Pumpkins for Autumn and Halloween Decorations Brighten the Day

Mixed Pumpkins
As Winter gets closer, the mornings are darker and a little grayer. I’m more aware of it because I have to walk Annika a little later every day. As we walked through our neighborhood plaza this morning, I spotted these colorful pumpkins and realized why I love the color orange at this time of year. I was surprised to see so many varieties.
Here are a few more orange pumpkins, plus  white ones as well. I do love this time of the year, especially when I see such lovely bright colors.

Amaryllis Update

amaryllys-blossom
On November 13th, in my post, Time to Plant Amaryllis Bulbs, I wrote about the Amaryllis being a beautiful holiday plant. It grows very quickly, and is amazing to watch. I said I’d post updates on how ours was doing. Here you see the two buds quickly growing. Below you can see how much the plant has grown in a very short time. Please take a look at the original post to see how it all began.

amaryllis-plant
There is still time to plant amaryllis bulbs, so hurry and find some at your local garden nursery, and you will have beautiful flowers in time for the holidays.

Almost Ready for Christmas

Christmas CardsWe are almost ready for Christmas. In my last post I said I would write my Christmas cards the next day and I did. I usually take several days but this year I finished them all in one day. Our house is decorated inside and out, thanks to my very creative husband. Once he’s started, he just keeps going. He really is amazing!

Husband laying track

While Martin set up the train track I baked oatmeal cookies and gift wrapped them to give to friends.

oatmeal cookies

cookies

Yes, we’re definitely almost ready for Christmas. Tomorrow I’ll share my oatmeal cookie recipe with you. I know you’ll love it.

Christmas Decorating Ahead of the Storm

Finished decorating

This is our first Christmas without Dad, who passed away in February of this year, so we wanted to help Mom decorate for Christmas. We knew that a storm was brewing, but we went to her home in Seal Beach anyway. By the time we arrived, she had the tree up and beautifully decorated, and most of the inside of her condo was also bright with the yuletide spirit. She really is amazing! We did have a little rain as we began work, but it stopped just long enough for us to get her outside lights up under the threatening skies.decorated mirror

Storm is coming
As we drove away from Mom’s, the rain started again. Driving toward storm clouds on a darkened freeway, we were sure we were in for a really huge storm, and we suddenly drove through some very heavy rain, but five minutes later the rain was behind us and the sky was clear.