2 days left

Jack o'Lanterns, made from balloons and tissue paper, ghouls also made using balloons, glow sticks and cheesecloth.


Spooky displays with very imaginative, creative ideas. Great Jack o'lanterns!


Yummy caramel apples with nuts, these are definetely hard to resist. I may have to make some.

Now, this has to be the creepiest, most evil-looking JoL ever! I read in the paper today, that some house displays are becoming quite elaborate, one house in Toronto, where the owners spent $15,000. They are having traffic jams on that street with lots of people wanting to go take a look. I spent $9.56 on stuff marked down at Zellers. But I am using a few things from around the house.

Well, I'm off to work on our porch. I will take photos when finished.

Spooky photos

This is very cool. I'm going to look for some cobweb stuff today at the craft store or at Walmart and I maybe invest in a outdoor spotlight. This is very creepy looking, and I love the window decorating below where they used green light bulbs against each window and used taped cutouts of Halloween themes. I'll look for green lightbulbs and buy some black poster board to made the cutout silhouettes.



Look at all these cute wee pumpkins against a tombstone.
Can't wait for Hallowe'en. Only 3 more days.

Fashion Friday

Dahh-lings,
Here are my latest finds, again from the very finest store windows in Toronto's Yorkville. The Max Mara window was very inspiring with the beige and brown clothing and accessories accented with Frenchs' mustard. I also adore the little blazer with the funky belt.

These photos of handbags were from my NYC trip this past summer. I love the bag with the buttons and the other bag was just so crazy and different. The summery dresses make me long for the warmth of summer again. It is tres chilly today in southern Ontario. Brrrrrr!

Steve is wearing his Mill St. Brewery navy tee with Frenchs' mustard accents and a toasty plaid scarf that perfectly compliments the shirt and his eyes.

more Hallowe'eny stuff

This porch looks cool with the Jack O Lantern bags.

Steve is scaring me with this pose. EEkkkk!

I'm trying to think of some good scary fun stuff to decorate the porch. I think I'll go shopping this weekend in search of something good. I might sew up some ghosts with old sheeting or get a hunk of wood, paint it grey to look like stone and saw it to make a gravestone to put in the flowerbed in front. I need to write something witty like 'R.I.P.IECES'.

Any ideas anyone??

Pre-Hallowe'en fun stuff

This is my Jack O' Lantern last year, is'nt it kooky?

Is this not the cutest doggie costume ever? It made me giggle when I saw it.

Last year, we snapped this skeleton in a neighbours' lawn. What fun! Hope it was'nt some unfortunate relative of theirs. Tee hee hee!

I've been thinking about doing something to our house for Hallowe'en perhaps. This year I'll be able to hand out candy because last year I was at my apt. in Toronto, so it should be fun for me this year. We got some more candy today, so I hope we'll have enough, esp. leftovers for my sweet tooth. I have sometimes made caramel apples but I always use my pumpkin seeds from my Jack o' lantern. I love to eat them roasted with abit of olive oil and seasalt. I happily munch on them Hallowe'en night while watching a spooky movie or two, along with popcorn and some chocolate. It gives me an excuse to eat junky, yummy stuff on this night.

So, hopefully I'll dress up the house, I still have about a week to think of something creatively spooky or fun.

What are you doing this Hallowe'en?

fashion friday

I snapped some photos of tony Bloor St. shop windows. I loved these clothes that cost alot of coin (more than I can spend anyway). I swooned over the boots with the metal buttons and Prada bags. The striped sweater and red coat would be so 'me' (forgot which store) and I was completely envious of the girl with the green coat, purple boots and brown bag.
My mother is modelling her new London fog winter coat in a gorgeous teal green and new red loafers, and I'm modelling a fabulous oak leaf.
I just received my new rings from thecarrotbox.com today. Oh joy! You can see them here - I got the pink and green kimono ring (9th last) and the vintage green lucite ring (Lucy).
What item of clothing or accessories do you like best??

beauty

In an ugly world, the only true protest is 'Beauty'.

