decorating for halloween

My usual exuberance for all things Halloween, and for October in general, has been tempered by the approaching mid-term elections in the US.

I signed up to write 200 get-out-the-vote postcards, but I severely underestimated how long it would take to hand-address each card, print a specific message, and add postage to so many. They had to be mailed on October 21, and I didn’t return from my Ohio trip until the wee hours of October 20.

I tried writing the cards on my flight to Ohio, but only managed to write ten! Yikes. The plane’s bumps, the low tray table, and other annoyances had me set them aside for something more mundane. Once home and easing into local time, I got started in earnest. My friend Mary offered to help, stopping by for an hour and a half to complete 25 cards. In the end, I mailed over 100 postcards by the stated deadline, and I know the next time to invite a group of friends to help.

Nearly 80% of California voters vote by mail, but you can return your ballot in person to a drop box, which we opted to do this time. Tuesday is election day, so for now we wait.

Temperatures throughout October remained unseasonably warm, sometimes as much as 15 degrees above norms. We had one glorious day of rain, and then the warm weather returned. It’s an odd juxtaposition of falling leaves and shirtsleeve weather.

My garden surprised me with a volunteer pumpkin in early August. I watched over it like a mama cat with her kittens. I harvested the pumpkin when it was fully orange, but over the month it turned green. I’ve never had that happen before.

Mike loves carving pumpkins, so he bought three at a local market today, and as of this evening, he’s finished carving two. One is a new pattern he printed from the web: a pumpkin-headed scarecrow. He also carved a Minion from the popular children’s movie—just one more to go.

Halloween is big in our neighborhood, and it falls on a Saturday this year, so we’re expecting about 500 doorbell ringers tomorrow. I enjoy the creativity of many of the costumes, and I adore the little ones holding out a bag for a sweet, not fully understanding what’s going on. I’ve taken snapshots of a couple of neighborhood displays, below.

In between work, travel, and other responsibilities, I’ve been doing the usual fall chores. The Magnolia drops leaves and heavy seed pods this time of year, so I clear them out of the shrubs below using a rake or my gloved hands. A few weeds remain, but prolonged dry temps keep them in check, at least for now. The work is therapeutic, and the earth’s closeness soothes my rattled soul.

Happy Halloween!

This is my favorite time of year to decorate. It’s fun cobbling things together, letting my creative juices flow.

My 15-year-old son also loves to decorate using over-sized lawn inflatables. Between the two of us, we draw lots of passersby, though with the under five set, my son is the reigning champ.

My friend Marcia poses with the dragon

That’s Boomdee on her recent visit, checking out the dragon after dark.

Our home office and kitchen both face the street, so part of the fun for me is watching others enjoy the decorations. Neighbors stop to comment and occasionally pose for pictures with the giant cat or dragon. My next door neighbor runs a daycare, so those children run and play between the inflatables in the late afternoon as they wait for their parents.

Occasionally the inflatables annoy one or two dogs, which makes me smile. It’s hard to imagine what must go through the dog’s head when he sees a towering dragon suddenly appear on his daily walk. Lots of barking ensues, but by Halloween, even the dogs have sorted out real from pretend. In short, it’s a lot of fun outside my window this time of year.

Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Throughout the summer, tree rats feast on our oranges, then drop the hollowed rind to the ground. Most of the fruit decays, but several simply dried leaving a hard shell. One of them reminded me of Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream. I started collecting the hardened rinds and created a display.

I used one of my glass vases, some dried moss, old bits of Baby’s Breath flowers and the dried oranges. I topped it with a spooky spider for a “decadent” display. I used a burlap remnant left over from Fran’s bunting project as a table runner. You can read more about that here.

Dried Orange Arrangement inspired by The Scream

Rearranged Deck Furniture

Every year I haul out this old, plastic skeleton. The head is long gone, so I improvised with a plush pumpkin, a rain stick and my garden hat. That’s my doppelgänger this year. She has her feet up and an elongated neck from slumping too much on the couch. I seem to need an inordinate amount of sleep lately, so when I sit in the evenings on the couch, it’s not long before I fall asleep.

Skeleton Gardener

Indoors, I decorated a side table with several of my autumn and Halloween treasures.

My friend Stephanie made the chalk art as a gift for last year’s birthday.

That gorgeous art canvas is the handiwork of Boomdee’s fellow Urban Girl, Lynette. Boomdee convinced her to part with this beauty and brought it all the way from Canada for my birthday.

The Halloween card is also a gift, along with the bewitched cat. It’s pretty cool having a birthday and Halloween in the same month.

Halloween-ready side table filled with personal treasures

Do you remember this?

Last season’s pumpkin shell

When I turned my compost pile, a shell from last year’s pumpkin rolled out in near-perfect shape. The crown is missing but no matter. I brushed away the dirt, wiped the surface with a soft rag, and painted on a bit of sparkle. Good as new. I filled the opening with a handful of green yarn and this toy ring. It’s my pumpkin send up to Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster.

The shell of a pumpkin, rescued from the compost pile

This little clay pumpkin is a favorite. My son made this in art class a few years back. He did a nice job reproducing the details of a real pumpkin from memory.