Decorating for Halloween

It's that time of the year again when I pull out the bin of Halloween decorations and add some seasonal items to our home. We used to decorate the home - inside and outside - with lots of items to celebrate the holiday. I've scaled back this year since this is the first year without both girls here (they are both at college), so it is a bittersweet experience. 

Nonetheless, I did decorate our home for Halloween this year. There's a welcome sign on the gate for the holiday.

As I look at some of the Halloween items, they remind me of the girls' experiences in ceramics at the homeschool co-op they attended from Kindergarten through 12th grade. 

I put these jack-o-lanterns on the piano. It seemed fitting since both Sophia and Olivia played the piano from 3rd-12th grades. 

I chose not to put up the Halloween-themed artwork that they did throughout the years. When they move to their first apartment or home, I'll give them the art they created and they can decide what they want to do with it at that point. 

Some of the other Halloween items that we have are from my step-father-in-law who passed away last month. The trio of ghosts was something he gave to us when he went into assisted living (and eventually the connected nursing home) many years ago. I put these in the kitchen so it's the first thing we see when we walk into our home (we live in an 1890 farm home, so the main entry is a mudroom and then the kitchen).

He also gave us this Halloween train when he moved into assisted living. This year it is at the end of our dining room table so we can enjoy seeing it at every meal. 

This year there is a new addition from him - a witch with a black cat. He had that at the nursing home and we just received it when his room needed to be cleaned out after he died. I'm not sure what (if anything) is supposed to go on the platter that the witch is holding.

Also in the box of Halloween items was this string of ghosts that light up. Many of them are playing musical instruments which I love. Music has been and is such an important part of our lives, so it is quite fitting for us. The witch, dressed in white, also is from him when he moved into assisted living many years ago.  

Back in 2018, we had a fire here at our farm that burned our hobby shed where I stored some of our Halloween items. So, I purchased a few replacements - like this Halloween bunting. It is hanging right by our woodstove. It adds some color and festivity to this area.

Also by the woodstove is our Halloween tree. With its purple lights, it has become one of our favorite items. With each passing day, it is getting darker earlier so this adds a pretty glow to the room. 

The final Halloween decorations are window stars that I made. I chose purple, orange, and green. There is no black kite paper, so that color is not an option. 

This is the only window that has the stars on it this year. I could make more to decorate other windows. I have the time now in the evenings. Maybe I could make some extra ones, too, and send Sophia and Olivia a surprise Halloween package at college. 

I have not put up the Halloween lights yet - indoors or outdoors. The first step is to do the last mowing of the season and then put up t-posts before the ground freezes. Once that is done, I can put up the lights outside. Whatever lights are leftover, I use those on the windows inside the home. This is what one of the rooms looked like last year with the lights up.

This is what the string of lights along our driveway looked like last year. I also continued the string along the road for everyone to see as they drove by. 

Maybe this year I'll add some more lights to the other windows in the front of the house. It seems a bit dark in the front compared to the windows on the right side of the house.

5x5 - September 2019

This month for the 5x5 swap on Swap-Bot, there were five questions to answer - each requiring five answers. Below are the questions and my answers.

Besides Swap-bot, what are 5 websites you visit most often?

- Flickr.com and my page on Flickr

- The Lions Club with which I'm involved.

- Pinterest and my account on Pinterest

- Library

- Facebook

Name 5 places you'd take someone from out of town.

One of the places I would take someone from out of town who was visiting Minnesota is Split Rock Lighthouse in Silver Bay, Minnesota. After being retired in 1969, the lighthouse became the focal point for Split Rock Lighthouse State Park; and is a National Historic Landmark.

Kayaking on July 12, 2014.

The visitor also would be able to see Lake Superior which is a huge lake. The lake is so big that it could contain all the other Great Lakes as well as three more lakes the size of Lake Erie.

Taken on April 15, 2011.

Another place I'd take someone is Lake Itasca. It is a small lake in comparison to Lake Superior. However, it is the headwaters of the Mississippi River and one of the most important natural locations in the state of Minnesota.

Taken on September 5, 2012.

While seeing Lake Itasca, there is plenty to do and see in Itasca State Park, which is the oldest park in Minnesota. In addition to hiking, Sophia, Olivia, and I have enjoyed camping and relaxing at one of the historic cabins in Itasca State Park.

Taken on September 5, 2012.

