August 21, 2017 by Born To Organize

Solar Eclipse in My Garden

It’s been an exciting day here in North America. Depending on where you live, you could witness the first total eclipse of the sun in the U.S. from the Pacific to the Atlantic since 1918.

Map of total solar eclipse route. We live in the 70% range – Source: AccuWeather

Here in San Jose, we witnessed a partial solar eclipse for about 2 1/2 hours. It reached its maximum impact at 10:21 a.m. when I popped outside with my camera to take some garden pics.

The occluded sun cast crescent-shaped shadows on the ground and the side of the house. I took this photo one minute before maximum impact.

During the eclipse: Crescent shaped shadows cast by the tree on the side of the house

Here’s what I noticed in the garden:

Most of the flowers in bloom remained open with one exception: the pumpkin blossoms. The flowers started curling in, and when I checked on them after lunch, they had closed up tight. Fascinating!

During the Eclipse: Pumpkin blossom closing in 10:23 am

It was eerily quiet when I went outside. We had less birdsong than usual. The bees, however, continued on with their day. I admire their industrious nature and silently thanked them for keeping our planet afloat.

During the eclipse: the bees didn’t seem to register any difference

National Public Radio aired live updates throughout the day, and though it’s radio and not TV, they managed to convey the excitement as the eclipse crossed a thin ribbon of states.

Back in the garden, I enjoyed the interesting shadows.

During the Eclipse: Pumpkin fruit in shadows 10:23 am

California poppies during the solar eclipse

During the eclipse: California poppies 10:24 am

During the eclipse: Arching ribbon of shadow on the pumpkin’s surface 10:35 am

Indoors, the cats were oblivious. (See Monday through Sunday for comparison…ha!)

Did you witness all or part of the eclipse today?

Save

October 24, 2016 by Born To Organize

The Giving Pumpkin

On a cool winter day, long before its scheduled appearance, a tiny pumpkin seed broke ground. How quaint, I thought, but how could it last? It was still cold at night.

Pumpkin Sprout * March 4th, 2016

According to my seed packet, pumpkin seeds should go in the ground in May after “danger of frost has passed.” It was early March after all.

The start of something special

Pumpkin Vines (foreground). My crop grown from seeds in the Earth Box. RIP my failed little crop. * May, 2016

Pumpkin Vines and a Strolling Mouse the Cat * May 26th, 2016

As weeds appear, they are unceremoniously tugged from the earth, but I let other tiny seedlings grow. When it comes to my garden I’m part dictator (off with their weedy heads) and part socialist (everyone deserves a fair chance). I didn’t pamper the pumpkin, but I didn’t discourage it either. Before long, we were checking on the plant every day. In the heat of summer, pumpkin vines grow like weeds. Curly tendrils grab hold of nearby plants and meander across the garden. The Giving Pumpkin took off before spring!

If you’re new to planting pumpkins, it goes like this: the seed sprouts and a small plant appears. Several leaves form and the vine trails. Male flowers start to grow on the vine, opening by day, closing at night, and dropping from the vine within a day or two.

Male Pumpkin Flower * May 7th, 2016

Then the female flowers appear and the bees are on the job. The bees travel between blooms, cross-pollinating as they gather nectar for the hive.

Female Pumpkin Flower

Presto! Tiny green pumpkins begin to form on the vine. It’s not a done deal by any means. Those tiny pumpkins might last a day or two before shriveling and dropping to the ground. Sooner or later though, a glorious pumpkin takes hold and off it grows. If you’re lucky, the fabulously forming fruit goes undetected by rats, squirrels and the dreaded squash bugs.

Turning Orange in the Sun * June, 2016

The size of the mature leaves closely determines the size of the pumpkin.

Pumpkin leaf correlates to the size of the fruit

Here’s what’s new this year with this fabulous giving pumpkin. As the fruit forms, the energy diverts from the plant to the fruit. In the past, once that happened there was no turning back. In rapid succession, the leaves turned ashy, literally crumbling to dust in your hands.

Pumpkin leaves turn to ash

I removed the dead leaves, harvested all three pumpkins, and figured that was that. My son asked it we could leave the vine a little longer, as we spotted a tiny budding pumpkin. So we did. To my delight, several new leaves formed at the joints and the vine took on a second life: more leaves, more flowers, more fruit. I’ve never “grown” such a prolific pumpkin.

