Halloween comes....

.... and Halloween goes.   We had lots of rain this morning and I didn't go anywhere until later this afternoon when the sun came out. (Heaven forbid I get my sweet little car wet if I can help it.)   I spent the morning taking down all the Halloween decorations..... our party was on Saturday night, we don't get trick-or-treaters out here, so I didn't think The Great Pumpkin would mind if all of the Halloween décor got packed into their boxes and put away in the storage closet.                                                                                                   
Wonder of wonders, everything fit into the same number of packing boxes, so my one-thing-in/one-thing-out rule worked just fine.  I did buy some new Halloween items this year, but as the new ones came in, an equal number of the older ones went into my space at the antique shop.  Looking at the inside of our house right now, you'd never know that Halloween was even here. Trust me... Halloween was here with a passion.

As I was packing away the black cats and pumpkins and witches, I got to thinking about the costumes that were worn at last weekend's party.  The one that stuck out in my mind was our friend G dressed up as Santa's Mistress.  She wore a bright red blouse, a Santa hat, a long blonde wig, black and red zebra-striped slacks, black boots, and lots of big flashy jewelry.  We gave her a big purple ribbon for Best Costume... which was especially fitting because she kept in character for most of the night, making everyone laugh. (With apologies from here to the North Pole to Santa.)

So I got to thinking that wouldn't it be funny...... for our next year's Halloween party...... if Santa's wife came to the party looking for Santa's mistress.  I think that would be so funny.... and I already have a pair of red high heels and a Santa hat, and lots of flashy jewelry to 'show off' to the mistress.... all I need is the perfect red dress.  We're not talking about a run-of-the-North-Pole Mrs. Santa here.... we're talking about a city-girl Mrs. Santa in a spectacular red dress... no apron, no cookies, no hot chocolate.

I've already started to look for the red dress..... it may take a while to find just the perfect one, but when I do, Santa's Mistress had better look out.....

Halloween Party Night

At about four o'clock this afternoon, when I had so many last minute things to get ready for tonight's party, I was asking myself "Just whose idea was it to invite so many people here...."  (I always say that just before any of our parties.)  But then two hours later when you see your house filled with friends having a great time, all of that pre-party work has been forgotten.

We've never had a Halloween party right on October 31st.  In Clear Lake, we had so many trick-or-treating kids in the neighborhood that trying to have a party and give out candy and surprises to the kids would have been impossible.... plus our friends with children and grandchildren tended to spend Halloween night with their families.  We don't get trick-or-treaters out here, but with Halloween falling on a day when some people have to work, a week-day night just isn't a good time for a party.  As a result, our Halloween parties are usually the Saturday night before the actual holiday.  And tonight was the night.

So many good costumes...... G was Santa's Mistress: she wore a red blouse, red and black zebra-striped slacks tucked into black boots, a long blonde wig, and of course a Santa hat, and lots of over-the-top rhinestone jewelry. (G flashed her jewelry and said that Santa treats her very well.)  We gave G the prize for the Funniest Costume.... she looked great, but the funny part was that she stayed in character for the entire night and everything she said about Santa had everyone laughing.

J and J were a dancing couple.... Judy Newton John and Jim Travolta.... they looked like they stepped out of the movie "Grease."   J wore a short black wig and (oh my goodness!) movie-worthy makeup, and her husband had on a tee shirt with a fake pack of cigarettes rolled up in his shirt over his bicep.

JS was Judge Judy, complete with a long robe with a lace collar, and a rubber mallet that she used to make a legal point here and there, and it also came in handy to control bad jokes during the night.  M was a sparkling witch tonight..... all in purple and black lace, with silver and purple jewelry.

GS was a Down-and-Out Farmer.... old overalls, holes in his shirt, a hole in his hat, didn't shave........ we told G that he was wearing the clothes that he uses when he mows his fields or plants his corn.

B came as a Van Gogh Ghoul...... that white mask in Van Gogh's painting, that she dressed up with a long black gown of satin and lace.  When she first came to do the door, I had no idea who it was till she started talking.   Her son J was in a bright orange shirt and black slacks, and the scariest monster mask I'd ever seen..... dripping with fake gore and he even put some real bandages on parts of the mask.  We gave him the prize for the Scariest Costume.

