Showing posts with label pumpkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pumpkins. Show all posts

Thursday, November 1, 2018

October One Day at a Time


I can smell autumn dancing in the breeze.


The sweet chill of pumpkin and 

crisp sunburnt leaves.

~Author unknown

October 1

I was really, really hoping that October wouldn't start out rainy, seeing that it is my favorite month of the year. I was wishing for cool, crisp sunny days. I did not get my wish :-(


October 2

It is still raining today, more than yesterday. I decided it is a good day to stay home and make some spaghetti sauce and Apple Crisp Shortbread Bars that my sweet friend Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose posted on her blog. Wow, are they good!


October 3

Another rainy, cold day. My grandson JC is here before school with his new birthday fire truck.


October 4

Rainy day #4!

For the past few times I have taken my son to school I have driven by a house with a large tent full of vintage and antique items. This morning I decided that on the way home I was going to stop if someone was out there, and ask if they were having a sale. I saw the sale on my yard sale app but it wasn't supposed to start till tomorrow. As I drove by, there was a guy in a bright lime green shirt, so I mustered up some gumption and pulled in the driveway. They were the nicest people and let me look all I wanted. It started to downpour, but in the rain I found a trunk I have been looking for and a whole truck full of other treasures. It was well worth soaking my sandaled feet and clothes!


October 5

No rain today!

So that trunk you see in the picture above turned out to be too HUGE in front of the couch. It sure didn't look that big outside in the tent where I bought it. So.....seeing that I paid a mere $20 for it...yup, $20....I had to find a place to put it. I wasn't giving up on it that quick.


I bought the copper bowl and brass fish to sell but I think they have to settle here for awhile :-)


October 6

This was the forecast on my phone this morning for the whole day and it did downpour here. It did clear up but then it was hot and humid. As they say in New York state...wait a few minutes if you don't like the weather!


October 7

Do I dare mention it? Rainy day again!

Today would have been my nephew Christopher's 33rd birthday. He passed of a heart condition at age 25. He and my daughter Jena and niece Danielle were all born in the same year. This day is so sad every year. This picture of him was drawn by a friend. He had one of those smiles that lights up a room.



October 8

Today was a down day for me after a theatre event we had last evening. I decided to tackle (meaning cleaning, researching, photographing, listing) some of the vintage treasures I found at last week's fabulous sales.

Every time I went down "in the dungeon" to pack and weigh them for shipping, I was amazed at how my bubble wrap pile is growing. Thanks to my husband who goes dumpster diving at work to find bubble wrap, bubble pillows and paper for me. My daughter Jena has been getting bubble pillows at work and my daughter Candice and lots of other friends save their boxes for me.  The box pile is twice as high. Not sure I could sell on Etsy if I didn't have those donations. Packaging is expensive!

I am so ready for the holiday shopping blitz on Etsy. This is exciting stuff people.

Messy works for me. No sense straightening when I have to dig through it again!

October 9



I cannot resist taking a picture of a sunrise, even if it is with my cell phone while I am driving, literally aiming crossbody with my eyes on the road and clicking. Pretty good huh?


October 10

We have had two days of near 80 degrees, after 50's last week and 50's in the forcast for the end of this week. I went out to check my gardens and they are fading fast, as they should be this time of year. The Lantana and Bacopa pot is still going strong as is the Zinnia garden. The Zinnia never grew until mid September so I am happy to have them around still.


October 11

I know I sound like a broken record....raining today! Downpour actually. But nothing can keep me from an Antique Estate Sale. I know going in that the prices will be too high but I am too curious not to at least look. Wow, did I get an eyeful! The 1875 house was chock full of Antiques and Vintage. It looked like an Antique store and I found out that that is how the owners lived....with their huge collection displayed all around them in every room. It was quite the collection too. Every room looked like the one below, perfectly styled with a theme. Can I just say that I feel much better about my "hoard" of stuff at home!




October 12

My time in the kitchen is done for the day! My husband is having a Fireside tonight with some guys and he is serving Nathan's hot dogs with all the fixin's, including New York City pushcart onions. I was asked to make Italian Potato Salad and a dessert. Of course I chose Caramel Bacon Brownies, oh my!


October 13

I LOVE candy corn and today, on our anniversary date, my husband gave me Jelly Belly candy corn. I had no idea they existed and they are good!


It was a cold 40 degree day but my husband and I took the yearly Fall drive down Rt 21 from Canandaigua, at the top of Canandaigua Lake, to Naples at the end of the lake. The scenery along the way never gets old.


We were looking for colorful leaves but it was too early. It was a nice day anyways and we had a great lunch at Roots restaurant.


And a nice, but chilly, walk in the woods.


It's always a treat to stop in at Joseph's Farm Market for concord grapes, Macoun apples and grape bars. My Fall is now complete.

October 14

It's another beautiful day so I decided to wash all of my small area rugs and hang them on the line. My dying Christmas Tree fern bed needed some color anyways :-)



October 15

I made my Monday morning stop at Goodwill today. I hear that is the best day to go but it is always hit or miss there.  I did find some vintage treasures, a gift and a scarf for me.


October 16

My most favorite part of Fall are the recipes that I love to make year after year. Isn't it funny how we don't make those seasonal recipes any other time of year? This Cheddar Apple Bread is a long time favorite and because I needed it for two occasions this week, I made two!



October 17

My truck is getting old. It needs new all wheel tires $$$$ before winter. Until we get them I have to keep filling the ones on there. Good thing my husband loves these portable generators and put one in both our vehicles, in case of an emergency. The only thing I know how to do is inflate the tire. No idea how to use those red and black thingamajiggi's. Shhh...don't tell him!


October 18

First snow.....just a dusting...


