~;;~ Part Three: one thing I have made ~;;~

You do realize that my decorative marks up there are little bats, right?  And I will tell you that we woke up to snow on the roof this morning.  Ack.  And sigh.  But a white roof justifies an extra hour or two with book in hand.

I’m reading an Alexander McCall that takes place in Scotland.  I was explaining to the fam how this series is like the #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (the series I prefer) in that the protagonists’ thought ranges, throughout, through all kinds of philosophical ground as things happen.  Mma is more charming.  But the other detective is interesting too, although –  “She goes a little off kilter,” I told them.  Chaz frowned.  “I don’t know that you should use that expression when you’re talking about Scotland,” she said.

But on to business.  Chapter ONE: Whether or not the weather changes, we have celebrating to do:

Last year at this time, we had two brand new puppies, and all of us had much different houses.  This year, we are the same people but moving through different rooms.  This week’s project: decorate two of the new houses with for the glorious (soon to be frozen) autumn.

I sallied forth (once alone, once with Rachel, once with Rachel and Chaz) to gather up garlands and wreaths and wooden crows.  Now, here is a disclaimer: not everyone has woods to wander in, or is fortunate in the kind of wild botanicals that grow by the wayside.  Craft stores exist for folks like that (like us), and even wreaths of non-organic leaves can look brave against the early evening shadows, and even cornucopias of never-alive fruit can remind us of the bounty of the earth and the glory of the seasons (as long as the pine cones are real).

It turns out that craft store autumn wreaths, however, have gone up in price. WAY up, even on sale.  Which I wouldn’t mind so much if I thought that the Chinese people who were actually making them were getting a raise.

So as I was glaring at a store display, a sad woman came and stood beside me, helplessly bemoaning the same thing.  If I had not wanted to help her out, I might have gone home empty handed.  But she inspired me to greatness: I dropped back into use-your-hands mode and solved the problem thus; if you buy a relatively inexpensive wreath (something really little more than a wound up garland), you can embellished it yourself.  (Stop saying, “Duh.” I’m trying not to remember your wonderful boxes of seeds and cones and interesting dried botanical treasures.)

Autumn picks, small bags of imaginary fruit, real pine cones and a lot of floral wire.  This is what we ended up with:

My favorite part, thinking about what Scooter will love, is the little bird in its raffia nest.  Hidden treasures.  As I say, as all have not the country bounty a vigilant woman might gather, still there are color and energy to be had with a less romantic and earth-given gathering.

There.  Kinda short, huh?  That’s because I have a blizzard of images for the next bit –