Two more days until the official first day of autumn.
I can feel it in the evening air, can you?
This is a similar intro photo, as seen in the last post, only taken in the opposite direction.
Going up the little hill in the secret garden, and under the arbor, through the tunnel of flowers.
The blooms are loving the cooler nights, and the dahlias are right on cue.
A second spring begins in high desert days of autumn.
Magic.
Giant pumpkins, oh my!
Vines reach for the sky.
Varieties of fancy squash are all around.
Some cross-pollinated, others did their own thing.
Some went full Fairytale as planted, and other Fairytales made babies with Jack-o-Lanterns.
Does that make them Fairy Lanterns?
Pumpkins took over paths, and even climbed fences.
Some fell off the fences they climbed, and others crawled all over the chicken coop, plopping down into super tall wild verbena when they got too heavy.
I shall have to hunt for them when the time is right.
I squeeze through the overgrown Paradiso Perduto, a sort of Miss Havisham land, of my own making.
I did always find this incredibly unnatural pull towards her.
Treasures in old mansions, with ceilings caving in to allow the night stars to shine through.
And overgrown forgotten gardens, of wildest imaginings.
I suppose, in many ways you become what you love.
What you are drawn to as a child.
Take for instance, us fellow lovers of pumpkins.
The mere idea of the pumpkin patch would make me squeal as a child and into adulthood.
Until I started growing my own pumpkin patches at around 24 or 25.
Now they just take over my whole world from May to November.
I loved pumpkins so much, I became a pumpkin caretaker.
Mother Pumpkin :-)
This was once a path that went straight ahead.
But now it is completely sealed off by pumpkin vines and a wall of cosmos and zinnias.
It will be fun to see the garden paths again in winter, when I do my summer 2021 clean up.
Until then, I shall enjoy the wonderful chaos of wild growing things.
I sip my orange tea, as snippets of All Hallow's Eve begin to trickle in.
I've been ever soooooo busy adding sold out cards, new cards and Halloween cards to my shop.
Because as far as I am concerned, the first day of autumn means Halloween :-)
The butterflies are ready...
Costumes on point!
They know it is time.
And it seems, the pumpkins do too.
As they are changing color quickly.
We had the most unexpected rain for two days in a row this weekend.
It lasted only a little while, but it rained so hard, it made everyone in the garden extra happy.
They are all turning color, and soon will come inside to take part in the pumpkin holiday festivities.
I have been painting furniture...
Shipping out wonderfully fun orders.
And getting out all the magical stuff.
I am in full décor mood.
I want to get a head start on October.
But not too fast, because I will absorb every second of the last two days of summer.
How does it all happen so quickly?
I do not even know.
Last week was ever so busy.
My dad did well in his hip surgery and is at home recovering.
I made him an apple crisp, and now he waits the 6 weeks healing time, although he's already on his phone, doing this and that.
He's a very busy man, but I made him accounts in my Amazon and Netflix, so luckily he can watch all the things he didn't even know existed.
Because he must must take it easy.
We are both true crime lovers, and so we watch these shows and chat about it for hours on the phone.
I painted a piece of furniture and decorated for Halloween.
Then I decided that I didn't particularly love the shade.
So, I took down all my Halloween decor...
And ended up repainting the piece 4 more times (I mix my own paint colors).
Until finally, I arrived at the color I really wanted.
The color changes a lot in the room because the room goes from light to shady.
So, I wanted a color that worked with all the different times of day.
Then I decided to add stripes, and gold leaf, and make it two tone.
(Insert eye roll, just my own kind of therapy)
It's like a jewelry box now.
All decked out.
I honestly think I just got carried away with myself, with my nervous energy waiting for my dad to have surgery.
It feels so good to be able to breathe, now that he is home doing the very critical healing part.
Hopefully it continues to go well.
I have all my Halloween bins out, and I will redecorate the furniture I just painted.
(it's almost done actually)
You can see snippets of it above, right after it dried, but I will take better photos soon.
I love these cool nights that are upon us, it's so delightful to be able to go out walking in the evening again.
All the monsoon rain we had caused so many volunteer plants at the country house.
You wouldn't believe all the lantern plants that self-seeded, it's beyond words!
I think I took some photos, I'll look for them, or take more.
I honestly do so many things in a day, it's hard to document everything going on.
So, I just share a tinge of snippets, and hope you enjoy.
I shall return very soon.
Are you as excited as I am, about the first day of autumn?
You'll have to let me know.
Sending you Wishes, Magic and Stars,
See you super soon!
Love, Vanessa
