Pups and Pumpkins

Tallulah Mae and Elektra Susannah (who greets you from the great beyond) wish you a Happy Hallowe'en!

Gourd Goodness

Gourd, pumpkin, squash, cucurbit--whatever you call it, I LIKE it They're all so fascinating--have you seen this book? Yummy. We usually carve a jack o'lantern and then roast the seeds, but we didn't do it this year. I figure the pumpkin can move on to being a Thanksgiving decoration . . . here in SoCal, it's not unusual to see pumpkins still on the porch when the Christmas decorations go up.

Hallowe'en (Again)

Because crafting is so relaxing for me and because I love felt (truly, I do!), I made this little jack o'lantern garland and gave it to a friend who works at a day care center. Easy and fun . . .

So Today Is Your Birthday

Happy birthday, Miss Robin! I hope your day has been filled with sweets and treats . . .

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Don't look now, Tallulah Mae--but there's a slightly creepy Halloween dude with a jack o'lantern head right behind you . . .
Tallulah Mae says: "I refuse to participate in this tomfoolery . . ."

Plastic (Halloween) Is Fantastic

Plastic-o-rama! A little glowing tableau of vintage plastic Halloween decorations; there are actually more, but we're having trouble finding a) proper electrical cords for them and b) proper bulbs. Glow, baby, glow.

Halloween

Now that Halloween is less than an week away, let's distract ourselves from natural disasters by looking at all some Halloween stuff . . . I've always tried to buy handmade things, and up until about a year ago, it was still possible to do so; unfortunately, now things are all made in--surprise--China. Oh, well . . . this is a mix of hand-made and mass manufactured, new and vintage. Spooky!

Flu

Although the fires still burn seemingly unabated here in San Diego, I decided to post a photo that I have titled "Portrait of the Flu." Please note the bag o' snotty tissues. And the semi-trashy reading material . . . Tina Brown presents all the sordid details about Princess Diana. And the tuberoses smell heavenly. What you can't see is a sweet bundle of Tallulah Mae on the bed (ahem) to keep me company.

To all our sweet friends and family: We are safe here where we live, and the weather seems to be perhaps easing so that firefighters can catch a break and get a handle on the situation. Fingers crossed, please.

Fire

This is what the sky looks like when half of the surrounding county is on fire . . . thoughts and prayers go out to those in the fire's path--and could firefighters be more cool? What would we do without them?

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

A Tallulah Mae flashback. I, for one, am speechless and must bow down before her supreme puppitude cuteness.

End of Summer Fo' Sure

It's a sure sign that the season is over when the string by which these paper lanterns are attached frays and finally breaks from a full summer of the lanterns swinging gently in the breeze. The paper lanterns fall, like autumn leaves, signalling that summer is finally over (it IS almost Halloween, y'all!).

Pumpkin + Chocolate = Yum

I made these delicious Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip muffins a few weeks ago from this recipe from the oh-so-cool Angry Chicken blog: yum yum, and oh, did I mention, YUM? Plus, these are small, so you can have more than one (always a good thing, no?)!

Pretty Pears, All in a Row

Here's my assistant helping with the setup.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Let's see: I packed my toothbrush, my pajamas, my unmentionables . . . what am I forgetting? What what what? Hmm . . . oh, right! If we just fold her legs in, I think she'll fit. (Wouldn't it be great if you could just temporarily shrink your dog down for travel purposes and then enlarge them on the other end? Although, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, that didn't have such a happy ending, did it? I guess ultimately Alice and Mike Teevee turned out OK, but I don't think the technology is there yet--neither Alice's magic potion nor Willy Wonka's teleportation machine.)

I'm off to Phoenix to be with my family for a few days--blogging may or may not happen, but you never know! Think good thoughts, please: it's a medical situation that we all hope (and believe) will turn out perfectly.

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Tallulah, accessorized (better than any ol' tree!). And sorry for the delay, those of you who eagerly await your weekly Tallulah Mae fix (and that's all of you, right?): Blogger had issues this afternoon and would not let me post...

Over-Accessorized Trees

This tree is perhaps a bit like your eccentric elderly aunt, the one who has donned a few too many accessories (a colorful scarf, a big chunky necklace, clattering bangles, rings on every finger). She smells like Shalimar and kisses you, loudly, on both cheeks, leaving incarnadine lipstick behind... (OK, I made that up--I don't have an aunt like that, but it would be cool if I did!)

This tree has shown a bit more restraint than that . . . but please note the striped accent bark.

Trees and Accessories III

They wear dangly earrings . . .

Trees with Accessories II

Sometimes they wear ruby red strings of beads . . .

Trees Wearing Accessories

Sometimes they wear elaborate brooches . . .

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

The ancient art of dog origami.

Some Thrifty Goodness

I seem to really like containers--I'm drawn to boxes of all sizes. This Resist-O-Cabinet was meant to hold electrical resistors (natch!), whatever those are, but it was full of odd things that I couldn't even identify. Grommets? No. Widgets? No. Doohickies? No. Thingamebobs? Yes. Can't you see it filled with buttons according to size and color? Ah . . .

Cute pink-and-grey hatbox from Eaton's, which apparently was a big Canadian department store--note the Customs inspection sticker.
And this little goodie was filled with embroidery supplies, including oodles and oodles of floss. Not that I NEEDED any floss, but ya know . . . did I really NEED a pink-and-grey hatbox or a little metal box with drawers? Um, no. But they give such pleasure . . .

Fall Almost Fell

Last week it really did begin to feel like Fall here--I brewed my first pot of tea in a good long while (iced coffees being the order of the day during this long, hot summer) and put on a sweater. Well, maybe not a sweater; maybe it was just a long-sleeved T-shirt, but still . . . I was grooving on the almost-but-not-quite-but-getting-closer-especially-for-Southern-California-Fall-like weather.

And today it was in the mid-seventies again. Not complaining, mind you, just observing. (Nothing will keep me from my beloved digestives, though--nothing, I tell you, not rain-snow-sleet-hail-heat-dark o'night-etc.!)

They're Baaack . . .

The gophers, that is. Here's some handiwork in the front "yard" (currently, and seemingly endlessly, awaiting its redesign). We watched one of them repeatedly stick his little head out, nervously, waiting for us to leave. It was kinda like this . . .

Sigh. So now we've resorted to--wait for it--buying urine online. Yes, you read that right: fox urine. (What an age we live in where that's possible!) The theory is that the gophers will smell the predator and hightail it away. I was told by someone in the neighborhood that coyote urine worked, but apparently you have to fine-tune your urine purchasing and get the right one! B. offered to donate to the cause, but I declined. For many reasons. Not the least of which is the little Caddyshack dance we watched the other day. Mr. Gopher was twitchy, but I don't believe he sees us as predators. Gopher Watch 2007 continues . . .

Technical Difficulties, Apparently

Um, Blogger? Hello? What the [fill in the blank] is up? I've been repeatedly trying to post pix this afternoon but to no avail. So, sorry loyal Foziewispers . . . I'll keep trying, but something has gang awry.