JS came into the door with yellow tape down the front of his shirt and slacks.... and stuck to the yellow lines were little stuffed animals.  We all looked at him and said "What?!"....... He called his costume "Texas Road-Kill."  Which makes sense when you think of it...... no matter what highway or road you're driving on here, there are always dead animals all over it.  J's wife L came as a Rodeo Clown, with white face make-up, the over-sized shorts, western hat and boots.... we asked her if the horses ran the other way when she left the house.

My husband wore his "Chick Magnet" costume..... when we were in Clear Lake, he cut out a horse-shoe shaped magnet from poster board, painted it to look like one of those old magnets from school days..... and then glued fluffy yellow Easter chicks to it....... he wears that with a nice shirt and slacks and presto--- he's a Chick Magnet.   

My costume was Queen of The Forest, as my husband called it.  I used my long black skirt that's part of my witch outfit..... and I sewed autumn-colored silk leaves all over it. With that decorated skirt, I wore a black top with bronze beaded swirls all over it..... plus I made a headband covered in leaves and sparkling spiders, and put some silk leaves on my black heels...... and a big corsage of leaves and bronze silk ribbons..... and I had even found a magic-wand studded with rhinestones at the thrift store..... every Queen needs one of those.  My costumes are always pretty ones... I just don't do silly or scary costumes... and every costume has to have a city-spin to it.  Always a city girl..... guilty as charged..... (just ask Judge Judy).

We had new neighbors here tonight..... they didn't come in costume, but I'm sure they will next year.... it's always nice to have some new faces in the crowd.  And we missed some of the old faces......... like our special Miss C, who is busy now with her big-girl job and couldn't drive up here for the weekend.  We'll see her another time, the sooner the better.

Another Halloween party come and gone...... I've lost track of just how many Halloween parties we've given over the years.

Almost party time...

I've been getting ready this week for our Halloween party.  The house has been decorated since just after Labor Day... way too early for Halloween decorations for most people, but we really like Halloween and I love the decorations I've collected over the years, so I like to put them out early and enjoy them all for more than just the month of October.

One of the neighbors told me yesterday that she was happy to hear that I was 'back in the party mode' again.  I didn't realize I had gotten out of it.  This past summer was just very hot, and we did a lot of traveling, so I just didn't get any sort of party together in June, July, or August.  Just seems that it was either scorching hot or we were busy getting ready to go out of town.

Every summer is scorching hot here, so that shouldn't be a surprise, really.  In the summer, I think people like BBQ get-togethers, which isn't something we do.  We do have a BBQ in the garage, but we haven't used it in so many years that it's been gathering dust since we moved here.

My husband and I talked about having an Ice Cream Social over the summer, but we just never got going on that plan either.  From time to time, I think about having a ladies-only get-together once a month, just to get all the ladies here together, but I never got a solid plan going for that either.

With everyone's property here being at least 10 acres, and all the houses not right-next-door in the conventional next-door design, if you don't make a deliberate effort to see your neighbors, then you end up seeing no one at all.  And some people here like it that way...... as we learned early on when the community got together for the Annual Neighbors' Night Out.   It's held once a year... they started it in August about 10 years ago, but quickly realized that a summer night in the middle of August is not conducive to outside parties.  So now the Night Out (at least in Texas) is held in early October, which is still hot, but not broiling with over 100-degree temperatures.  I'm pretty sure this was started as a nation-wide thing, but I don't know if all the states honor it.  My cousins up in NY have never heard of this Night Out event.

We went to the first two Night-Out get-togethers after we moved here....... and now we don't go at all.  We know all of our neighbors, and we do make an effort to see everyone. We don't need a 'national night out' to do that..... and besides, out here in this community, people were saying "See y'all next year!" as they left the Night Out get-together.  Not exactly our kind of party.  If I like someone's company, I'd like to see them more than just once a year, for goodness sake.

