Allhallowtide

 Farewell Beloved October...

I did not manage that last post before Halloween that I had hoped. (None of you should be surprised.)

But, like Christmas, to me, at least, Halloween is not just a one-day affair.

And my belief/practice is consistent with history.

Many people think of Halloween, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day as separate observances, but they traditionally formed a three-day period call "Allhallowtide."

Yesterday, November 2nd, was, officially, All Souls' Day.

For modern Christians, it is usually a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have passed on. For Catholics, it is primarily a day of prayer for the souls of the departed who linger in purgatory so they may be released and go to heaven.

For me, it was the day I hoped to sneak in one final Halloween post but, instead, succumbed to the crud.

{Is it just me, or don't those clods seem to have the faces of tortured souls or demons?}

Traditionally, and by many still, it is believed that on this day the border between the spirit world and real world dissolves. During this brief period, the souls of the dead awaken and return to the living world to rejoin their living relatives.

While the traditions and practices vary amongst different cultures, societies, and religious denominations, most all involve praying for the souls of the departed as well as visiting cemeteries to decorate graves with garlands, flowers, candles and incense.

{Gravestones in old Latvian cemetery}

Since I missed getting this post in within the traditional 3-day period of Allhallowtide, I'll spare you more history lessons. But, since I had a majority of the post put together prior to surrendering to a fevered 22-hr "nap," I'm still going to share some of my indoor Halloween.

This is a "Halloween Twilight" girl created by The Goode Wife of Washington County (the talented Stacey Walsh). She sits on a cubby amongst old Stieff black cats on the desk in my son's old bedroom (a/k/a "The Salem Room").

Her skirt is made of a waxed paper and has a little graveyard painted on it. A candle beneath her skirt makes the scene light up perfectly eerily.

An excavated 19th century bisque fragment figurine stands next to a small Turtle Creek Pottery plate atop old cash register number rolls: 

Moravian candle sconce:

Old pulp papier mache owl, antique candle mold and stoneware atop the floor clock:

The witch's apothecary cabinet is refreshed each year.  Another creation by Stacey Walsh (The Goode Wife of Washington County) - a little crow skelly holding a mourning photo - hangs on the cupboard side:

A small cloche with another excavated fragment (made witchy), a vintage tin and vintage "Witch" pins:

Many years ago, I purchased a lot from an old undertaker, including his reverse painted glass business sign. It has always provided the backdrop for my collection of pulp/papier mache Jacks:

Part of the lot also included this embalming fluid crate:

{This sits atop cabinets in my laundry room, together with some of my vintage "Shadowland Candies" tins.}

The glass dome sitting to the right of the embalming fluid crate is an antique embalming fluid funnel:

The added candle underneath welcomes wandering souls during Allhallowtide (and beyond):

An old ladder in the living became a roost for a(n) (attempted) murder of crows:

Another Halloween cloche. (I've had a thing for cloches of late apparently.)

Although not visible in the photo, the vintage alarm clock sports a beautiful Halloween orange-color case:

{...and another excavated bisque figurine fragment made witchy}

There's more - apparently, I wasn't quite as far done with this post as I thought I was. So, I will end with these photos of my latest rescue-ee from The Isle of the Unfinished.  It is "Witch" by The Primitive Needle.

It was stitched on 40-count Endora (by Needle & Flax) using Gentle Arts "Witching Hour" floss.

And, yes, that is a real, taxidermied, Cane toad.

Be safe...stay well.

Autumn's Ghosts

 I believe there has been a bewitchment here in Nod.

Warm(ish) days and comfortable nights turned cold and gloomy, the trees dropped their glorious colors seemingly overnight and only the ghost of autumn's glory is left.

Most disconcerting of all, the weeks simply melted into days.

I really thought I had more time - more time to finish up decorating, more time to take some decent photos, and more time to do a few proper posts before Halloween.

But it's almost Hallowe'en Eve and there's no undoing some spells, so I'll go with what I have as far as decorating goes and call it good.

I'm holding out hope that I will be able to take some photos tomorrow...or Saturday...of things indoor and throw another quick post together. This post, though, is a last look outdoors.

A little ghost awaits visitors:

...and he has friends:

Lydia has declared the pool officially closed.

She does, however, enjoy the spotlight.

Inside looking out:

{The water distorts it in the photo, but the crow is perched on a skull.}

A spotlight at night lends it an eerie light: 

A few gravestones...