Pumpkin Vine at Dusk * June 10th, 2016

New growth on the self seeded pumpkin

Tall twins and a cousin * August 9th, 2016

A Second Pair of Pumpkins * August 9th, 2016

The average life of a pumpkin plant is 90 to 125 days from seed to maturity. When I harvested the last pumpkin we were well into October.

The last of the pumpkins. Not quite orange, but full of teeth marks.

What a fabulous crop! I may start following Pauline’s advice. I’ll just toss a bunch of seeds over my shoulder and let nature do the rest. This season was great fun.

*With a tip of my hat to Shel Silverstein, author of The Giving Tree.

Note: On October 31st, my husband carves the pumpkins and we display them on the deck. We average 300 costumed children at our door each year. It’s a festive night. Here are some of his carvings from prior years.

I see you!

Pumpkin campfire

A carved trio by day light

Mike’s collection of carvings

Mike’s Carving Wonder

Resident Carver Extraordinaire Michael Francini.

Tiny tools help with the intricate details

This pumpkin grew from squirrel feed. Dark orange inside with a pale skin.

One year Mike carved an emoticon

Save

September 1, 2016 by Born To Organize

Autumn on My Mind

Are you following Kerry at Love Those Hands at Home?
If not, you won’t want to miss her sumptuous love letter to Autumn. Here’s an excerpt

Autumn seduces me, energizes me, makes me feel alive. My blood sings and fizzes like champagne when autumn comes to me. – KerryCan

You can read her entire post here.

It’s a gorgeous piece of writing, and one that perfectly captures my feelings of the approaching season.

Even in California with our subtle, seasonal changes, the arrival of autumn is unmistakable. Breezes finally blow through the valley, chasing away the ugly smog. The last of the pumpkin vines shrivel and die, but not before gifting us their wonderful fruit.

Pumpkin vines intermingle with the native plants

Pumpkin vines, sending out their last bit of energy

This pair of beauties turned orange in July

Another threesome

Second round

I love this pumpkin’s stem

In bloom this week (male flower)

Also in bloom this week (female flower)

The tip of the vine from the first photo

Dusk settles in earlier, and for this fair-skinned gardener, working longer hours outdoors is no longer unthinkable.

I cleared out the back corner of the garden, pruning away overhanging limbs, dead leaves and the growing layer of pine needles. Look at this pile?

Pile of pine needles, dead leaves and tree pruning. (Slinky’s tiny feet in the background)

After: I don’t have a good before, but you saw the pile (Slinky’s ears in the lower corner)

Ironically, the pumpkins I planted in May were a complete fizzle, while the self seeded (squirrel-planted) vines were a hit. One of those vines produced four tall, hefty carving pumpkins, ready for our resident, master carver (Mike).

A second vine produced one basketball sized pumpkin, took a rest, then pumped out a second pumpkin, turning a lovely shade of orange.

A third vine tip-toed up on us, producing a perfect little pumpkin the size of a cherry tomato. Then in the dead of night a critter ate it for supper. Boo-hoo! But wait…another pumpkin eventually took its place and it too is turning orange.

“Under Armour” Pumpkin

Tiny pumpkin, big fortress

Summer is far from over. Even when the autumnal equinox rolls around, we’re still in for a few more heatwaves. That said, the California Gray squirrels have stepped up their game, knowing intuitively what lies ahead. Indoors, Slinky is getting a head start on snuggle weather. She’s resting in my lap on a soft blanket, her coat still shiny on her diminished frame.

Slinky Malinki

There’s an interesting conversation going on in the comment thread of Kerry’s post on the origins of the use of the word “fall” vs “autumn”. Here’s what I learned:

Fall and autumn are both accepted and widely used terms for the season that comes between summer and winter. Some who consider British English the only true English regard fall as an American barbarism, but this attitude is not well founded. Fall is in fact an old term for the season, originating in English in the 16th century or earlier. It was originally short for fall of the year or fall of the leaf, but it commonly took the one-word form by the 17th century, long before the development of American English. So while the term is now widely used in the U.S., it is not exclusively American, nor is it American in origin. – Source: Grammarist

I love learning the origin of a word. While I know my Southern Hemisphere friends are looking forward to fall, how about the rest of you? Are you ready to say goodbye to summer and to welcome the ‘fall of the year’?

