Happy Halloween!

I can't believe it's here already and just about over! (I won't be sad, I won't be sad, I won't be sad...) I hope you're all having a spooktacular day!

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Honoring & Remembering, No Mischief

Halloween Eve, soon to be Mischief Night, already! Where has this month Gone?! Hubbs isn't off tomorrow on Halloween since his boss & wife had their baby the other day so we took a trip to the cemeteries to visit B & Nana this morning.

It looked so different last year! (Click here to see). Full of Autumn foliage the cemetery glowed in shades of yellow, orange and red. This year with all of our storms, many of the trees look like Winter already and there's even a coating of snow in the cemeteries this morning from yesterday's Nor'Easter! I have more photos from my Nikon coming later today or tomorrow.

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Tea Party Post Delayed On Account Of The Nor'Easter...

But I'll have it up just as soon as possible friends!

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A Warm & Gracious "Thank You!"

Sincere apologies for my delay, the silly skeletons have had dreadful tummy aches and the broom flew off on its own again!

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of those who dropped by my Halloween Party post for this year's annual blog-hop hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist whom I send much love for doing so again! As with the last two years, it was so much fun creating the post and visiting blogs! I'm glad to have seen old friends and met new ones too. To new friends & followers: Welcome!!!

I'm already a little sad that my favorite month of the year has just about come & gone again and in just 4 days, Halloween is upon us! It really comes and goes too quickly for my liking. But there are still pumpkins & other goodies to carve so that Pumpkin Manor will be ready for the big day! And the big question? Will we or won't we have snow before Halloween this year?! (For those of you who don't know, I'm quite fond on snow!)
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Wordless Wednesday

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In My Garden Today: An Autumn Bloom

'Queen Elizabeth' grandiflora may be putting on her final show of the season with this and one more bud about to bloom. With stormy weather ahead for Thursday & Saturday and temps beginning to drop, we'll see if the Queen has any last minute surprises in store for me as Autumn progresses! Pink has always been one of my favorite Autumn colors in my garden!
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Autumn In My Neck Of The World?

Head on over to New Jersey Through My Eyes and scroll through today & Saturday's posts to see.

The Time Is Upon Us Once Again!

Welcome Friends!

It's time once again for A Fanciful Twist Halloween Party! Warmest thanks to the lovely Vanessa for hosting again this year.

My apologies for not having this up sooner, I've been dreadfully under the weather and my helpers have been more of a hindrance! My lovely kitchen witch Helvetica has given up time off and has been cooking & baking away since last night but the skeletons have been eating everything in sight (damn their bottomless stomachs!) though they won't fess up and the invisible man has been raving on and on every time the door bell rings!

I do hope you'll enjoy your visit to Pumpkin Manor and have a Happy Halloween! I look forward to your return. (Slideshow below - if it plays too fast, hover your cursor on it until the <- -> appear & click on them to view what you've missed). To see my previous posts for this special event, please click on the "A Fanciful Twist Halloween Party" label at the very end of this post.

An Autumn Wordless Wednesday

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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, October 2011

Disclaimer: My slideshow for today's post is a tad long! (Don't say you were warned :o) With winds over 40mph all day, taking pictures out in the garden today wasn't an option so I've gathered here pictures I've taken throughout the month, all of which are in fact blooming today here in my coastal Zone 7a garden. (Those few pictures of my northern Zone 6 garden are labeled). Sit back & I hope you enjoy the show!



For more Garden Blogger's Bloom Day fun, head over to May Dreams Gardens.

Sure You Can Go Home Again, But What Will You Find?

A week ago today, Mom and I took a walk around the town we were both born & raised in. I've been battling an upper-respiratory infection for a couple of weeks and decided getting some fresh Autumn air would do me good, or if nothing else, get me out of the house for a bit. Why I wanted to take a walk around our hometown instead of where we're living, I don't know but I'm very glad I did.

I wasn't surprised that it's changed. All places do with the passage of time and despite not having lived there since 1993, I did work in town off & on into 2003, and by then it had already changed a lot, but what a transformation it has apparently gone through in the last 8 years! Aside from my Church, grammar school and 2 shops, it literally doesn't resemble the place of my childhood & teen years, nor does it Feel like that place. As a matter of fact, I felt nothing as we walked! It's That different now.

As you look at the buildings, their architecture and shops, you see no rhyme or reason; there's no flow or symmetry. It's garish, ill-functioning, ugly. The atmosphere is that of a poorly attempted trendy, high-end Mall. No diversity to be seen.

But, what I realized as I walked with Mom is that this place, so different now in its current incarnation, no longer holds any of the ghosts & demons that have haunted me through the years since I left. They're Gone - how liberating! I was practically smiling ear-to-ear by the time we got back to her car.

And, unlike Mom, (who was upset by our walk), I'm not sad or bitter that our hometown isn't even a shadow of what it used to be. It is a shame that one day, if Hubbs & I have children, I won't be able to take the same walk with them to share my childhood as my Mom did with me because my stories will have no visual connection to what the would see. (And what they would see there wouldn't give them the right impression overall of how it was back then anyhow). It's not a place I would ever move back to or want to raise my children in. In fact, if that walk had been my first visit, I wouldn't want to go back there again, another shame, but I'm not disappointed by it.

In a way, I feel as though I've said goodbye and ended this chapter of my life. Incredible what a simple walk on an Autumn day can do!

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Wordless Wednesday : In My Garden Today

African Daisy, 'Ballerina.'

Here At Pumpkin Manor...

The Morning Glories last through dinner-time!

If I've told you once, I've told you thousands of times, gardens are magical places.
And from the looks of it, my garden appears to be a bit haunted as well! 'Tis the season :o)

(Click on pics for larger view).
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Got Your Head In The Clouds?

Head over to New Jersey Through My Eyes to see more.
(Click on pic for larger view).
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Welcome October!

Happy October everyone! Thankfully our Autumn weather has returned and is rumored to be here to stay now. Unfortunately it appears the rain is as well. (We're already over 2 feet above our normal rainfall for the year and we've roughly 3 more months left to go!)

It's been a busy couple of days, in the garden, out of the garden, haunting the halls & garden (aka decking the halls for Halloween) and such. The slideshow above gives a hint to the delightfully creepy & magical goings on around here! (More of which is to come throughout this month we call October!)

This morning I watched a lovely old suspense/horror movie entitled The Spiral Staircase from 1946 on TCM, a great way to spend the foggy morning of this the 1st of October! (To view the trailer and other information, just click here).

Today also marks the start of the Countdown To Halloween hosted by The Whimsical Cottage! (And this is my first post). I hope I'll be able to keep up with posting Autumn & Halloween fun daily! We shall see...

Time to get ready for a dinner we have to attend. What I really want to do is turn on the stove to warm up a mug of that spiced apple cider sitting in the fridge, snuggle under a throw on the couch, light some candles & watch the Doctor Who marathon running on BBC America today! But duty calls...