Anyway.... our Halloween party is coming up.... mostly everyone will be in some sort of costume or get-up.... and the Halloween parties are always fun.   We're expecting Miss C to drive up for the weekend of the party..... it will be so good to see her, and hear about all her adventures in Yellowstone.  She really loved that summer job there, and now she has began a full-time job close to Clear Lake, so she'll be telling us all about that when we see her.                                                         

C has always been very creative with her costumes, so I can't wait to see what she comes up with this time.  I remember one year when she was still in high school, and she came to our Halloween party dressed up as a bag of jelly beans. She had taken a clear dry-cleaning bag and cut out holes for her head, arms, and legs. Then she blew up balloons of all colors and put them into the bag..... instant Bag of Jelly Beans! During the party, the seams of the bag started to split, so she was dropping jelly beans all over the house as she moved around. 

Oh well......... no more time for memories at the moment.... I have a bunch of things on the party to-do list that need attention.

Bar Harbor and The Veterans' Christmas Tree.

Okay, let me get this straight.... the so-called Powers That Be in Bar Harbor have decided that the memorial Christmas tree for the veterans was "too tacky and too confusing" in their town, so they have decided to do away with it.

We have traveled to Maine, and toured Bar Harbor.  The town is lovely, the people looked friendly and intelligent. I don't understand why a lighted evergreen tree put up to commemorate the Christmas in 1944 when US soldiers were too busy fighting to celebrate December 25th could now be considered "tacky and confusing."

Has the world gone mad?  Did someone take common sense out of the dictionary and delegate it to the depths of hell?  Did the city council people in Bar Harbor take a Grinch pill?  Or are they just that plain stupid?

If I lived anywhere near or in Bar Harbor, I would be going door to door, asking everyone who lives in that town to put up a Christmas tree in their front yard.  I'd ask them to decorate their trees with lights and ornaments, and a bunch of American Flags would also be a nice touch.

The lights and ornaments, of course, would let the world know that the evergreen tree is indeed there to celebrate Christmas.  The American Flags would let the Bar Harbor city council people know that the reason their children and grandchildren are living in a free country right now is because soldiers put aside their Christmas celebration in 1944 because they took an oath to defend their country and their flag.

And a note to the people of Bar Harbor, Maine.... with no apologies whatsoever...... you all need to kick out the people on your city council, or your community board, or whatever titles they presently have..... because if they're of a mind to believe that a lighted evergreen Christmas tree put up for the veterans is 'too tacky and too confusing,' then they have no right to speak for the majority of the residents of Bar Harbor.

I just refuse to believe that all the residents of Bar Harbor believe that the veterans' Christmas tree was "too tacky and too confusing." 

Give us all a blessed break.  If you live in Bar Harbor and you're reading this, I expect you to start putting up those Christmas trees on your front lawn.

And one more note for the people of Bar Harbor: (From Abraham Lincoln)--- "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

Daphne du Maurier

One of my favorite books is "Rebecca," by du Maurier.  It's also one of my favorite old movies, which I saw for the first time on a late-night TV movie program that I used to watch with my Aunt Dolly.  Everyone else in the house would be sound asleep and Aunt Dolly and I would watch the old black-and-white movies that began after the late news in NY.  I was probably the only kid in my class who could recognize all the 'old Hollywood' stars.  Aunt Dolly is 100 now, still watching old movies, and still saying "They don't make movies like this anymore." 

I recently read that the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds" was based on a short story by du Maurier, of the same title.  I had no idea she wrote that story.  Same goes for "Jamaica Inn," another one of her short stories that was made into a movie by Hitchcock.  I found those books on the Internet and have just ordered them, along with a vintage copy of du Maurier's "Frenchman's Creek."  Can't remember the last time I saw the movie "The Birds."  No one did mystery and suspense as well as Hitchcock.  No special effects, no crazy stunts, just honest-to-goodness acting from excellent screenplays.

Just last week, I found a book of short stories by du Maurier at the thrift store.... the title is "The Doll" and it has quite a few of "the lost stories" of that author. I picked up that book because of the Gibson-girl-ish photograph on the cover, and of course the du Maurier name sealed the deal.                   

Every book under the sun eventually turns up in that thrift store. That's how I discovered the British author Beverley Nichols........ one of his gardening memoirs was on their shelf and I bought it just because of the title.  Since then, I've read all of his memoirs and I just love them. I've read some of them more than once, and have given copies as gifts.  Mr. Nichols holds pride-of-place on one of the bookcases in my library upstairs.