Save

July 19, 2016 by Born To Organize

Pumpkins in July?

Seriously.

After my squash bug infestation a few years ago, and a follow on year resembling squash bug Armageddon, I stopped planting pumpkins for a few years. With little rain over a four-year period, those pumpkin-sucking bugs easily over-wintered and destroyed my meager crop. Twice.

Last summer, something amazing happened: one noble pumpkin grew in the middle of my former lawn. Without any water and not a squash bug in sight, the plant served up a perfectly formed and cherished pumpkin. I’ve since learned that pumpkin plants can survive on morning dew, taking in the moisture through their straw-like stems and delivering it to the root of the plant. Color me impressed!

This year we had our first season of near-average rainfall. We also installed a rain water catchment system.

Rain Catchment System

I took the plunge and bought a package of seeds. I prepared one of my Earth Boxes and waited for the temperatures to rise. The packet directions said to plant once night-time temperatures were consistently above 50 degrees F (10C) which for San Jose is usually May.

Meanwhile, seeds planted last fall by our neighborhood squirrels took root. They found a home near the patio in the newly planted, drought-tolerant garden. I let them grow of course, but figured the cold nights that followed would dash our hopes. As the temperatures rose and I planted my own seeds, the squirrel’s garden happily meandered along, pest-free and robust.

A pumpkin we will grow

One plant stayed small, and produced a single, perfectly formed round pumpkin. It started out dark in color, almost a pine green, before turning a lovely orange. The sister plant took off across the garden, racing toward the swing and sending out runners in both directions.

The Meandering Pumpkin

The second pumpkin plant produced four tall pumpkins before the vine started dying back.

We were eager to harvest them before the squirrels stopped by for lunch. We put them in our garage to let the stems dry for a few days, then brought them into the house. Typically we wouldn’t be harvesting until September.

As I ready for my trip to Canada on Monday, I’ll leave it to my son to harvest the last three pumpkins. He’s looking forward to it. Meanwhile, the tomatoes are flush, producing a delicious crop. My new favorite is a ‘Black Cherry’, a sweet and juicy heirloom tomato that is melt-in-your mouth delicious. I’m definitely saving seeds for next year.

Heirloom Tomatoes: ‘Mr. Stripey’ and ‘Black Cherry’

Tomatoes and Pumpkins in July

I’m in count-down mode: Edmonton here I come!

Save

June 13, 2016 by Born To Organize

The Busyness of Life: Wires, Cables and Primary Elections

I know, I know. That is such a labored title for this post. I haven’t blogged for a while and I didn’t want to leave anything out. It’s not that I think you’re sitting around waiting to hear what I have to say. It’s more that when you write a blog, it gives you the opportunity to express some of the jumble that occupies your brain.

Let’s start with the wires, the electrical transmission wires that travel along the fence line of our property and carry several thousands volts of electricity. I glanced out of the kitchen window to see a firefighter approaching our front door. I asked him if everything was okay and he said “yes, as long as you stay out of your back yard.”

Oh no!

My garden!

My garden, not far from the pine tree

He said that a neighbor reported sparks coming from the power line and that a crew from PG&E (Pacific, Gas & Electric), would arrive shortly.

Yikes!

By the end of the night it seemed to have all blown over and no one said another word. We assumed it was a false alarm.

The following morning, three PG&E trucks were on the scene, along with two large tree-trimming trucks with crew and a couple of supervisors assessing the problem. It turns out that the neighbor’s pine tree, a tree large enough to span four properties, had a broken limb resting on the line. The crew disconnected power to our home and surrounding neighbors while crews went up into the tree and removed the offending branches.

Slinky is often disoriented

Qualified tree service

Pine tree viewed from in front of our house

Pine tree viewed from one street over

They removed a lot of branches

I brought Slinky indoors for the day, worried that she would either get under foot or have something fall on her. They were able to restore the power by late afternoon, and all was well. No fire as a result of the falling branch, and a nicely trimmed tree in the process. I’m always a bit unsettled to see workers climbing so high into trees, followed by the awful noise of chain saws and stump grinders. It was a relief when they were finally done.