I "misplaced" the old lantern that I usually hang from the hook behind it but improvised with another.

A few more gravestones...these are real and stay out all year:

The majority of the photos of the fall colors on the trees in this post were taken last week.  Since the "gloom" spell and the heavy rains, however, virtually all the leaves have lost their color and fallen.

All that seems to be left is the ghost of autumn.

Happy Hallowe-en Eve!

October Skies

 

The last days of September have quickly passed to days of mid-October.

This Robin (and this one as well) has apparently fed well and fattened up for the cold of winter ahead...but, also, like this Robin, seems hesitant to trade one season for another.

The blue is giving over to grey my friend...

The little gathering of hookers at the lake I mentioned in my last post was only a few short days but treasured ones.

{Bald eagle in the sky above}

We ate well, shopped well, slept (mostly) well, laughed well, and, well, some of us hooked well.

Some of us did not.

I was also able to confirm that one very large project could, indeed, finally be crossed off my list. (The "project" was rebuilding the rotted exterior chimney wall, adding window trim and header board, and painting both house and garage.)

The trees seemed confused. Some had lost all their leaves, some were only beginning to change, and some were brilliant.

And some were in full-on spooky mode.

Back in Nod, the trees seem equally out of sorts.

Some have been half-naked for weeks already.

Others are saving their dance cards for other winds (of which we have had plenty the past several days).

The weather has also been untethered - the days caught between seasons and the clouds wandering without conviction. We had several days of gorgeous summer-like temperatures: highs in the low (low) 80's and nights staying in the upper 50's/60's, then a day and night of endless rain, and then a hard, hard, freeze.

  My DIL, the girls and I managed to get in a trip to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch once I got back from the lake. 

It hadn't yet gotten as warm as the following days would get, but it was still perfect.

After the outing, Little Mia requested an impromptu sleepover at Gigi's and we played poolside in our jammies the following morning.

(That water was some kind of cold.)

As for other "stuff" that some people (not calling anyone out but you know who you are MD), expect to see on my blog, handworks remain sadly stalled.

Both my stitching and hooking mojo are still apparently on an extended walkabout (or scamping about with Betty's.)

Until such time, if ever, (as the good ol' Wizard of Oz would say), as either decide to return home, I'm trying to slowly focus on fully/finally finishing a few long-ago completed projects.

This one is "Salem Village" from Lori Brechlin at Notforgotten Farm.

I finished stitching this piece 6-ish years ago but had truly wanted to have it framed in one of the frames that Lori's husband, Peter, had made for the display model. That wasn't possible so I finally just had it framed in a conventional frame.

This piece will eventually take up residence in a guest bedroom (my son's old room) that has become home to my "Salem" treasures.  

As many/most of you know, my great grandmother, 7x removed, Mary Easty (alternatively spelled "Esty" or "Eastey"), was hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witchcraft trials. Many may not know that, at the time, there were actually two "Salems:" Salem "Town" and Salem "Village."  Salem "Town" was a bustling, commercial/merchant port center and is what people now think of as "Salem." Salem "Village" was a small, rural/agrarian farming hamlet about 5 miles inland from Salem Town and was where my grandmother was from. 50+ years after the trials, Salem "Village" was renamed to "Danvers."

(Can't blame them.)

And, because nobody's happy if Mummy D ain't happy, and she's told us she's tired of nature photos and such, here's my progress (term used VERY loosely...since this piece was actually started almost (maybe even over?) a year ago) on my hooking:

{There really are darker rib "lines" in the bottom pumpkin...the photo is very washed out, and the colors are a bit off too. I stopped hooking and photographing after realizing the stem on the bottom pumpkin looks like a wonky crown on the top crow's head. The struggle is real.} 

It is called "Crows and Pumpkins" (clever name, no?) and it is a design by Joanne Page of Wooly Worms Rugs.

The best thing about it? That blue background! I had initially chosen a wonderful piece of old paisley for the background but, while beautiful, the blue was too bold and magnetic. So, Cathy (Red Barn Rugs) showed me this piece of wool she had recently dyed to mimic the endless sky/moon photos I take (and she has seen just a small fraction that you have 😂).

She called it "October Sky."

Perfect kismet.

Speaking of October skies, this was last night's quarter moon:

Wishing you all a week filled with full moons, enchantment, wonder...and good kismet.