October the Twenty First: Let It Go #Blogtober2021

Colder today and windy too. I'm not ready for the leaves to be falling yet. Autumn always seems to be the shortest season, I think. This year it's taken awhile for the trees to turn. I hope they aren't too quick to drop their leaves. Before this happens, don't forget to catch a falling leaf and make a wish.

      

 Flynn Mansion

   Living History Farms

    Urbandale, Iowa

 When I worked as an historical interpreter in a Victorian mansion, I spent a lot of my free time researching decorating, needlework and housekeeping books and magazines published in the 1870's. I still have many old books in my personal collection. Colorful fall leaves were often used to make Christmas decorations in the nineteenth century. In the fall we gathered leaves and twigs and acorns, and copied some of the arrangements from the past. We dipped colorful leaves in wax and arranged them on the fireplace mantels and tabletops. We stuck them on picture frames and mirrors, and made garlands to hang across the windows. Long branches and leaves filled our cut glass vases, and pottery pitchers. And, yes, it was the best job ever.

"Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go."  That is a wonderful and profound quote. And  appropriate to so much in our lives. So many times when we have to let things go, we aren't able to see the beauty that can follow. It can be books, a job, extra weight, a closet filled with clothes that no longer fit, our youth, furniture, houses, dear friendships, and even the special people in our lives. The bareness of late October trees serves to remind us that spring always comes back into our lives. No matter what happens.

October the Twentieth: Feeling Fallish #Blogtober2021

 

That's kind of the way I feel tonight. Our Autumn has been unseasonably warm this year. Until today. It was cool and cloudy and a little bit blustery. Yesterday it was very warm. One year ago it snowed several inches, very unexpectedly. We never know what to expect. Today reminded me that I need to find my hat and gloves. I really wish that I had already gone shopping for a new coat. I have started to change over to winter clothes in my closet, and need to put summer away. I am feeling a little "under the weather" tonight, and really do think that perhaps summer has collapsed. I am ready for hot tea and a snuggly blanket.  Good night all.

October the Nineteenth: Ghoulies and Ghosties #Blogtober2021

Many years ago, I first learned this prayer. Maybe some would call it a poem.

"From ghoulies and ghosties,  

And long leggity beasties,

And things that go bump in the night,

Good Lord deliver us"

I have read that it originated in Scotland, or in Wales, or maybe in Cornwall, England. It's been around for a very long time, since the eighteenth century, or 1800, or 1905, or in 1912. It's anonymous, or it was written by Mr. Chaplin and appeared in a book called "The Beggar's Wallet. Obviously, there are many opinions about it.

A series of three postcards was drawn by Stan Chaplin in 1905. They were called "A Cornish Litany" and all contained this poem at the bottom. Each was a different scene, but all included scary monsters.

The poem was expanded into a song in the Broadway play "Meet me in St. Louis" in 1989. It was sung by the children and the Irish maid in a Halloween scene.  It wasn't included in the Judy Garland movie produced in 1944. Too bad. It's pretty cute. It can be found on YouTube.

I actually made a cross stitch sampler of this prayer and put it into my children's bedroom when they were young. I can't find the exact one, but it was something like this, except it had some long leggity beasties in it. 

October the Eighteenth: Buntings and Bows #Blogtober2021

 Whenever I've gone to England, I've always noticed buntings hung all around, making celebrations even when there isn't one. Buntings, banners, and pennants were originally used as early as the seventeenth century to brighten events and add an air of celebration. Here in the U.S. they were often available for patriotic occasions. I remember them when I was very young, but usually they were the plastic flags on a string used at furniture stores and used car lots. (I can say that. My dad sold used cars.) 

I have a passion for buntings. I especially like to make them from vintage images glued to paper and chipboard shapes. I arrange them on leaf or floral garlands and then start adding fabric strips, tulle, muslin, vintage trims, buttons, doilies, ribbon, lace, and whatever else I have. Some of them had tiny pumpkins.

I've used the same plan to make one with birds and flowers for our bedroom window. I made another one for the kitchen , and also several for Christmas, Valentine's Day, all the seasons, and St Patrick's Day. I have started to sell them, and have put a few in my Etsy shop, Victorian Gypsy. I also have a booth at an antique mall and sell them.

Another style I like to make is from old quilt pieces and vintage fabric yo-yos.  I like to put buttons or beads between the circles. I acquired a large bag of circles and needed to find something to do with them. Some of the circles are made into pockets.

This picture is pretty plain, but I usually put buttons between each of the puffs.

Most of my photos are Halloween related tonight, but I do like these made from antique quilt top pieces. Some unknown lady made enough of these for a quilt, but never got them put together.

