FALL DECORATING ~ ~ ~

Yes, I did get some decorating done last week!  This is as you enter our back door ~ which is really the only door we use!!  If anyone rings the front doorbell, I know they don't know us!!  I used a huge pink hydrangea turned greenish/pink now along with goldenrod, and other various wildflowers (weeds) that I am sad to say were growing in the MIDDLE of the garden!!!  Even weeds are beautiful to me!!

To the right of the door is this antique bench ~ looks like it belonged on a buckboard!  Instead of a mum, I put this huge kale plant in a basket along with a gourd that has been dried and painted like a pumpkin.  And Witchipoo stands guard and greets guests for me ~ she's a Dan DiPaolo creation that I bought years ago.  There's a sweet pumpkin lady that goes with her but I haven't hauled her up from her basement dwelling yet!!

Antique pumpkins ~ real ones but I think they come from heirloom seeds ~ sit atop the summer planters outside the double doors.  There was still enough color left in the plants but kind of sparse in the middle so I just plunked the pumpkins in the center and added some stuff around them.  It looks kind of cool close up but the colors are kind of pale.  Still, it made short work of decorating the steps!  And believe me, time was of the essence last week!

  There's a little arrangement on the garden gate to welcome visitors of hydrangea and garden weeds ~ it worked for me!!  The mums to the right are a pale yellow and pale pink ~ pale, pale, pale!  See the theme!!  I think it's evident that I wasn't my usual self ~ I was feeling pale on the inside and it was reflected in the colors I chose for the outside!  Interesting!

 Orange mums and pumpkins ~ more colorful!  Actually, yellow mums were not available any place that I was shopping last week ~ kind of weird isn't it?  I found one ~ it's on the porch in a basket that was out of view of the camera.  I can see that yellow adds the spark that I needed ~ note to self for next year!!  The white pumpkin is left from last year ~ it has been inside the house since last fall ~ it didn't deteriorate and didn't dry up ~ it still looks great ~ so outside it went!!!

And this cute guy sits at the edge of the road ~ so people knew where to come ~ I think it helped!  Remember, I had a birthday party here last Saturday for my classmates ~ there were fifteen of us in all ~ and I was sick, sick, sick!!!  I felt sorry for them having to be entertained by a coughing, hacking hostess ~ but I wasn't alone!!  There is evidently lots of illness around this part of the country!  Fortunately, they all brought part of the meal and we furnished pork loin and roast beef sandwiches and a birthday cake!  It was nice to see old friends ~ a couple of them we hadn't seen in many years!  And Sonny helped me ~ a lot!!  And it was our 28th wedding anniversary!  He lucked out ~ no fancy dinner ~ no dress up ~ we just got to hang around on the deck!

Sunday and Monday I did something that I don't very often get to do ~ NOTHING!!!!  I reclined in the recliner, covered in my blankie, watched Lifetime TV and slept for two days!!  Trying to get rid of this affliction!  I'm getting better ~ thank goodness ~ not great, but better!!  Tomorrow, I have a couple of gals coming for an all day class and Thursday, friend Heidi and I are going to Tipp City, Ohio (isn't that a great name?) and take a two-day class from Alice Strebel, Nola Heidbreder and Karen Kahle!!!  We don't know exactly what we're hooking ~ it's a surprise!  These three gals are going to team teach us something and it's a great opportunity to take class from all three of these well-known rug hooking teachers!!  We're looking forward to it immensely!  Then, Friday, we're driving straight to the lake to our lake havens!  Saturday, Sonny and I and our friends are heading to Put-in-Bay to the annual Winefest ~ a new event for us!! 

So ~ you see why I have to get well ~ Now!!!  If there's time, I'll post the girls' progress tomorrow ~ it should be fun ~ they're both very enthusiastic!!   Ta ta for now ~

Alice