White Wednesday

Mums

and

Treasured Finds

While reading my Carolyne Roehm Fall Notebook, I was charmed by the picture of her white Mums alongside the two white benches. I just thought they looked serene.

I don’t usually see very many white Mums at the nurseries, but while out doing errands I found these two spectacular, happy Mums!

I had the perfect place for them.

In my recently transformed pots.

I had painted the rose arbor white a week or two back and think this makes a lovely, somewhat serene setting in my own garden.

 note: I found the white mums at our local Home Depot for just over $6 each!

I stopped by my favorite Goodwill and found this amazing, old, large Atlas jar, 

this crocheted napkin, this interesting bottle and this terracotta rooster.

I found something else very, very special that I have to tweak a little and hope to show you later this week!

I am gleeful with happiness over these wonderful finds.

How has your day been? I hope as blessed and serene as mine.

I am sharing this post with
Savvy Southern Style's Wow Us Wednesday
A Southern Daydreamer's Outdoor Wednesday

Faded Charm’s White Wednesday

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Bring On The Fluff

 

Who inspires your seasonal decorating?
This year, believe it or not, it was my husband
who got me motivated.

On Sunday he hauled home potted mums and pumpkins,

resurrected a couple of scarecrows from the shed,

and began Fall Fluffing the landscape here at That Old House.

Bless his little pea-pickin' heart.

What Howard did was a good start,

but that door needs a little shot of Fall Fluff.

 Yeah.  This porch needs work.

By the way, I swept that porch yesterday, but the leaves just keep on coming.

I went to A. C. Moore last evening, minutes before they closed, and buzzed through the store

looking for something I could turn into a gorgeous Fall wreath.

I had Inspiration Photos in my head, from the Better Homes and Gardens website:

 I like casual, natural looking wreaths.

 Full ones, or . . .

 . . . lopsided asymmetrical designs.

Love those feathers, too.

 This one, below, is gorgeous -- brilliant and breezy looking,

as if someone just flung it together, and hung it up.

Yeah, I'm sure that's what really happened.

 

 The one, below, really appeals to me -- it looks as if it is made

up of spare parts from other wreaths.  I can relate to that.

Love the stuff sticking out each side, too.

I love goofy, crazy, messy, casual wreaths.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find what I needed at A. C. Moore to make such a wreath.

And you know when you just can't wait?

When you have to have that project done, right away, even though

the only time limit is in your own fevered little mind?

So, I found a wreath of silk autumn-colored maple leaves,

half-price, and mounted on a black twig base.

It put me in mind of this wreath, below, from the BH&G website:

I bought some bittersweet berry picks and tucked them in,

but my daughter Anne said that they made it look too much like a wreath from a store.

I pulled them out; turns out she was right.

So, I just fluffed the maple leaves, and tied a big raffia bow on the purchased wreath.

Lopsided.  Here it is:

 

I had to bang a new nail in the old storm door -- gingerly, as much of the glass in this front entryway

is more than 150 years old -- you can see the wiggly wavy panes in some of the pictures.

But I had to put the nail up high on the door,

and didn't have any nice ribbon to make a hanging loop for the wreath.

So it looked kinda goofy, up so high.

Then I remembered that I had an Autumn-look wreath hanger thingy, so up it went, and on went the wreath.

I will replace it with ribbon eventually, as now the wreath is too low!

 See?  Too low.

But nothing some beautiful Fall ribbon won't cure.

 *********************************

 Please take a look at the picture below, on the left.

I have studied this picture, a lot, and can't figure out

what the white, sort of ghostly image is, behind the old glass.

Can you?

We've had a few unusual experiences here at That Old House, and our painter is convinced

the house is haunted (that's a whole 'nother post!), but there must be an explanation for this.

Right?

Well, I'm just rambling on and on this afternoon, and am late -- as usual -- to a few Link Parties.

A moment of truth!

See this lovely mum in the equally lovely cement basket?

Doesn't it look full, lush and big?

 I'm officially a knucklehead.

I tried to fit the mum into this basket, which has a handle; I thought I could split the plant,

with the handle between two sides of the blooms . . . and it didn't work.

And now it's stuck.

 As long as I only show it from the front, it looks fine.  Oops.  Too late!

Happy Fall, my friends!  -- Cass

I have a feeling this wreath will be getting a few additions as the weeks of Autumn wear on.  Yeah, it will.

Linky Parties.

Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.  Click here.

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch.  Click here.

 Show Off Your Cottage Monday at The House In The Roses.  Click here!

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An Autumn Sunday

Sunday morning, and as I sit at my desk and look
out the window onto the front porch, I can see leaves drifting down from the trees onto the grass;
there's a pumpkin at my front door and pots of mums tucked in the borders.

Green leaves are giving way to the golds and russets of Autumn already;

it really is Fall.

Yesterday, Howard brought home a half dozen mums that we placed here and there,

and he pulled our two stick scarecrows out of the shed; they are back on sentry duty for the season.  

Autumn is change and contrast -- it's the bounty of the harvest against the shriveling of the vines.

It is, as I wrote in a post just about a year ago, the silk of Summer

against the crunch of Fall.

I'm re-running that post today; I hope you missed it first time around!

****************************

(October 10, 2010)

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

It is remarkable, how one little patch of God's green earth

changes its wardrobe from a summertime riot of silky fresh color . . .

. . . to the crisp and crunchy textures and colors of Fall.

All in the blink of an eye.

I learned just a few years ago that the autumn colors of leaves --

those russet reds, those golds and browns, the yellows and plums -- are actually the real colors of the leaves.
Those colors have been there all along, lurking, hidden by the green.

The green is a costume.

A chlorophyll phantasy.

(Our technicolor forsythia in autumn.  The only time it's as beautiful is when it's in bloom.)

Knowing this has changed how I look at autumn color.

Now, I look at an Autumn hued tree and think, "Ah-ha!  I'm seeing the real you!"

That maple tree in the corner of your yard?

She's been hiding her glorious Titian hair under Plain Jane green all summer.

How kind of Mother Nature to clothe
her jewel-colored trees and bushes in quiet green

for the summer, leaving all the colorful glory to the flowers.

And how kind to give those trees and bushes
a riotous chance to shine before bleak winter.

Enjoy the color in your own backyard! -- Cass

Linky Parties
At The Tablescaper, it is Seasonal Sunday.  Click here!
And at Happy To Design -- Sunday Favorites is on the menu.  Click here!

P.S. My apologies to the science teachers out there.  I should have paid attention in class, lo those many years ago!

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