Looking ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas

 All of our Halloween decorations are down as of yesterday.  Little late getting them down but glad to do so to focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

I did enjoy sitting out late on our sidewalk bench with hot chocolate in quiet at night with the pumpkins lit. These took no time for me to carve. 

We got maybe 10 trick or treaters.  I have two baskets of candy left of Hershey bars, mini cheese balls in individual packets, mini muffins, skittles and two in a pack of cookies and smarties. I always over buy the trick or treats.  Muffins can be good for breakfast as they are individually packaged.  The other stuff I will push on anyone who comes to visit.  

I put back my fall wreath 

Leaves are still turning here.  

from office window

Husband just about finished painting trim on Lavender cottage aka grandchildren playhouse

Nice grey stain on decking.

After a while we will refresh the lavender color on the cottage.  

Thinking about adding on to the rear and of course new prettier door also.

I will purchase or make possibly a little sitting arrangement of some kind in there. 

I purchased a rug from Wayfair to put on floor.

Wiring for electrical is next.  Be a nice little retreat. The grandchildren will put their spin on it as it was originally purchased for them, and they had a good time playing house in there with their little table and chairs along with make believe refrigerator and stove.  They used it to do schoolwork in the nasty covid years. 

Only good thing that came out of that is seeing that school as I knew it growing up is somewhat obsolete.  Going back to school, they stayed on computers to do all their work any way so why not stay home and do it?  There are outside classes or get together with other homeschoolers at science museum and classes offered within the county for art and other activities.  

Throw back to a cute little playhouse at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens we used to take the grand girls to.  This was in 2015

The bay window on this little cottage is so cute and lets in lots of light. 

After taking them here, we had to get one.  I think ours needs a dormer. 

Well enough of memory lane and back to getting my act together for Thanksgiving.  I would really like to rent a place near mountains with fireplace for Thanksgiving maybe next to a little lake. I think it would be a nice little get away somewhere different. 

It's possible.

That's all for now.

Betsy 🍂🍂

Almost Halloween

I will be glad when it's gone actually so I can get my wind beaten decorations out of the front yard.

We have had some wind in the past two weeks off and on.  Just enough to blow things down and around. 

My cats

I light him up at night

I made this man in the moon two years ago. I didn't put my little bats up around him this year.  Maybe next year.

ChatGPT, I altered this picture

I took this a month or so ago at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond Va. and added the ghosts.

Another of a church I took in Bath County Va.

with and without ghosts

This castle in Heidelberg Germany I took in 2007 looks ghostly on its own without being altered. 

another view

It was a rainy evening there as we walked back from the Castle.  The camera I had didn't take the best pictures, but I got this one on that evening with some rain drops and a little snow.

I had to add a ghostly figure rising up from the street. 

 

A tree in Bath County Va and no alter here.  I can see a face in the tree.

Happy Halloween

October almost over and b'days

Couple b'days in October.  My granddaughter Genevieve, my sister and mine.  Genevieve and her great Aunt are the same day. 

Publix made and frosted the cake for Genevieve and her mom purchased Capybara characters.  So cute!

For meeeee.

Children and grandgirls brought me flowers, cannoli and chocolate cover strawberries and fruit 

Love the card too

Along with the flowers on the table. Two things my husband got me are these two birds made from steel from Raindrops in Virginia.   I love stuff like this.  One will go on the side of the fence I believe. 

My sister brought me some much-needed slippers.  A very pretty pillow cover and two glass pears that a votive sits at the bottom of both. I ate the whole bag of cashews she brought, a weakness of mine.

Pretty purse and gloves along with scents from friend Jennifer. Pretty lavenders. 

I made the other day some bell pepper soup.  I like it better than stuffed peppers.  It certainly does make a difference to sauté the onion along with garlic and red and green peppers for more flavor.  

So good.  Ground beef, rice, peppers, garlic, diced tomatoes with a little basil, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce.  I did add a couple Boullion cubes, I guess liquid beef stock would have less sodium, but I didn't have any.  

                                                We had toasted baguette served alongside

        A ride out to Palmyra Virginia for some apples. 

 

This was a week ago.  The leaves were not all changed but still pretty color

For dinner later in the week we stopped in Panara.

Steve loves the chili and Caesar salad

Me, I love the Harvest soup or pumpkin soup.  My favorite!

Fuji apple salad is another favorite of mine. 

We got a new outbuilding.   We need it for storage and some tools.

I will be painting it deep red.  We purchased this already made and painted at such a great price. 

I don't mind repainting it. 

A few little plantings around it and maybe a small fence for decoration. 

That's it for now