October the Seventeenth: Party Time #Blogtober2021

Many of the old Halloween postcards emphasized fun and laughter rather than scary times. Here are some pictures showing jolly events. As I'm writing this the Hallmark channel is advertising Christmas movies. I only like one holiday at a time. I know the stores have had December decorations out for awhile. It doesn't make sense to me that we start decorating earlier and earlier, but the time is going by much more quickly than it ever did before. A conundrum for sure.

 

Thank you for your replies to my last post. Sometimes writing this blog feels like a party of one!

Wishing everybody a joyous and jolly Halloween!

 

October the 16th: Halfway There #Blogtober2021

 

I have passed the Halfway mark. And today I am feeling very discouraged about this whole blogging thing. I have actually had a blog since 2005, and my reader base feels like it's gotten smaller. Truthfully I haven't been very consistent or very prolific about it, but somehow it seems like it should be going somewhere after all these years. I am enjoying this challenge because I love October, and it does give me a lot of subjects to write about. I am not very competitive though in many areas, but I wonder why I don't reach more people. Most of my readers find my blog through Facebook.  At this point, I just feel like there is a magic instruction book that I should have read, that tells me the secrets of blogging, and facebook, and instagram. I am interested in anything that works except making a TicToc video. No singing. No dancing. No eating anything gross.

I'm curious to know what most readers like when they use Facebook or read blogs. Is it keeping in touch with family and friends? Do people enjoy seeing pictures of friends the most? Or is it keeping track of your own schedules and documenting the activities you are involved with? Do you belong to lots of groups? I like the decorating and craft groups and that people have so many ideas of things to do. Do you like to read blogs or are they outdated?  I enjoy hearing about old friends that I probably would never see if we didn't have social media. I stay away from almost everything political and sometimes snooze people for a while. Sometimes it all gets to be too much information.

I would really like to know what readers think. If you could take a moment to comment it would be so appreciated. Happy Halfway to Halloween.

October the fifteenth: Back to the Theatre #blogtober2021

 Tonight was my first visit to the Civic Center in nineteen months. My friend and I have had season tickets for the musicals for several years. We just saw "The Band's Visit" which was originally scheduled for May, 2020. Things were a little different than they used to be. Masks were required. We also had to bring our vaccination card and a photo i.d.  The world is a different place, but if we do what we can to keep ourselves and others safe, then I am all for it.

 It wasn't my favorite, but it was good. It was a story that took place in one day after an orchestra from Egypt was stranded in the wrong town in Israel. They were supposed to be on their way to play at the Arabic Embassy but ended up in a very small town, and stayed with several families in the town. It didn't tell full stories, but gave little glimpses of the lives of the people. Everyone was very talented, with beautiful voices. I found it a little hard to understand. Sometimes they were speaking more than one language, but that was the point; it wasn't always easy to communicate. And not really any dancing. I like dancing, and stories that fall together perfectly, and happy endings.  This one was a glimpse into a day. It was probably more realistic than the happy ending stories.

There was a lot of music, all Egyptian and Arabic based. I was reminded of my wild and reckless youth as a belly dancer. I decided to take lessons for my fiftieth birthday present to myself. I actually belonged to a dance troup from 2000 to 2010, and had a lot of fun with them. I didn't perform much, because I get terrible stage fright, and I am a pretty awful dancer, but I practiced with them every week and went to the parties. They are still around, and I try to see them when I can. This is not a picture of me.                                                     

                                                                               

October the Fourteenth: Bits and Bobs, and Bats #Blogtober2021

 Bats are probably my least ever favorite Halloween decoration. But, I do have to admit this one is kind of cute. I found the picture at papertreyink . I'm not sure if there is a pattern.

I do have a long list of reasons for my bat aversion. And now I will share them with the world. One of my first memories is waking up to a bat flying about the room. I was very young, about three. We lived in a duplex house and my bed was a couch in the front room. 

As a  teen, I loved to scare myself with a good vampire book or movie. I'm surprised I didn't wear a string of garlic around my neck as protection. I did have a little cross necklace, just in case.

                                                                           

Several years later, I was a young mother living in a big old house. One night I went to bed early with a headache. Once again, I woke up to a whooshing sound of a bat flying around and swooping over my head. Screaming, I finally ran for the door. My husband was on the other side, holding it shut. He said I shouldn't let the bat escape or we'd never find him. After some more murderous screams on my part, he came in and managed to trap the bat between the window and the screen. And then he went to bed and FELL ASLEEP!!!!!! I'm not sure if I ever forgave him. I sat up all night watching the bat.