While touring around the St. Paul area, I would take someone who is visiting from out of town to the Cathedral of Saint Paul which is a National Shrine of the Apostle Paul. A lot of people locally call it St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in the state.

The copper dome of the cathedral makes it one of the most recognizable cathedrals in the United States.

The building, which is an example of Beaux-Arts architecture, is comparable to the great cathedrals of Europe. The cathedral is listed as a landmark on the National Register of Historic Buildings. This is also the cathedral where my father was ordained as a Deacon in September 1990.

One of my favorite places in Minnesota is Grand Marais and the BWCA. I have taken many trips up north with the girls, alone, and once with my parents. It is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Minnesota.

Taken on June 5, 2013

Although a lot of people go up north for fishing and canoeing, we have mostly visited this area to hike and do photography.

Taken on June 6, 2013, at Honeymoon Point in Grand Marias 

along the Gunflint Trail.

We also have had fun boating...

Taken on June 4, 2013.

kayaking...

Taken on June 5, 2013.

and horseback riding.

Taken on July 10, 2014.

There are deer, wolves, Canada lynx, bobcats, moose, fox, and black bears that live in the BWCA. One year when we were staying off the Gunflint Trail, we had a young black bear who visited us while we were having dinner. We heard some clamoring going on outside the door of the home we were staying in. The bear had gone through the garbage; and had walked up the steps to another area of the yard.

Taken on July 9, 2014.

A final place I would take visitors to is the Taylors Falls area where Interstate State Park is located. There are large rock formations throughout the park and along the St. Croix River (which separates Minnesota and Wisconsin).

Taken on May 25, 2013. 

The formations and deep potholes (25+ feet or more deep) were made by a combination of lava and glacial movement. This rock, pictured below, was one that the park ranger showed us as an example of how rocks could be smoothed through this process.

Name 5 books you've read or would like to read.

I went through my Goodreads account which has a list of books I want to read and books I have read. There are still quite a few books on my list that I would like to read. So, I ordered five books from the library on September 13th:

The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds by Julie Zickefoose
The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A True Story of Resilience and Recovery by Andrew Westoll
The Christmas List by Pete Nelson
Every Day Is a Holiday by George Mahood
The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom

Some of the books the local library has on its shelves. Others need to be ordered from libraries throughout Minnesota. I'm excited to read these books over the next month or so.

Name 5 teachers you've had over the years.

Adama Sow - my pottery teacher who I've been learning from since August 2018. He has taught me how to make bowls and mugs on the pottery wheel; and given me guidance when I've needed it with hand-building.

Glazing leaves I found and pressed into clay on September 12, 2019.

I glazed each of the leaves a different color to see 

which ones showed the veins of the leaves the best.

Chaiki O'Brien - who teaches SAORI weaving. I've taken multiple classes from Chaiki which I've enjoyed. She is a patient and encouraging teacher.

SAORI weaving I did on May 12, 2018.

Eileen Gavin - my all-time favorite professor when I went to college. She understood that not all students are good test-takers and created alternative ways to test students' knowledge.

She gave me the opportunity to show my knowledge through my strength at the time: research papers. These were much more meaningful for me and I was able to share what I had learned through writing rather than showing what I could memorize.

Jonis Agee - a creative writing professor who I had in college. She pushed me to explore different forms of creative expression including short stories and poetry. I knew I had done a good job with one of my creative writing stories when I had many of the students crying. It showed me the power of words; and how they can take someone to another place and time in their imagination by listening to a story.

Sr. Eleanor Lincoln - one of my English professors in college. She told me when I was a freshman that my writing was not college-level writing and that I needed to use the Writing Center. Reluctantly, I went so I could learn to write and express what I was learning.

By junior year, I was an student-instructor in the Writing Center and writing for the school paper; and by senior year, I did an independent study with St. Eleanor about Shakespeare. My final project was a research paper on which I earned an "A." My writing, she said, "had greatly improved" during my college years.

I am so grateful for her honesty and encouragement during my freshman year. Because of her, much of my professional career was related to writing. I wrote countless proposals seeking funding for non-profit organizations in North Carolina, California, and Minnesota.

I was able to start my own non-profit because I was able to secure funding.

Through all these organizations, artists, educators, composers, high school students, and children all were served.  

List 5 words that start with the same letter as your First Name.

Alpaca

Taken on May 17, 2007.

Archeology

 Taken on June 9, 2012.

Autumn

Olivia raking leaves on October 14, 2007. 