This past Tuesday, we offered our garage as a local polling place. This is something we’ve been doing for a decade. It’s a nice way to take part in our civic duties in addition to voting.

Our garage the night before the election

If you follow the primary process in the US, you’ll know it’s been a contentious year. I’m happy to have cast my ballot *in our garage* and delighted too that my son could vote for the first time. He turned 18 last June. With all that foot traffic, I made sure Slinky was outside all day, safely enclosed in her favorite outdoor spot.

Slinky’s shelter from the rain

The poll workers, all volunteers, are a wonderful group of people. I served coffee and tea along with bagels and cookies throughout the day, and enjoyed the festive environment of seeing neighbors and friends approach our home to vote. The poll workers arrive at 6 am and stay past 9. It’s a long day for them. I appreciate their commitment to the process. I also wonder to myself why everyone doesn’t exercise their right to vote in this country.

A stunning surprise. These flowers arrived after election day from my friend, Barb. The card said “thank you for your public service. I would vote for you and day.” The sweetest! These flowers and her thoughtfulness made my day.

Friday, while I was out running errands, a friend called to tell me that Comcast (our internet and cable company) had a representative walking around our garden. I headed home to a note on the door with a vague description of the problem and a request to call their toll-free number. Time spent on phone calls and trouble shooting led nowhere. The customer service rep kept reading from a script, and was ultimately unable to tell me what was wrong. We went to bed that night without internet, and woke to another Comcast worker wandering around the garden. It’s been one of those weeks.

This morning’s technician told me that squirrels had chewed the lines, weakening the connections so they shut them all down. He had to string new cable through our yard as well as the house behind us. Once they replaced the cable, our internet was up and running. As the technician headed for the door, he told me that I had the “perfect garden for squirrels.” If he only knew.

My 2016 swing cover remains intact, while the squirrels moved to higher ground.

The Garden Swing: 2015 Edition

I told the tech that the squirrels were doing their part for the economy, keeping Comcast workers employed.

In between the comings and goings of firefighters, PG&E crews, cable technicians and voters, it’s been a hectic start to June. I’ve been gardening early to avoid the oppressive heat, working on a couple of big projects during the day, and still managed to squeeze in our monthly book club. We celebrated our oldest son’s 19th birthday and both boys finished school for the summer.

I’ve been wondering why I’ve been so tired, but I think I know. I’m missing my introvert time, the hours spent in quiet solitude, reading, writing, gardening or just sitting and petting one of the cats.

It’s been lovely visiting other blogs today and nice to catch up on everyone’s news.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Perhaps like me you’re a bit of both.

Save

October 28, 2015 by Born To Organize

Mad About Pumpkins

We’re mad about pumpkins. We grow them, dress them up and carve them for Halloween. Without further ado, some of my favorite pumpkins from the past decade.

Alys Milner 32 mins · Edited · Our first backyard pumpkin September, 2005

Ad hoc pumpkin patch September, 2005

This pumpkin grew from squirrel feed. Dark orange inside with a pale skin.

Amy Farrah Fowler

What all the well dressed pumpkins are wearing this fall.

My 2014 Doppelganger

Spooky pumpkins

The roaring twenties pumpkin

Ahoy Matey Pumpkin

Creepy Crawly Pumpkin

Elvis is alive and well

Signature Pumpkin

Snail Hotel: Mollusks Welcome

haunted pumpkin

Under the sea pumpkin

Ratatouille pumpkin

Last year’s late-season crop

B is for Boomdee

Virginia Tech Pumpkin

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown My lone, volunteer pumpkin this year, 2015

Ready for holidays pumpkin

Delicious pumpkin

Our largest pumpkins ever (46 – 64 pounds)

Photo Bombing Pumpkins When M was 12

Dracula pumpkin

Oh yes, quite delicious thank you.

Crowned Kitty Pumpkin

The Scholarly Pumpkin

Yes, it’s me again.

Bewitched Pumpkin

The Sailor Pumpkin, Mike’s True Passion

I’m a Mac Pumpkin

Snail Hotel: Checking in

A Stack ‘O Pumpkins (M’s treasures)

Resident Carver Extraordinaire Michael Francini.

Collection of Pumpkins

An enterprising snail created a private entrance

Mike’s Carving Wonder

Lindy investigates

Flower Vase Pumpkin

We grew this crowd one year

Rock, Paper, Scissors Pumpkin

Smooch!