I had a few more instances both in our house, and in the two museum houses I've worked in. I once gave a tour while watching a bat on a curtain.

My craziest bat story was in the middle of the night. I was in the bathroom, indisposed, when a bat appeared flying over my head. From a seated position, I managed to grab a towel, throw it up in the air, trap the little creature, bringing it to the floor. I put a wastebasket over it, locked the door, and told my husband in the morning. Essentially, I gave him another chance to be my hero. We found out that our bats had come in through a very small opening in the bathroom light fixture. Luckily, they weren't living in the house.

My most recent batty adventure was a few years ago. I was watching my three young grandchildren, and had just gotten everyone upstairs to bed. They live in an old Victorian house. Several rooms on the main floor connect in a circle and there is an open stairway to the bedrooms upstairs. Suddenly, a bat appeared, and I knew I had to keep it away from the kids. I closed the door to the dining room, so it could travel around the four rooms. I was so worried it would go upstairs. My plan was to call my daughter, and get them home, but, of all times, I had forgotten my phone. Plan B was to get him outside. I knew from past experiences that a fan at the door will help them to find the way out. I didn't have a fan, so I thought that opening the door would be the next best thing. So for nearly an hour, I stood at the dining room door, and watched him as he flew in a circle from the front room, parlour, another room, and enclosed front porch over and over again. When he was on the far side of his journey I ran to open the door and then back again.  He flew in the same path, and didn't venture up the stairs. I watched him and knew I wasn't able to fall apart and scream.  Finally, I got him outside. When my Meg and Jack got back home, every single light in the house was on, and I was upstairs guarding the kids, who had peacefully slept through it all.

And yes, I do know that bats are good for the environment, and that they eat mosquitoes, and yet........                                                                 

 

October the Thirteenth: Books and Quotes #Blogtober2021

 This is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. Supposedly, it was originally in the library at Iowa State University. I'm not sure that is true, but it could have been. The top part has holes for rods to hold periodicals, but I don't usually use them. Most of the time, I have seasonal books on the top shelf. The second shelf slants, and there are several dividers. It had to be in storage when I lived at the frat house, and it was one of the first things I brought here when I moved. I have most of my furniture now. It's amazing how much I missed it when I didn't have it. Our house is much more crowded than I'd like. We are still trying to decide what stays and what goes. And where it will go. And what would we replace it with? I am living with a lot of furniture that isn't what I would ever choose. And he is probably thinking the same about some of the quirky pieces that I have brought in . We are making it work...sort of.

This was going to be about books. Yesterday the newest Alice Hoffman book came out. I pre-ordered it, so I was able to start reading it today. It is the fourth and final book about the fictional Owens family. I already wrote about this a few days ago. The movie, "Practical Magic" was based on one of the books. I'm afraid I was pretty useless today. I spent most of it lost in a book. I love her writing. When I read her books, I find myself going back and reading sentences again, just because they are so wonderfully written. 

"Life was like a book, Jet thought, but one you would never finish. You would never know how people would wind up; the good often suffered and the wicked prospered and there was no explanation for the way in which fate was meted out as there was in a novel. Fiction made sense of the world."  The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

 I have another favorite book quote. This one is from Elizabeth Goudge's book, " A City of Bells":

"In my experience when people once begin to read they go on. They begin because they think they ought to and they go on because they must. Yes. They find it widens life. We're all greedy for life, you know, and our short span of existence  can't give us all that we hunger for, the time is too short and our capacity not large enough. But in books we experience all life vicariously"

Well, that is all for Day 13. I am going to bed early tonight. With a Book.

October the Twelfth: Oh, Happy Day #blogtober2021

                                                                             

     Today is our second anniversary. It was a pretty quiet day since John is still recovering from his surgery. I was surprised by a dozen beautiful roses.  

We have a wonderful, magical love story. I think it is probably made better because we are only young at heart. When we got married, he was seventy-five and I was seventy. Such babies! John and I first knew each other many years ago when our children were young. We belonged to the same parish, and our kids went to school together. We saw each other  at school functions, parties, and ball games. We were part of the same group of friends. My first husband Jim had also attended grade school with John and his wife, Candy.   We have a long history.

Fast forward many years. We both had long, happy marriages. But as life happens, things don't always turn out the way we think they should. We both lost our spouses, and we both lost an adult son. I worked at a funeral home, and it seemed that we were both running into one another at family funerals, and funerals for friends. We were Facebook friends. He left comments that he enjoyed reading my blog. I guess the way to my heart was through funerals and Facebook. One day, out of the blue, I got an instant message, asking if I would go to dinner with him. One year from our first date he asked me to marry him. He says that I said "Are you serious?" Twice. Actually, I was worried that he had fallen. He was walking across the room, and all of a sudden he was on one knee, proposing. Old People Romance.

