Last year, I set up my Hallowe’en decorations as soon as the calendar turned over to October. But I learned a valuable lesson… the grass is still growing then! I had to pull up all my tombstones and bones to mow the lawn and it was a total pain!

So this year, I decided to wait until after Thanksgiving. I did plan to put them up while I was on vacation, but never got to it. So mid-week last week, after the day job, I set to work.

We have so many decorations now, it’s a good couple of hours to get it all set up.

But it’s worth it!

There are a few new things this year. Some new tombstones, some spooky grey fabric, and a couple new skeletons.

The skulls on the left were thrifted additions (there are matching skulls in the box on the opposite side of the porch. In the picture on the right, the urn was thrifted, but the skeleton parts are new… it was an idea I saw online and I just had to have it for the garden.

I ordered the perfect wreath from Michaels. This was part of my big purchase back at the start of the season.

And I couldn’t resist this cutie. He glows in the dark!

All the old favourites are back

Including Good Ol’ Doug…

I think next year I’m going to have to trim the burning bush… or find a new place for Doug!

The only other new addition this year was a second set of lights for the arbour.

I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out!

So now the countdown is on to fright night!

I hope it’s another rockin’ one!

While we’ve had some nice warms days, there’s no doubt now that we’ve seen the back end of summer. Leaves are falling fast and some nights the temps are right down to 0.

While there are still quite a few flowers blooming, we are only one good frost from it all being over for the year.

The Monkhood is looking fabulous this year. It’s such and odd looking plant that does well in shady areas. This one has really grown this year. I might split it up in spring and spread it around a bit.

Koko Loko still had several blooms. I love how the colour is so dark, and slowly fades out as it blooms. I did cut these ones and bring them inside, along with a few bolero blooms.

Bolero smell amazing. I really should cut the flowers more often and bring them in.

We had a few days of pretty heavy rain, and it knocked down the Vanilla Ice Cream Sunflower out front. So I took it down completely and cut the remaining blooms for another vase. There are still two other large plants in the garden, so there’s still seeds for the finches.

I absolutely love these yellow nasturtiums that I planted under the cucumbers. I wish I could remember what the name was so I can make sure I have more seeds for next year.

A few weeks back, I picked up these pretty mums at the grocery store with the intent of putting them in the garden. I was surprised to fin there were actually three plants in the pot. I’m hoping that they are perrenial mum. The grocery store mums never say, because they are sold as just seasonal items. But I’ve gotten lucky with a couple.

These two were both perennial mums bought from the grocery store. And although they look very similar here, the one on the left is much larger, and the one on the right it normally a much brighter pink.

You’ll recall that I moved the toad lilies out of the catio this year – as they were attracting the hummingbirds into the danger zone.

They didn’t bloom earlier enough for the hummingbirds this year – but they are thriving in two of the spot I put them. In two other spots, they haven’t done so well but those spots are much dryer and I think with the lack of rain, it was just too much for them. Not sure if they will come back next year. But I have plenty in the spots they did do well in.

As the season winds down, there’s nothing to do but enjoy every last bloom.

A couple weeks ago… I looked out my front window and spied something curious on the side of the road in front of my neighbours….

It was a rather large cat tree that looked to be in somewhat decent shape. You can bet I skipped across the street as fast as I could to check it out. It needed some work – one of the poles was loose. The neighbour was getting rid of it because their cat prefered a different tree. So I brought it into the backyard to show Dave. He assured me he could fix the broken pole.

He had it fixed up and cleaned up in no time. It does have some wear, but nothing that would bother the boys. As you can see, Burton checked it out immediately.

He especially liked the basket/hoop bed that hung off the side.

Though it is a bit of a snug fit. He doesn’t seem to mind.

Now the boys already have a smaller cat tree in the front window… but I thought this one was a good fit for the sun porch.

We’ve got the plastic up on the windows for the colder weather, so it’s nice and toasty in there right now.

The perfect place to birdwatch…

Or cat nap.

Definitely a good road score!

Long time readers will recall my small collection of Monster High dolls. When we moved, I downsized a bit, giving several to neighbour Wren. I did keep a few special ones. Due to the fact that we still want to redo most of the rooms in the house, they haven’t been unpacked – and I’ve been very good about not adding to the collection.

Until now.

Generally, whenever we go thrifting in Sarnia, we stop at Walmart to pick up things we need. Dave LOVES to wander through the toy section, and I’m certainly not opposed to it. I love looking at the Barbies. And of course, the Monster High dolls (also made by Mattel).

Several months back, they got in a Special Edition Wednesday Addams Monster High doll. Both of us LOVE the Tim Burton show. I’m not going to lie… I wanted to buy it on the spot. But I just couldn’t justify spending $60 on it when we have so many other things to spend money on. So just about weekly, I’ve been walking by and wistfully wishing I could put her in my cart.

Well – the other week… I walked by… and she was on clearance.

I hesitated. It wasn’t a huge drop in price (I’ve noticed since Covid – those clearance discounts just aren’t as deep). But in the end, I could resist no longer….

I apologize for the glade on the packaging. My other dolls have all been taken out of their boxes… but I’m debating on taking this one out. I love that window background and it will likely get destroyed with the way they pack the dolls in these days (thanks a lot, shop lifters)

Like all Monster High dolls – I love the level of detail they put in

She even comes with Thing!!!

What can I say. Sometimes you just need to indulge your inner child.

As you know, Friday was our anniversary. Since I was off on vacation too, I asked Dave where he wanted to go. His response “Whatever you want to do.”

Great. Now I had to figure it out. So I took to the internet… Fridays are our usual thrifting days – but we already know most of the thrifting places in all directions within a two hour drive. And I wanted to do something other than thrifting.