Mike’s collection of carvings

Deadly Diva

Pretty Kitty

Our “Haunted Yard” one year

Hanging out with Laura at Bob’s Farm

When pumpkins were still bigger than he was

I grew this gorgeous green pumpkin from seed. One of my favorites. They’re native to Australia.

Welcome Pumpkin This is a Candy Cane Pumpkin, also grown from seed

Lifting Pumpkins is great exercise

You win some, you lose a lot. The joy of gardening

A joyous crop, pre-drought and pre-squash bug infestation.

Admired by many, carved by Michael.

Glowing Pumpkins

My Year of Trash costume hat pumpkin

Velvet pumpkins

When a whole pumpkin just won’t do.

Mike builds a bonfire

The woeful tale of Frank and Shelley

Gardening Nirvana Pumpkin

October 27, 2015 by Born To Organize

Decorating for 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.

My son made this clay pumpkin one year in art class

The clock is ticking. Halloween is just four days away.

Do you like Halloween as much as we do?

October 15, 2015 by Born To Organize

The Lone Pumpkin

Isn’t she a beauty?

The Lone Pumpkin, 2015

This humble pumpkin grew from a single plant, self-seeded in a dry patch of dirt in our drought-parched state. Annuals are generally thirsty plants, with shallow roots drying quickly under a hot sun. I watched this plant wilt at the end of each day, only to revive the following morning with seemingly nothing to draw from but a bit of morning dew.

Please don’t laugh, but I’m easily attached to the things that grow in my garden. Each plant, flower and tree touches me in some way. So when that humble pumpkin plant first appeared, I tried to turn a cold eye to the possibility that it would not survive the season. As our reservoirs drop further and further, I can no longer casually open the bib of a hose. We make every drop count. Once or twice I poured a glass of water at the roots, then stopped. If the plant had made it this far without my help, I reasoned, then I would just step back and let nature sort things out.

Of course me being me, I could only ignore this humble plant for so long. It formed fruit, only to be snapped clean from the vine a few days later by a rat or squirrel. Oh well, I sighed.

My humble plant was not deterred. She formed another piece of fruit, this time surrounded by a ring of volunteer tomato plants. I whispered on the air for the squirrels and rats to eat the tomatoes first. I started checking for nasty squash bugs. They show up when the fruit forms and quickly lay waste to the crop. No sign of them anywhere.

The lone pumpkin grew to a modest size, nestled in the care-taking arms of those tomatoes. Firm and dark green, she grew to her full size.

A ring of all volunteer tomato plants surround the loan pumpkin. That’s Slinky in the background

The vines started to show the tell-tale signs of the season’s end. The hollow stems yellowed and the leaves turned ashy and crisp. If you hold a dried pumpkin leaf in your hand it crushes into a powdery dust. They let you know that Autumn descends and our job here is done.

Pumpkin leaves decay as the plants energy goes to the fruit

I saw orange! My lone pumpkin turned orange. Little bits of color appeared and the pumpkin continued to thrive unmolested. Somewhere in time, I’d fallen head over heals in love with her. Now fully vested in her complete fruition, I did what any self-respecting gardener would do: I drove to the local drug store and bought a pair of extra-large pantyhose.

Pumpkin safely ensconced in pantyhose

Why?

Rumor has it that rats and squirrels don’t like the texture. I can’t say that I blame them. It worked.

I quietly harvested the pumpkin in September and let it harden off for three days under my watchful eye. Once indoors, free from the protective hosiery, I gave it a quick polish and a quiet welcome. You made it, humble pumpkin. Thank you for your lessons and gifts.

Addendum:

After clearing the dead vines, I asked Mike to dig down in the area to see if the plant was accessing some ground water. He hit hard-pan! Not a drop to be found.

Cleared pumpkin patch, digging for signs of water

October 22, 2014 by Born To Organize

Under the Sea Headdress

My under the sea costume headdress is almost done. I finished it yesterday, but it wouldn’t stay upright on my head. I slept on it (the problem, not the headdress) and once again the answer became clear. Instead of using an elasticized headband, I need one that grips the hair and sits upright. I’ll probably cut the elastic off of the band I’m using, and then resew the entire piece on to another headband. Does that make sense?