There are times when judging a book by its cover is a good thing.

Picture-postcard perfect day....

Today's weather was glorious... after all the rain we've had, the air today was crisp and clean-smelling, the sky was such a pretty blue with just the right amount of clouds, and if we weren't smack in the middle of the ant-infested Hill Country, today would have been a day to spread a blanket on the grass, have a picnic, and read a book under one of the pecan trees. (My apologies to the Hill Country.  The entire state of Texas is infested with fire ants.)

However..... a picnic on a pretty day isn't such a good idea.  Chances are that the blanket would be on top of a fire ant mound... the six million ants would find their way from beneath the blanket to the top of the blanket, and before they feasted on your lunch, they'd be biting the heck out of your ankles. Most likely, one or two of the ants would hide inside the pages of your book and then you'd be bringing them into the house.  So.... forget about having a picnic in the grass.  Just enjoy these beautiful days from the porch.

It's very Spring-like outside...... the roses and the azaleas are blooming again...  the fields are green from all the rain, the morning glories and the little blue-flowered weeds out in the backyard are bursting with pride-of-place.  Best of all, the pond is filled up and looks like a wet mirror out there in the middle of the front pasture.  I keep waiting for the ducks to return. So far, there has been a small family of white egrets in the pond.  Catching frogs, I guess.

It isn't very dark outside yet, but I can see the moon up in the sky.... it's going to be a good one tonight, nice and bright.  (Think of the bright moon in the movie "Moonstruck.")  And the stars... there were so many stars early this morning and I'm sure most of the constellations will be visible tonight as well.  (Not that I'm going outside in the middle of the yard for a look-see..... too much wildlife out there after dark.)

One of my cousins has a star-gazing business out in Arizona.  He has a truck-load of telescopes that he sets up out in the Arizona hills just about every night..... groups come from all over to watch the sky...  he brings his equipment to whatever location would be best for night-time sky viewing on any given night.

I spoke to him the other day and he told me that during one of his recent sky-shows, a huge rattlesnake meandered through the group and managed to wind itself around the legs of one of the telescopes.  Thankfully, no one was bitten or threatened by the snake....... it just slithered around the people in the very large group and picked the one telescope that it liked best. (It wanted a snake's-eye view?)

My cousin said that people were running away screaming... jumping into their cars... running anywhere they could just to not be in the same space as that snake.  One of the people at the show got a long pole and somehow managed to get the snake to unwind itself from the telescope stand and wrap itself around the pole...... and he took it off into the woods.  The snake didn't come back, but neither did some of the people who were out there intending to watch the sky.

I asked my cousin if that had ever happened before.... he's been doing this star-gazing for a good number of years and has been quite successful with it, getting more business than he can actually keep up with.  He said this was his first rattlesnake encounter.  I laughed and thought of the old movie "E.T."  Except that the quirky little E.T was cuter than a rattlesnake could ever hope to be.

Rattlesnakes.... we have them here in the Hill Country also.  I haven't seen one yet..... but that's because I'm not out there looking at the moon and the stars after dark.

Due to the current government shutdown....

.... we regret to inform you that all of the congressmen and senators that you elected will have to go back to their home states and live like the rest of us.  The government can no longer afford their salaries, their perks, their health insurance, their travel vouchers.  Not to mention all those political signs that are planted all over the planet two months before election time..... the government can no longer afford the budget for those either.


I don't usually put much of anything political in here, but I just couldn't resist.  I am just so very disappointed in everything and everyone in Washington DC right about now, and I'm sorry to say that I'm even disappointed in our president.  Disappointed, big time.

I have no idea when it started, but this country has been changing for years now, and instead of being the United States, we're becoming the Fractured States.  My grandparents on both sides of my family came here to the US to become Americans.  They came here with very little money, no place to live, and no jobs.  Within days, they took whatever jobs they could get, found whatever tiny apartments they could afford, and learned the language and learned the customs and became Americans.  No one gave them anything for free, except directions to the local churches and schools.