October 19

Morning light...….the cows were mooing and the roosters cockadoodle do-ing while I was taking this picture.


October 20

I am laid up today with a bad back, my sciatica. I went to the chiropractor but the healing is going slow. I am up and down from the couch to standing, from standing to the couch. I'd much rather be jumping in a pile of these....


October 21

Still laid up with a bad back but since I have to get up and stand or walk around every now and then I decided to make some Grape Bread. I used concord grapes from the Finger Lakes. I was so taken with the pretty color of the dough!


October 22

The primary school that my granddaughter Chloe and grandson JC go to is one street over from me. Every now and then a class will take a walk around the block right by my house. I usually always see Chloe. Today it looked like the whole school took a walk around the block!







October 23

This morning I was in Canandaigua and I had about an hour to kill. What better place to spend time than on the shores of Canandaigua Lake?

That is the moon!

That is snow on the line of rocks!


October 24

CAUGHT!! Cyrus likes to jump on top of my cupboard to see what's up there. Here he is nibbling on my Indian Corn. Naughty kitty! He is too cute to be mad for long though :-)


October 25

I decided it was to time to make the Concord Grape Pie from the filling that I made last week and froze, before I forget about it in the freezer!

SO GOOD!!



October 26

With the weekend before Halloween coming up, I think this field may be pretty picked over by next Wednesday.


October 27

It's that kind of day.....
With a nor'easter in the forecast and 100% chance of rain, what else is there to do?!


October 28

Every night between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. we are serenaded by my son Michael playing his guitar. He practices an hour or more every day. This discipline has earned him high praise from his guitar teacher.


October 29

One of my favorite things in Fall....the Burning Bush turning red. I know I need to trim back all the bushes in the front of my house but when I know this red is coming, I don't have the heart to do it. Plus it is nice privacy for our front porch. They do cover up a lot of the architecture of this old 1870's house so I may need to call a landscaper next Spring :-(


October 30

Today was a perfect Fall day and one that Mom Jane and I have been looking forward to. It was to celebrate her 80th birthday so she wanted to go to the Sodus Point Lighthouse Museum. We took the tour, took lots of pictures and enjoyed the sunny, crisp Fall day. At lunch we shared a piece of the best pumpkin cheesecake I have eaten. A memorable day.



October 31

I have been making pumpkin cookies for over 30 years and decorating them with my grandchildren for the past 9 years, starting with Cassidy. There's always frosting, peanut butter (so good on the cookies) mini chocolate chips, candy corn, pumpkins, raisins and sprinkles to decorate with.

Left - Chloe 7, middle - JC  4, Right - Cassidy 13 as Harley Quinn

Goodbye October.....hello November! You are already a busy month.....


Happy Fall!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these blog parties:

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Falling for Fall

I love blog parties with a theme so when I saw that Pamela at From My Front Porch To Yours was having a linky party for showcasing front porches, I was in! It's called Falling For Fall Porch Party.

Welcome to my home!

My husband and I recently painted the front section of our front porch and it came out great! I hadn't decorated it for Fall yet so this was good incentive to get started.


I love creating vignettes in my decorating so that is what I did all around my front porch.



Our local grocery store (Wegmans) had a pack of two mums for $4 and a local farm market has $4.99 mums every year in gorgeous colors, so I had to get them all! I put the largest ones into a few vintage orchard fruit baskets and the small yellow mums stand on their own just fine.

I love the mix of aqua and orange so when I found the orange gourd at a local craft store (it is real!) I had to have it for my porch. I found the aqua chair a few years ago at a barn sale for $2 and paid 10 times that for the aqua watering can. I had to have it!! The red watering can is from Wegmans too!

The enamelware pot is filled with sticks and twigs from my daughters' yard at her cottage in the country. I find many birds nests in my yard that have fallen from the tall, tall trees and use them all over to decorate with.


I had been wanting a vintage milk can forever and finally found one traveling home last summer at a garage sale we just happened on. I left it outside all winter to age it and it is finally getting a little chippy! The milk bottle carrier and bottles are from my earlier days of picking!




The old window is a wonderful back drop to decorate for each season so for Fall I decided to put this straw wreath on it. The chippy white bench is a recent find that I can't part with yet so I decided to use it as a side table.


I love my unique pumpkin birdhouse and the birds nest was found on the ground a little while after one of my son's birthday parties. It has streamers in it from the pinata we had that year!


Pink pumpkins are new to me so whenever I find them I use them in my Fall decorating. The one I found last year lasted till May until it started rotting. Really!


 I made this wreath years ago and I still love it. I just primp it and change out the faded flowers every so often. It is huge and the focal point of my porch.


The gray, chippy, wonderfully faded bench against the railing is one that I helped my husband find for the foyer of his house before we even talked about getting married, knowing that someday it would be mine too!


I use it to photograph a lot of my vintage items for my Etsy shop.


Happy Fall y'all!!

AnnMarie xoxo

P.S. did you see that dead looking stuff to the top right of my front door and on one of the pillars? We cut the roots to an ivy plant that was taking over and now cannot get the remains off of our house! The house is sided, so to scrape it makes a huge mess. I tried vinegar and water and it did not work either. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get that dead stuff off? Thanks if you do!

I am linking up with these great blog parties:

From My Front Porch to Yours
Amaze Me Monday
Masterpiece Monday
Treasure Box Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
The Scoop
Vintage Inspiration Party
What's It Wednesday
Showcase Your Talent Thursday
Every Room in The House Party
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Home and Garden Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday
Freedom Fridays With All My Bloggy Friends
The Weekend Re-Treat Link Party
Share Your Cup Thursday
Strut Your Stuff Saturday
Pink Saturday