She was 4 years old.

Artistic

Sculpture at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West. 

Taken on July 7, 2017.

Accident

Looking at an x-ray of my neck injury after a car accident in November 2018 

with my chiropractor. Taken on December 7, 2018.

My Favorite Photos - July 2019

Below are some of my favorite photos from July 2019. Trust me when I say that this is a small fraction of what I took. Compared to last year at this time, when we were in the midst of recovering from the fire at our farm that happened in May 2018, I didn't have a lot of flower and outdoor photos.

This one - taken on July 2nd - is the backyard. A month earlier the backyard had not been sodded - it was still mud and covered with straw - a result of heavy equipment and trucks in the backyard for repairs. The barn also had not been painted yet. So, this one represents a lot of hard work on our part (we did all the sod) and a feeling of completion with the barn finally painted.

This is another view of the backyard looking to the west. The tan/cream building is the new garage to replace the hobby shed that burned. Our home is behind the apple and pine trees to the right of the photo. 

Flowers were abundant in our back middle garden including roses and strawflowers:

 

This is a purple cleome. They grow quite tall and have these beautiful and unusual flowers. 

These purple flowers are by the back door (which is actually our front door since we live in an old farm home).

On a trip with the girls many years ago, I saw these flowers - lantana - in another state. In Minnesota, they are annuals and I get them every year now. I love the variety of colors in each flower.

Our peonies bloomed this year - just in time for Sophia's graduation party last month (June 29th). They aren't receiving as much sunlight, so their flowers haven't been as abundant as in previous years.

This is the front yard - the hostas at the beginning on the month were quite large. Now, at the end of the month, they have purple flowers that stand a couple of feet above the plants themselves. Hummingbirds love them - though the numbers are down this year because apparently during the Spring migration in April in Iowa, many were killed in the blizzard there.

On July 6th, I finished the squares for a quilt I'm working on. It's part of the Minnesota Quilters' annual mystery quilt project. It's a fundraiser and fun project to do throughout the year. Each month, you get clues to do, but you have no idea what the final quilt will look like. We're getting closer, though, because the blocks now are being assembled. These are Blocks 1 and 3.

Each in July, the girls and I went to Willow River State Park in Wisconsin. We had not been there before so it was a pleasant surprise.

 

There is a very steep walk to get down to the fall (which makes for an ambitious climb back up this hill!). It was a hot day, so the spray from the waterfall felt really good.

During July, Sophia played the harp for quite a few dogs at the humane society. This one enjoyed listening to the music - check out his ears as he listened.

There was a pair of dogs that were from a senior owner who no longer could keep them. This one reminded us of one of our dogs, Danny, who loves to be scratched by his neck and has the same funny facial expression.

A big change for us that we have been enjoying in July was painting four rooms in June before Sophia's graduation party. The dining room has been white since we moved in (I painted over a blue/brown country look paneling board within the first month of moving here). It is now a soft green.

The living room also has the same soft green. Depending on the light and time of the day, it can look like a very light green or a bit darker.

The kitchen walls we painted a light gray (they also have been white since 1995) and did a brighter shade of white for the cabinetry, trim, and doors. The gray walls now match with the flooring which we had installed many years ago when we had water damage from the second floor that went into the first floor and basement.

The main floor half-bath we painted a mint green. Again, the walls had been white since 1995 so it's nice to see some subtle color in the bathroom. The wallpaper was from the previous owner. We kept that. I added the brown towels to tie into the pinecones on the wallpaper.

By mid-July, there were even more flowers blooming in the garden.

They were such pretty, vibrant colors.

We had a lot of purple flowers this year because Sophia's graduation party colors were purple and silver.

The daisies were in full bloom.

The lilies by the driveway also looked beautiful after a rain.

The hydrangeas, by the end of the month, were big snowballs. They about the size of a dinner plate.

I've loved seeing the bumblebees and native bees all over the flowers. There's a constant hum whenever I pass by the flower garden.

We've been seeing more butterflies this year with all the flowers - the ones we've had and the ones we've added.

Earlier in the month, I was filling the bird feeders - including the one on the mudroom roof that is next to the bedroom window. I love seeing the birds up close and watching their expressions. I think they can hear us sometimes - like this bird.

I stopped filling the feeder on the mudroom roof because of multiple visits from the squirrels - gray and red. They drive Cooper crazy and he barks at them to scare them away. Problem is: now they know that even if he barks he poses no threat because he doesn't come after them.