That is not to say that they forgot about being Italian......... they embraced and accepted and loved everything about America, but didn't forget where they originally came from.  After moving to this country, they were Americans first.... "Americans from Italy," as my grandfather used to say.  My grandparents loved this country..... four of their sons joined the Navy, the Marines, and the Army after Pearl Harbor..... only three of them came home.   Never once did I ever hear my grandfather say that his son Jimmy died for nothing.

Washington DC and all the suits walking around there should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.  A country like ours..... in default, in debt, in doubt.... and not one person in DC can even make a blessed good decision to save their lives.  And again, I'm sorry to say, that starts from the top down. My grandfather would be saying I should not disrespect 'the office of the President.'   But how do you give respect to 'the office' when you hear on the news that because of the recent shutdown of the government, military families aren't given death benefits to help bury their dead soldiers?

And... they closed off the outdoor memorial monuments in DC?!  Because of the shutdown?  Give me a blessed break.  Are the congressmen and senators still getting their salaries, their benefits, their limos, their travel vouchers, and whatever else that comes with those jobs?

Does anyone in Washington realize that we've been creating a culture that is dependent on government subsidies?  And these subsidies aren't just temporary hand-outs to get families through some rough patches, which can happen to each and every one of us in the blink of an eye.......... we are creating a culture that looks first for hand-outs before using their own two hands to help themselves.

Give us all a blessed break. 

In case you're wondering....

.... there are just 21 days left till Halloween, and 76 days until Christmas.

The inside of our house has been decorated for Halloween since just after Labor Day. I usually start that early because we have a lot of Halloween decorations and what's the use of putting them up just for a week or so........ I like to put everything out early and enjoy it all for a good long while.

Except for a couple of years, when moving got in the way of Halloween, we've always had a costume party as close to October 31st as we could get.  Saturday nights are best for parties, so we try to arrange parties on the weekend closest to the actual day, without going past the day.  Everyone gets into the Halloween spirit early in this state anyway, because Texans seem to really enjoy celebrating Halloween, nearly as much as they enjoy doing it up for Christmas.

I have to say that I miss the trick-or-treaters, though.  Living this far out in the country, and with very few little kids around here, no one goes door-to-door in costume.  I miss seeing the kids in their costumes for Halloween..... and we always had a lot of costumed kids at the Clear Lake house.  There were Halloweens at the old house when I gave out small toys and games and puzzles, Halloween pencils and coloring books and crayons..... I figured the kids would get enough candy, so I wanted to give them a surprise instead of more sugar and chocolate.  The kids loved it.... and all of the parents would thank me for not giving them more candy.

Oh well...... those were good memories, and I'm glad I have them.  As for this Halloween...... I'm putting together a costume for our party, and of course adding a city-spin to it, as I usually do.  My City-Witch costume is my favorite, but I've already done that the year before last, so it will be a few years until I take out the black dress, the feather boa, and the black velvet hat with purple feathers, the black rhinestone sunglasses, and all the sparkling rhinestone jewelry that only a city-witch can wear with pizazz and flair.  And last year's Minnie Mouse costume also had a city-touch to it..... rhinestone Mickey Mouse jewelry, red and white satin polka-dotted 'ears,' red high heels with black stockings, red satin top with a black satin skirt...... a City-Minnie for sure.

You can take the girl out of the city... but you can't take the city out of the girl.  (And in my heart, I'm saying "Thank goodness!")

Martha's Bloomers

In the tiny town of Navasota, there is a nursery and café called Martha's Bloomers.  Interesting place filled with everything you can imagine for your garden (and even things you never knew you needed).  There are outdoor water gardens and ponds, all sorts of lawn ornaments and cute things you can stick into the ground in spots where nothing will grow.  The little shops inside the main store sell gardening books to help you design your flowerbeds, gifts for your home and garden (or someone else's), and even sparkling costume jewelry to wear when you're finished playing in the dirt.

You can walk around the outdoor nursery area and get ideas for planting and vegetable-growing, and the people who work there are more than happy to answer questions and make suggestions.  For the most part, you're free to just walk around and look at every growing thing and no one will bother you until you need help.

There are two huge cages filled with coo-ing white doves....... you can hear the doves as soon as you get to the outdoor garden space, but the birds are tucked into a quiet corner so you have to look for them.  The sound of the doves gives a peaceful music to the garden space, and they sell the doves in pairs. (Just one dove would be too lonely, I guess.)