Scrap of packaging plastic, festooned with glitter, beads and moss. Sparkle branches, elasticized headband and the secret garden key with a glass heart, once attached to a very special gift.

I started small, then added layers,careful to keep the piece light in weight. Using a piece of plastic from a disposable container, I cut a half-moon shape following the curve of my head. I spritzed it with glue, then added bits of moss, leftover beads from Mike’s helmet, a plastic fish from an earring and lots of sparkle. Once the plastic was dry, I encased it in a pocket of tulle, sewing the edges together after wrapping it around the headband. I added a snippet of blue sparkled branches along the band’s curve. It still needed some volume, so I added more tulle, gathered into a fan shape and sewn to the back. One more piece of glitter branch, also sewn on the back gave it more height. With glitter in my hair, on my face, and down the front of my jeans, I declared the head-piece sufficiently blinged!

Under the Sea Headdress

Gloves/Arm Wraps

Using the sleeves of a thrifted gauze shirt, I made a pair of arm covers to emulate gloves. After fitting them to my arms, I added a piece of elastic to keep them in place over my ring fingers. I made a shank style button, joining two buttons together with elastic, then covering them with a scrap of glitter material left over from the top half of the dress.

My son announced that they just ‘look like sleeves and not gloves’ taking the wind right out of my sails. He didn’t mean to be unkind, just passing on his honest opinion. I’ll try them on with the dress this weekend, and if they work well together I’ll use them.

Under the sea ‘gloves”

No-Candy Countdown:

Instead of giving out candy this year, I’ve decided to give little bags of pretzels. Pauline suggested bookmarks to go with them, another great idea. I have about nine more days till the wee ghosts and goblins grace my doorstep, so once the costume is a wrap, I’ll come up with a bookmark prototype. This will be another fun way to promote the Little Free Library. Still candy free.

Pumpkins on Parade:

Sad news on the pumpkin front. Like me, their once firm flesh is now soft and wrinkled. I fear one over-zealous costume change may put them out of business for good. A visit to a pumpkin patch is probably in order. Mike will need a bigger canvas for carving next week. For now, I give you Ghoulish Pumpkin.

Dark! Dark! The horror of darkness, like a shroud wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.

– Sophocles

October 21, 2014 by Born To Organize

If Your Costume Needs Zing, Add Bling

It’s true. A costume isn’t a costume until you add some bling. I spent my in between moments today adding bits of this and that to the dress. It’s fun sorting through my jewelry box for the odd piece. Small treasures also linger in craft bins and my sewing box.

Heart Bling, Straight From my Jewelry Box

I popped out last night for a few groceries and picked up a pair of jewelry findings to finish the cape. Using a few strands of green embroidery floss, I attached the flower finding to a silver leaf and added one on either side of the cape.

Shoulder Bling

Packet of Seeds (A Gift from Alyster the Gnome)

I threw together a headpiece this afternoon, but it’s been a bit of a challenge keeping it upright. If the elastic strap is under my chin it stands up. If it’s behind my ears as it should be it has a bit of a tilt. I’ll figure something out after another night’s sleep.

No-Candy Countdown:

I’ve been so focused on staying away from candy this month, that the subject entered my dreams. I was standing at a counter in a store, and the woman I was with was sharing details of a murder. Then she produced a delicious box of chocolates and I started eating them. Half way through I realized that I was eating out of stress, and worse, that I would have to tell all of you about it.

All you dream diagnosticians can have a field day with this one. In better news, I’m still candy free. Darn that chocolate haunting my dreams.

Pumpkins on Parade:

Today’s pumpkin is a two for one.

Pauline of The Contented Crafter said:

Surely all the aqua loveliness calls for a mermaid pumpkin to celebrate the costume unveiling?

Introducing, Merpumpkin.

Merpumpkin

My friend Betsy loves mermaids so hopefully she’s giggling when she sees this. The headdress is part of my costume by the way.I’ll be writing more about it tomorrow.
Marlene of In Search of it All said:

Wonder what would happen if you put the pumpkin on the dress form in costume?

Great idea, Marlene. I’ve been waiting to get the costume in respectable order before giving this idea a try. Aside from the shrunken head and the missing neck, not bad. Her beautiful eyes and blue skin more than make up for that. 😉