Short and Sweet for Halloween

The porch is ready for trick-or-treaters!

I noticed the shadow this little haunted house was making on the wall one morning and thought it was cool.

Sam was Kylo Ren from Star Wars last year. How cute is this picture? It was taken at a Halloween party that I take him to every year at a local recreation center.

Sam's costume isn't quite so distinguished this year. He's dressing up as a taco! 😂

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween I Want To Be...

I've made a discovery from flipping through the costume catalogs we get each fall: there are some really great adult Halloween costumes out there! If I were to dress up, these are the ones I would choose from. 

These are all from HalloweenCostumes.com.

My favorite nanny, Mary Poppins!

I love poodle skirts and 1950s style

Snow White

A League of Their Own is one of my long-time favorite movies, and I played softball for years growing up. 

This Dottie costume is cute! For modesty purposes I'd wear it with a cute pair of leggings.

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games is one of my favorite book characters. 

 I love this Mrs. Claus costume! How fun would it be to dress up like this for Halloween!? 

And this one is my favorite, even though it doesn't come in an adult size. 

It's a "Wild Woods Witch" from Chasing Fireflies. I think it's perfect!

A girl 37-year-old woman can dream!

Five Things for Friday

1. We got new custom-made garage doors installed this week. I love them! I've been wanting to get this done for years. I picked out the doors and features myself, got price quotes, and pretty much did everything except for the installation. Our house has prominent garage doors, so the new ones make a nice difference. Expect to see pictures sometime this winter or spring, at the rate I go. Ha ha! 

2. Peter and I went to a Joshua Bell concert last Friday night. If you don't know who he is, he's a famous (and handsome) violinist who plays on a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin with a French bow from the 1700s. This blows my mind. That violin has been in existence for so many significant things that have happened in history--major events that have changed the world. It's been there making music the whole time. It was really cool to hear and see beautiful music performed on an instrument like that, one that is older than our country! It was a wonderful concert. The very accomplished pianist who accompanied has inspired me to buy a new book of sonatinas and play piano more and learn some new pieces. And Joshua Bell really made me wish more than ever that I'd stayed with violin instead of only doing it for a year in 7th grade.

3. I've been following the news closely from various sources and I have an ominous feeling about North Korea, like something bad is going to go down with them in the not-too-distant future. As long as that something isn't nuclear in nature, we should be okay (right!?). Sam is fascinated by Kim Jong Un, that bad guys like him really do exist. I'm disgusted by him, and a little scared too. He and Trump together are not a good mix. Keep up with the diplomacy work, Secretary Tillerson! 

4. I still haven't been to the new Trader Joe's. The parking lot is usually packed when I drive by. {Chill people, it's just a grocery store!} Nevertheless, it is calling to me.

5. I'm looking forward to some things that I'm planning on watching this weekend. First up is the movie Pride and Prejudice and Zombies--(are you laughing at me?)--which I've heard good things about and which stars Lily James, the lovely actress who played Lady Rose in Downton Abbey and Cinderella in the Disney live-action movie. I recently read the P & P & Zombies book and it was pretty funny and well-done, so I expect that the movie will be too. I love a good parody!

The other thing I'm looking forward to watching (or at least to starting to watch) is the second season of Stranger Things, which starts today on Netflix. This is the first and so far only show I've watched on Netflix. My mom and I watched it this summer when I was on the Cape. It's a weird show and it has some stuff in it that I don't like, but other than that I enjoy the mystery. It's good. Not as good as Poldark, but good. And strange. 

Every leaf speaks bliss to me...

...fluttering from the autumn tree.

-Emily Bronte

The leaves of this lovely maple tree fill our back windows with color every fall.

There's a nice little walking path at the back of the field behind our house that is especially pretty in the fall with the colorful trees in view.

 

 

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

-Anne of Green Gables

Me too, Anne, me too!

Brody in Febuary

Febuary (spelled that way on purpose) is the month we found out that Brody had an ominous mass in his bladder that likely meant cancer, which meant that he probably had only months left with us instead of the years that his natural lifespan should have allowed. I was obviously upset by the news, but I held onto the hope that the diagnosis would be proven wrong, or that Brody would beat the odds. He seemed fine, after all, and I have a stubborn sense of optimism and hope in the face of death.

On top of the loveseat cushions was one of his favorite spots so that he could look out the windows or watch what was going on in the house from a good vantage-point.

"Oh gosh, not you again! Leave. me. alone."

Keeping an eye on me from the stairs, which offer easy escape. We played this game often.
Brody almost always won. #crazycatlady

 I love this picture. I love this cat!

Not to be forgotten is Bentwood! Brody and Bentwood were shelter buddies in Connecticut so we adopted them together. They've been together most of their lives and they're the best of buddies. Bentwood is gentle, shy, and sweet while Brody is sassy, mischievous, and entertaining. I cried my eyes out for Bentwood's loss when Brody passed away.

Selfies with my prisoner.


He may have been thinking, "Let this tumor kill me sooner rather than later, please."

I don't know how Brody feels about it, but I know I'd do anything to be able to hold him in my arms again!

I think it should be spelled "Febuary"

My game of catch-up continues today with the fabulous month of February.
(Don't you think the first "r" in February is unnecessary? It's not pronounced at all, causing confusion to schoolchildren (and adults) everywhere. It's weird. Usually I'm a traditionalist when it comes to spelling and I don't have problems with the strange ways some words are spelled, but "February" has always bugged me.
I say get rid of that silly "r"!)

Febuary is a good month for bundling up in a blanket.

 
It's a good month for red roses.

{They bloomed!}

And it's a good month to do editing work for a client. (I have clients!) 


My workspace.


Febuary is a very strange month to see no snow and temperatures like these!

And any month is a good month to take pictures of this cutie pie.


Febuary = Presidents' Day and Lincoln's birthday. I was fascinated to read this interesting little write-up about the similarities between the Kennedy and Lincoln assassinations. These parallels are so strange!


I miss Brody being under the table, searching for crumbs, or hiding from me, or waiting to be let out onto the patio.

As you can see the table is a popular hangout place for our pets.

 
And that was some of my FEBUARY!

Fine Art, Fine Home, Fine Life!

Did you know that cruise ships often have art galleries on them and are a popular place to buy fine art? I wasn't fully aware of this until we sailed on Royal Caribbean last November. There was a big art gallery on the ship with a nice variety of beautiful paintings, and during our cruise they were having a special showing of Thomas Kinkade paintings. Thomas Kinkade just happens to be my long-time favorite artist! So we went to the show and by the end of the cruise had decided to buy a painting of a lovely little seaside cottage. The process of acquiring a piece of art can take some time, so we didn't receive the painting until January. It's our second Kinkade painting, and I really and truly love them both. They bring light, beauty, and inspiration into our home.

The box was huge!

Our investment was packed well and protected (thank goodness!).

💖💖💖

We hung it up over the couch in the living room, which was the perfect space for it. Before that our other Kinkade painting was there (a beautiful one of sailboats on the sea), but we moved that one to the family room to make room for this one here. Perfection for both!

Yet another joy in a January that was surprisingly replete with the joys of nature, art, and home!