I saw this quote written on a milk crate on somebody's bicycle the other day.

I walked by, then stopped to read it and it really spoke to me about the world today.

There is alot of ugliness in the world with war, poverty, disease and so on, but we have to find 'beauty' in order to feel good. If we let ourselves dwell too long on things that are scary or make us fearful, then we can lose focus on the good. It's all about the Ying Yang, I suppose. The good with the bad. There will always be terrible stuff in the world, always has been. It's up to us to seek out and live for the 'beauty' in life, and there is plenty of it for us to behold.

funny stuff

Me, being bratty at the cafe. Archie's big mouth.

I spotted this lady....ahem, the other week walking around town.
click on photo to enhance.



At the Toronto Marathon this past weekend I saw SBSP, who was high fiv'en all the runners. This marathon participant tries to warm up after his run.


Poor Archie is trying to snuggle with a grouchy-looking Steve.


Eddie is snugglin with one of those South Park characters. Awwwww!


Steve being all goofy and cute after a couple of glasses of vino, of course.
what photo do you like best?

the color blue

blue is just a marvelous color. here are some of my favorite blues.

The blue in these flowers are so intense, although some may see these as purpley blue.

It's the color of our livingroom, a nice deep robins egg blue. This photo with Eddie (looking a little grumpy) is cool, because his eyes sort of match the wall.

My blue willow tea cups are one of my favorite patterns for china. There is a story to blue willow china about how two lovers are transformed into birds, doves i think, so if you ever come across a blue willow teacup or plate look for the two doves.
This old phone is a nice soft robins' egg blue.

This ancient greek tile that we saw at the Brookyln Museum this past summer is one of the most brilliant blues I have ever seen, a rich turqouise that amazed me, and this jug is such a deep indigo blue, so breathtaking.

I love the blue in this painting.

and finally, who can resist a pair of blue eyes.

tell me about your favorite blue.

Autumn displays

Autumn is my favorite time of year for alot of reasons. I love walking around neighbourhoods of grand old houses watching the leaves gently float to the ground, and then the crunching sound they make under my foot. I wish people were'nt so particular about raking them away too soon. I especially love those really windy days, where whirlwinds of orange and red leaves swirl through the air, or really sunny days, the way the sunlight can make a maple tree look like a work of art. I remember as a child, piling leaves into a great mountain next to the porch and then taking turns with my brothers and sisters, joyfully jumping into the centre of the pile. What fun! I even have a photo of me as a baby sitting in a pile of maple leaves, I think that's when my affection must have begun.
It's almost midmonth now, and fall is in it's glory, and it will all be over much too soon. I want this moment to last longer like winter does. It would be so nice if it was reversed and we had a short winter and a long fall. How I wish......

Where does the time go?

How I wish there were more hours in the day.
I seem to be going to bed later and getting up late and by the time I have breakfast and do chores and get ready for the day, it seems the day is so short. I have my list of the days' schedule, appts, errands, projects, groceries, library, baking, cooking and blogging and by the time everything is done there just is'nt enough time to do everything I want to do. I do the things that need to be done, the things that have to be done for living but there just is'nt the energy to do the things that I really want to do. Yesterday, I reserved sometime in the afternoon to relearn knitting and I had just had a cup of tea to try to revive myself, but I found it very hard to concentrate because I felt sooo sleepy. I fought the sleepiness and tried my best to practice the knitting steps and after 20 minutes of struggling with the slipknot and casting on I gave in. I really need to take one of those 'Stitch n Bitch' classes at least to get the basics down. For the past 4 or 5 years, I think I've tried to knit every fall and end up throwing in the towel. I believe the change of seasons just drains me of energy. I hope soon that I can refuel my energy reserves so I can do more projects soon. I have some new stuff I want to do, including making a teddy bear (for my nephew C) from a soft brown sweater that's shrunk too small, using a cute pattern from a craft magazine. I also want to make patchwork tea cosies and felt applique coasters as Christmas gifts and perhaps sell in stores.
Now if only the day were longer.......sigh.