There are two resident cats at Martha's..... a long-haired orange and white, and a beautifully colored fluffy gray and white 'Ragdoll' cat with blue eyes.  The cats walk around the indoor spaces and outdoor gardens, and at any given moment, be prepared for either cat to just sprawl out on the ground right in from of you for a nap.  Both of the cats are friendly and quiet, and they don't seem to bother the doves at all.

At the far corner of the outdoor nursery space, there is a little cottage-shaped building that houses the café.  Gorgeous little tea-room, yellow walls with white trim, pale yellow tablecloths and napkins... and an extremely interesting menu with recipes that don't scream "You're out in the country and all we've got is chicken-fried steak and pulled pork and canned vegetables."   This café has an inventive menu with delicious homemade soups and quiches and sandwiches... and all of their desserts are made right there in the kitchen.  The chef's menu is outstanding, the service is excellent, and the entire experience is like reaching a private little oasis in the middle of practically nowhere.

I had been to this tea-room a while back with my friend V, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I kept telling my husband that we should go there for lunch one day, but when I said it was a tea-room, I think he was envisioning tiny little crust-free sandwiches and dainty salads.  I suggested he look at their web-site and then he realized that Martha's had a real honest-to-goodness man-worthy menu.

We've been going there every week..... it's become a ritual on a day when we have the time for the ride and the meal and the shop-browsing.  The drive along the back-roads is pretty and unhurried...... there's always something to look at in the pastures and properties along the way.....and at the end of the ride, there's Martha's Bloomers, with their giant two-story teapot sitting out in the field near the entrance to their grounds.

Gatsby 1 - Stray Cat 0

We haven't seen the stray cat since the night that he and Gatsby had their fight on the front porch.  Gatsby has done this before... tolerated a stray cat for a for days or even weeks, and then all of a sudden he fights with them and they disappear.  The last two strays that Gatsby chased away were orange and white males... so I thought he just didn't like orange/white cats.  Which I guess is ridiculous now that I see that in print.  Gatsby's patience ran out with those other two cats and after they discussed their territorial issues, we never saw the orange and white cats again.

This latest stray cat looks like our Sweet Pea... striped along the back and cheetah-spotted on the belly.  Sweet Pea's colors are very symmetrical and perfectly coordinated... the stray's colors are more mottled.... but they are both very long and very tall cats, and if you saw them together you would think they had come from the same litter.  Which makes me wonder if someone around us in our community here has been letting their cats continue to breed, because we've seen other stray cats with Sweet Pea's markings and colors.  Coincidence or not?                                                                                                       

And Sweet Pea was a stray himself.... we found him peeking out of our barn on the record-breaking coldest day of January in 2010.  Poor cat was shivering, starving, and he was just so blessedly sweet.... I picked him up to keep him warm while we got food for him and he buried his face in my neck..... and that was that..... we had another cat.  The fact that Sweet Pea looked exactly like a cat my husband had as a child also helped seal his fate with our little family here.  Plus, we thought Sweet Pea was a female, just because of the way he acted... and the look-alike cat that my husband had as a boy was named "Girl" because his mother thought it was a female also.  Girl's name wasn't changed when they found out differently, and we didn't change Sweet Pea's name either when the vet told us we had a boy-cat.  (And Sweet Pea is still girl-ish at times, not that there's anything wrong with that.)

With any luck..... we won't see the stray cat again. I'm hoping that Gatsby did indeed get his point across ("No more cats in this house!").   I hate bringing strays to the shelter..... they keep them for a while, unless they think they're unadoptable...... and we have given the shelter $20 for every stray we've brought to them over the years...... the donation helps with the food and care....... and I hope it convinces them to keep 'our' strays from Death Row for a little while longer.

In a perfect world..... and I've said this a thousand times........ pet-owners would get all their pets spayed or neutered and wouldn't have litters of kittens and puppies and then not know what to do with them.  Please, people, please........ love and hug the pets that you have but don't let them bring babies into the world if you're not willing to take care of them.  And 'taking care of them' does not, does not, mean dropping them off on a quiet country road.