Pumpkin-a-day #27 – My Favorite Pumpkin!!

Here she is, my very favorite pumpkin. This is my grandchild Alexandria. She is almost a year and a half now, and helped me open my birthday presents this week. So cute, so well loved! She was full of ohhhhs and ahhhhs as she opened packages. We’d all cheer her on, she would laugh and do it all again. Made my day.

And now she is even in the running for a photo contest. Won’t you please vote for her at:
http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/555519

Alex as a pumpkin last year, with her Mom, Heather, and my son John, her Dad.

Alex in a pumpkin…

Alex this year, big as a pumpkin…

Pumpkin-a-day #26 – A Guy Just Has To Use Power Tools

  • This is how Mike carves a pumpkin – with a drill!
  • Pumpkin-A-Day #25 – Aon Pumpkin Contest

    The company I work for had a pumpkin decorating contest. Shazam – these folks really got into it! Be impressed, be really impressed. And the winners are … bet ya can’t wait … so here they are … right now … Continue reading Pumpkin-A-Day #25 – Aon Pumpkin Contest

    OhWhatAWednesday – Autumn Joy Sedum

    I can’t help but wonder when my garden will be truly done for the year. We are surprisingly still picking dahlias, a variety of sedums look great, and then there are the grasses. Gotta love the grasses. They’ll add texture to the garden all winter.

    Today, we’ll talk about Autumn Joy Sedum. Here is how it looks right now, with a full head of autumn-feeling coppery color.

    This plant is a staple in Chicagoland gardens with good reason. It’s easy to grow, tolerates sun or shade, takes no care at all, and looks good just about always. It’s so easy to propagate that you can take a stem in the spring, put it in the ground, and have a pretty good chance of it rooting. Yet it is totally non-invasive. You can not ask for more. A perfect plant for the Work Less category.

    Many plants that bloom in the fall don’t look like much for the rest of the year. Not Autumn Joy. It comes up early, lush and green. The new petals are just above the ground before I even cut last year’s growth off. It is distinctive enough that I don’t pull it as a weed. That’s a really good thing for me. I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost more plants to my weeding than anything.

    I have it in full sun, mostly sun, and even just a little sun. It asks nothing of me as it continues mounding up during spring and early summer. Really, it needs absolutely no attention. Before you know it, the mounds aren’t mounds anymore and the blossoms are forming. They are green at first, then start to blush a soft pink.

    It just keeps on getting better, with the colors turning more pink each day through September. Here you can see they have reached a full pink and are just starting to turn coppery.

    I don’t want to shock you, so if you are faint of heart, don’t press the Continue button to see more. Continue reading OhWhatAWednesday – Autumn Joy Sedum

    Pumpkin-a-day #24 – Keeping It Simple

    Halloween is only a few days away. If you haven’t carved your pumpkin yet, you may be feeling anxious. Let’s get past that by using the templates here. These templates are cute and easy, so go for it today. Stop overthinking it and just have some fun!

    Pumpkin Face templates

    Two more things to share with you:

    First, way back on Day Scarecrow-a-day #18, I posted the scarecrows that are in my yard. Since then, someone has made one of mine look even better by repositioning his hands.

    Second, we had a pumpkin contest at work today! I’ll post a group of pictures and the results tomorrow or Saturday.

    Pumpkin-a-day #23 – Time To Relax

    Ahhh…time to relax.

    Pumpkin-a-day #22 – Lets Go To BHG.com

    The Better Homes and Gardens website has lots of fun Halloween ideas. I’m guessing you are anxious to go there to see these pumpkins and more. So without further ado, here is the website.

    http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/pumpkin-carving/cool-halloween-pumpkins/

    Pumpkin-a-day #21 – Barnyard animals

    These farmers at Door County Nature Works have an unusual barnyard full of farm animals.
    The faces are worth focusing in on.

    And what a cute group of creatures.

    Fooled you – The alpaca is real!!

    Scarecrow-a-day #24 – My Mike

    Yes, I’m officially done posting Scarecrows.
    Ok, I’m not.
    I just had to put in these shots of Mike.

    Pumpkin-a-day #20- My Pumpkins And A Fisheye Lense

    This is what a fisheye lense can do for you. Pretty cool. Actually, this is what a fisheye lense did for Kevin, not me.

    He and I made the green pumpkin last year. And if you’ve been a regular visitor you know that I already posted a picture of the lighted pumpkin on Day 5.

    Both of mine have my own touches, and were inspired by others. Even real art works this way. You don’t think Michealangelo was the first person to paint angels do you?

    Some thought provoking quotes from Michealangelo…

    “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.”

    “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

    “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

    My thanks to my friend Regine, who gave me the idea of adding quotes to the blog.