had gotten in and searched the entire house to no avail. To this day, she does not like to talk about the entities she saw as a child.

Not long after we moved here, I had trouble sleeping and absolutely refused to go to sleep unless the light was left on in my little room. However, the ghost had other ideas and would not only turn off my light, but shut my door. I’d wake up screaming. And then there were the times I’d be playing in my room, in the middle of the day and my door would just shut. Once the ghost even locked me in my room!

Here is a view of my room's window from the outside. The original photo was one of the whole house and no one ever noticed anything wrong with this window until we scanned it into the computer. What do you see?


We lived here for about 2.5 years before finally moving back home.

More recently, my sister K and her husband, after much traveling, decided to rent a small house about 2 hours south of me. Here in this house, she'd hear 1920s style music randomly playing. No radios or TVs were on. When K stood at the kitchen sink, she'd feel someone standing behind her. K would turn around quickly, thinking it was her husband or son, but no one was there. Then one day, she started to see a little boy, aged about 8-9. She only saw him when she was in the bathroom. He'd walk by the bathroom door, into the kitchen and disappear into her bedroom.

I became leery about visiting her house, but finally, went. I didn't see or hear anything while there but... there was an incident....

We were playing Yahtzee, a game I rarely do well in. At the start of one of my turns, I said "Little boy ghost, if you are here, then please let me have a yahtzee". I rolled 5 fives in one roll! And to prove it wasn't a coincidence, I asked the ghost two more times and rolled two more yahtzees. K finally said that she was getting spooked, so we stopped. A few weeks later, my sister asked the ghosts to leave the house. K & family had no more paranormal activity for the rest of the time they lived there.

Now I still love old houses, but I don't think I'd like to live with any sort of ghost again. Once was definitely enough.

Thanks so much for dropping by and reading this long post!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

White Wednesday

White Wednesday, hosted by Faded Charm, has arrived!

I have always been fascinated by mermaids. While shopping at one of my favorite stores, which is now out of business, I came across this beauty.


For a brief time as a child, I wanted to be a mermaid. And occasionally, as an adult, that fantasy sneaks back in and I think how great it'd be... to be a siren of the sea... to spend endless hours swimming in the ocean, sunning myself on rocks and collecting shiny objects.


But then, I start to remember things like... I'm not a good swimmer... I don't eat seafood... Saltwater wreaks havoc on my hair... I like my toes... Ocean water is really, really dark at night... and sharks scare me!


Thanks for visiting my White Wednesday!

Seashells and white sand courtesy of the beaches of Siesta Key.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

~ White Wednesday ~

So last week, I was blog-hopping and one of the blogs I came across had a "White Wednesday" post. I followed the link listed and that led me to the beautiful blog, Faded Charm.

Even though my computer says it's Thursday, I'm gonna go with it's still Wednesday. After all, I haven't been to bed yet, so the day can't have changed! Right?

I love yard sales, estate sales and flea markets. I like looking in antique malls, but ususally find the merchandise so overpriced, that I only go as a last resort, (when I can't find that one item I currently can't live without!). This lamp came from an estate sale I attended last summer.


I like how the bottom of the lamp is shaped like pumpkins.


Here is a bed tray.


I've had this for quite awhile. I think it was a birthday gift. It's made out of white wicker.


I really love the color white. Whenever I'm shopping, I find myself drawn to white displays whether it's a Christmas display or dishes or teapots or just odds & ends.


Here it is folded up flat, ready to be stored away.


That's my post for White Wednesday. To view other White Wednesday posts, please visit Faded Charm.