The wrens have been singing daily. They go in and out of their house which leads me to believe they have a family in there. 

In mid-July, the girls competed in the county fair with their 4-H projects. Olivia did very well this year - earning all blues and one red. She entered a lot of projects - with the majority in photography, crafts, and fine arts.

Sophia earned all blues. Her main areas of interest were crafts, fine arts, and self-determined.

On the day that we volunteered at the fair in the 4-H food cafeteria, there was a major storm that was projected for the area. No one knew quite what to expect. It ended up being a serious storm with tornado-like winds, hail, lightening, and downpours that were blinding (both when walking and driving). It was like nothing we had ever experienced. These are the storm clouds moving in.

The people at the county fair had to take shelter at the churches across the street. Power went out, and buildings on the fairgrounds were damaged. No one - people or animals - were hurt. However, the fair closed for that night because of the amount of flooding and no power.

We made it through the rain stopped to get dinner at the Chinese buffet to bring home to celebrate Olivia's 16 1/2 year old birthday. We still do half-birthdays. Somehow I don't think we'll stop - it has become a tradition to celebrate the girls birthdays and half-birthdays since they were young.

July was filled not only with serious storms, but very high temperatures and humidity. We invested in two new fans for the barn. One (shown in the background below) is up higher and gets the air circulating at head-level for Bailey (the black horse).

We got another fan that we put on the floor and aimed it up for Hoss to enjoy. The minute I plugged it in, it was clear that this was where he was going to spend his day. He loved the wind on his forelock and mane.

We went back to the county fair on the 21st to see how the girls did on their projects; and what top ribbons they received. Olivia received a grand champion on her wildlife biology project that focused on killer whales. She will be competing at the State Fair next month with it.

Sophia chose to bring her health project on Sole Hope to the State Fair. She's working on doing a tri-fold display to go along with her booklet to display at the State Fair. Olivia will be doing a booklet to go along with her display. 

The girls received multiple grand champion, reserve champion, and top blue awards for many of their projects. Needless to say, they were happy with the results.

Once the county fair that the girls compete in with their 4-H projects was done, we began focusing our efforts on the county fair that we enter our projects in the open class category. This county fair is the county that we live in, so we've been entering projects into it since Sophia was about 5 years old - 13 years now!

One of the projects Olivia did was a quilted pillow. The pillow itself fits into a pillow holder. This is a major accomplishment because she has never quilted anything so complex before. She was so happy with how it turned out.

What I love about this time of the year is that we do a lot of hands-on projects and sewing that we've wanted to do during the year, but haven't had the time. Our dining room and living room turn into a big crafting area, and we're all working on a variety of projects.

We went to the county fair to see how we did and to see the projects that other people did on July 31st. We were all happy that we got ribbons for our hard work. One of the projects Olivia did very well on was her poetry collection. She got a blue ribbon.

As I look at the display case below, there are five items I made in pottery class during the past year. I was happy to see that my tree platter got first place. It's on the lowest level, left hand side.

Sophia received a blue ribbon for the blue Russian lace necklace she made. She wanted me to wear it for her high school graduation ceremony which I did.

At the county fair, there's a garden area that is maintained by the Master Gardeners. It's a beautiful garden, and the butterflies were loving the flowers.

There were unusual-colored sunflowers which seemed to glow with the sunlight behind them.

On our way out, we saw the cows peeking out behind the fence while they were getting baths.

During July, Olivia continued with her weekly trap shooting lessons on Thursdays. She also started doing 22 and BB gun on Tuesdays. This is a sport she's really enjoying. It's the second year of doing the 4-H Shooting Sports program.

Closing out the month, I saw two sandhill cranes in a nearby field. Almost every day, I hear the cranes. Periodically I see them which is always neat. They are such big birds.

We also saw a Sphinx Month on one of the flowers in the backyard. It is also called a Hummingbird Moth because it is about the same size, hovers, and has the same loud "humming" sound. It stayed around long enough for the girls to be able to see it.

On the last day of July, I found some more monarch caterpillars. We have five now in the butterfly cage. It seems like each time I got out to get some more milkweed leaves, I find another one! This is the most caterpillars we've ever had which is so exciting! 

I can't wait to see them emerge from their chrysalises as monarch butterflies! This is always a highlight of our summer since the girls have been young (around 8 and 6 years old).