There’s lots of places to hike around here, but Dave isn’t as keen on hiking as I am. I decided to look for museums… and imagine my surprise when I discovered there was a DINOSAUR MUSEUM in downtown Sarnia!!!

We’ve been to this area many times since we moved out here, but somehow never noticed the museum. To be fair, it’s not totally obvious it’s a museum from the outside. But inside…

Was it ever a museum!!!!

10,000 square feet of not just fossils… but all kinds of taxidermied specimens of all sorts. It’s really best described as a “Natural History” museum

The sheer number of specimens was amazing, and someone really had an eye for creating drama with the displays

While I, of course, love all the animals… I really went for the dinosaurs

I LOVE dinosaurs.

I sometimes drive Dave crazy with how much I love dinosaurs, but he was just as happy to check out the museum as I was.

I mean – who wouldn’t be!?!

In addition to the dinosaurs and mammals displays, there were also a lot of preserved fish

Though a large number of them had googly eyes in place of glass eyes.

That gave us a good giggle. Especially with this shark…

Dave loved all the different crabs and lobsters

I, of course, loved the butterflies

And some really cool bugs!

It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, and our anniversary! I’m sure we will visit again!

Not a whole lot was accomplished on the stitching front this weekend.

Really just a few lines of the second witches dress. That’s partly because I just didn’t have a lot of crafting mojo this weekend. It’s also partly because of this…

Training a new assistant is always time consuming.

I don’t have a tonne of Christmas knitting planned for this year – but I do have a couple hats I want to knit. In fact, I’ve had the yarn for several years now, I’ve just never got around to knitting them.

I’ve been working pretty steadily on the first one all week – but I still don’t have much exciting to show. I’ve gotten through the ribbing, and some plain knitting, but just two rows of the colour work. The pattern – when I get through more of it – will be the Deathflake motif. It’s one of my favourite patterns to put on hats!

I’m hoping I can get through this one by the end of this week. Now that i’m on the colourwork, it should go fairly quick.

There have been some interesting things happening on the Furby front…

It seems someone in this house has gotten extremely attached. As I’ve noted before, if we are outside, Furby is generally out, hanging out with us. We started putting food out for him to make sure he was getting enough to eat.

The extra attention has made a difference. The first picture above is from June when he started hanging out with us. The second from the beginning of this month.

A couple of months ago, Dave decided Furby needed a spot to rest. So I rustled up a basket and some flannel from the collection

Then, since he spends a lot of time with Dave in the garage, he got a basket out there too…

And he certainly looks right at home there.

But with the colder weather setting in, Dave was getting worried about him at night… so next thing you know, he was on Amazon, and…

And an insulated cat house** was being delivered. Of course, he had to repaint it in our signature green so it matches the yard.

Dave, being Dave, also added some extra insulation, straw, a heated mat… and a camera….

As you can see, the inside has two rooms (the further room has the heating mat, the front room got straw)

Furby gave it a thorough inspection, but hasn’t really bothered with it since. I told Dave he’d use it when the nights got really cold. But Dave worries.

Which resulted in this happening…

Dave started letting him into the music studio***…. where he put ANOTHER food dish and cat bed. Of course, that door can’t be left open, so Furby can only make use of it when the weather is nice and Dave is around.

But Dave was still worrying. Especially when the temps dropped just below freezing the other night. And the next thing I know…

Now he’s coming in every night before we go to bed.

He still goes out again every morning – and won’t come in until bed time. But at least Dave’s knows he safe and warm

** and the money spent on the cat house won’t go to waste. Furby can still use it when it rains. There are other stray cats that may take advantage. Or there’s always this guy…

*** the really funny thing about Furby in the studio is the studio is supposed to be a no-cat zone. There’s too many speakers that can turn into scratching posts… but then he goes and lets Furby in. Talk about favoritism!

Way back at the start of the season, I planted a bunch of Dahlia tubers – Two called Cafe Au Lait, and two unnamed ones from the dollar store (one a dark purple/red, and another a bright pink).

At first, they took off pretty well (with the exception of the bright pink one) and then they just kind of stopped. They didn’t die.. but they didn’t grow either.

But as soon as the weather turned at the end of September….

The red purple one just exploded with flowers.

Cafe Au Lait grew nicely. But she just didn’t seem to want to bloom. Finally, about a week and a half ago, she put up one single bud. And I’ve been waiting…and waiting… and waiting for it to open.

Mid week, it finally did.

Was it worth the wait? Absolutely!

But…. I have to dig the darn plant up this weekend it I want to keep it for next year. Dahlias aren’t hardy here and I need to store the tubers over winter so I can enjoy her again next year. Sigh….

I think I’ll start my Dahlias indoors next year… and see if I can get the full season out of them.

In the meantime – here are my other Dahlias. These ones were bought as grown plants instead of started from tubers. They also struggled this summer, but have done better than the ones I started. But they are certainly shining now.

(Friday Felines has been pre-empted because today is a very special day)

October is my favourite month of the year. For many reasons – I love the weather, I love the colour, I love Hallowe’en. But most of all, it’s because it’s the month when I met this guy, and decided I’d keep him.

We started talking online at the start of October 2002, and then a couple weeks later, went on an official date (art gallery and dinner at Kelseys, followed by aimlessly driving around in his ’67 Bonneville). Like all couples, we’ve had our up and downs. There were a couple of times I didn’t think we’d make it.

But after 23 years (almost exactly half the time I’ve been on this earth), I can honestly say, there’s no one I’d rather have at my side as we navigate this crazy thing called life.

Two more years marks a quarter of a century together. Now doesn’t that sound grand?