We got married the next October. Originally we thought we would wait longer to give everyone time to get used to the idea. And then we remembered this is an old people love story. We had a perfect, low key wedding in a beautiful house. Everything was lovely. And now we are living happily ever after.

                                                                                    

                          

                                                                                

                                                                                       

Sweet Yet Sinister: October the Eleventh #Blogtober2021

              

       Halloween decorating gets more elaborate every year and starts earlier, doesn't it? I'm afraid I haven't done as much as I thought I would. This definitely isn't the year for my A-game. I'm sure I must still have things in boxes somewhere in storage. "Sweet, Yet Sinister" is the title on an altered book I made years ago. I guess that could also include my Halloween decorating style. I don't like things that are gruesome, but I don't want it to be too cutesy either. I am partial to witches and pumpkins. I don't really like bats, and skeletons, ghosts, and snakes.  And I think pumpkin heads on figures are creepy.    This year I guess I am mostly into vintage vignettes. I have groups of  holiday things setting about, but not all through the house.                                                          

My centerpieces often include a mirror or tray glued to a candle holder for height. This was last year, but includes acorns, vintage photos, candles, and a darling old book about children's parties. Leaves and little pumpkin lights completed this picture. I might do this again!

Here's the library with a Halloween bunting. My seasonal children's books are on display too. Whoops, no picture. Good thing I've got all month to revisit the scene.

A very small tree. It lights up.  And of course , we need a little cemetery scene. One says "Gone at Last"  And another says "I'll be back".  Quirky, and just a little bit sinister.

 An update on John. It's been two weeks since the surgery, and he is feeling a little better every day. At this point, he still wishes he had just lived with the rotary cuff pain instead. Probably four more weeks with the sling and then physical therapy. Tomorrow is our second anniversary, and I think I'll keep him.

October the Tenth: Books #Blogtober2021

 

"Just because your bookshelves are full doesn't mean you need to stop buying books. It just means you need more bookshelves." This is probably one of my main philosophies of life. I love books. I love having them, shopping for them and reading them. I love decorating with them. What's not good about a small stack of vintage orange and black books as a base for a witch or pumpkin for Halloween.? Bookstores have always been my happy place. They calm me down immediately when I walk into one. I love second hand bookstores the most. And independent book stores. And big chains. Libraries will do in a pitch. At one time I started to plan a pilgrimage to bookstores around the country, and maybe the world. That is still on my "bucket list".

Today I went to one of the Midwest's biggest book sales. It is held every year at our state fairgrounds. This year it celebrated its' sixtieth year. I have been buying books there for more than fifty years. When I got married (the first time), we had very little furniture when we began housekeeping. But we made sure there were bookshelves. I bought a lot of our first books at the sale. As the years progressed we kept adding shelves and bookcases to every room of our second house. We even turned one room into a library. When we moved to a small bungalow, I counted the books we had accumulated. I had over 3,000. It turned into a major downsizing project. I donated and sold many of them, but then we started again. 

For several years I worked in an historic house at Living History Farms Museum. During that time I collected many 19th century books about home life, cooking, crafting, sewing and decorating. I still love those books even though I'm not living in 1875 anymore. 

I've written many times about my love for England. And one of the reasons is that there are books everywhere. The stores often use books to decorate. The quaint little hotels in villages have masses of old books setting around. The pubs have shelves of books. 

                                                                        

I don't buy as many books as I used to. Now I keep most fiction on an e-reader because it doesn't use up space. I would still rather read a "real" book. John's a reader, too, so I moved into this house which already had a lot of books. We both still have boxes of books. I am looking for new places to put them. And weeding them out. More of his than of mine, I'm afraid. But I am trying to be generous. And I have a room as a library again. 

You may be wondering why I would even want to go to a book sale at this point. I like to make things with books. Some book lovers may be shuddering right now. There are many who think books are sacred. I don't. Well, except for the ones that I already own. But I can handle buying one to specifically cut apart, or alter, or use for other decorating. So that's what I do. 

                                                                           

October the Ninth: Pumpkins Now and Then #Blogtober2021

 I remember when jack-o-lanterns were basically one color and style. Real and orange and carved with a kitchen knife. For some, removing the "guts" was the best part. For others, the more squeamish, it was the worst. I saved a lot of pumpkin seeds, but I don't think I ever actually followed through and roasted them. In case you would like to, here's a recipe:       Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

This will be continued another day. I got a little too close to my deadline tonight, but I can say a lot more about pumpkins!