A Fanciful Twist

Of October Dreams and Halloween Sparkles

I've been having so much fun this October...

Sparkling things up (truth be told, I began in September) and enjoying the twinkle lights.

I made tulle pom-poms that are pretending to be ectoplasm on the tree.

Then I hung a few stars and antique mercury glass clowns, which seemed appropriate for the festivities.

And then my mannequin, who has a personality of her own...

Decided to wear all the jewels, and then wanted a giant pink tulle bow on her pointy hat.

She tossed in a garland of glittering stars for good measure.

Butterflies and ribbons always do the trick on the old dress I made her several years ago.

(out of antique dictionary pages)

She's so fancy, err fanciful, isn't she?

And so, we sparkled everything up the best that we could, and blew some balloons for pumpkin holiday, you see...

So many pumpkins are having a birthday this month, I can hardly keep up.

All freshly born in the garden.

And so, we must celebrate!

Because for us it's a celebration of magic, and magicalness galore, indeed!

I think Miss Witch is happy with her attire, or at least I hope she is.

I don't want her pulling my toes at night again, tee hee.

Eeeek!

Ghosts and goblins gather on pink buffet.

And Jack-o-Lanterns bob around, as if to say...

Meet us through the October looking glass, if you dare.

And, we absolutely do, don't we?

So, we put on our lucky moon amulet...

And venture through, where witches are busy...

Writing cards to friends like you.

(all cards in my Etsy shop here)

Which ones shall we choose?

As we make our way through the magical Halloween mirror...

A reflection of the enchantment we seek.

At least, I do, how about you?

And so, here is where we shall gather, as the sun begins to fade...

Put on your fancy hat and join the twirling witch brigade!

Because things get extra sparkly as the sun goes down -

Captured stars twinkle all around...

Illuminating her paper gown.

We sip tea as caramel bubbles in the cauldron for dipping apples...

And write our notes, most sincere.

Hoping that you have jumped in through the old secret mirror...

And are peeking around the corner, whispering, we are here!

To join in sipping pumpkin spice tea and having candy corn macarons.

Oh what fun we will have, chattering all night long.

Dancing under the moon and singing our favorite songs.

Now, tap your nose 3 times, and hopefully with that you will be here.

I mean, if you believe in magic that is.

Because, as we know, believing is the first step...

Cackle cackle!

I hope you have enjoyed my little tale my friends!

Mid October is here, must gather all the joys of this month as best as we can.

Twinkling fairy lights and pointy shoes abound!!!

I shall be back very soon.

I have endless tales to share, alas, I've been enjoying my month a bit too much it seems.

But I promise to pop in quickly as quick can be!

Lots of love from my witches cottage to youuuuu!

 

Magic, sparkles and wishes foreverrrr,

Love, Vanessa

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn on the Breeze....

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

 

 

Butterfly Garden {Day 8}

Did someone say, day 8?

I simply couldn't help myself, I thought I'd stop in for a little hello.

Sometimes I have top rub my eyes in my disbelief of what this garden is doing.

It was dry cactus open land and empty garden beds.

Now it is full, especially with all the rain we had all month.

I've enjoyed doing it myself, it's so therapeutic.

Over the years I've found what plants thrive in this heat, and my elevation, and what does well without a ton of water.

You can always count on lantana to withstand the heat, as it trails down my walls below.

This year I decided to try to do my part to help the monarch butterflies.

I planted a row of milkweed, and they have beckoned every butterfly in the area to come over.

The Queen butterflies especially adore it.

There are so many butterflies, it is sort of hard to even absorb it all.

It's like a dream really, I stand out there amongst them and am in awe.

Two days in a row I rescued butterflies out of the pool.

They looked like they were gone, but the minute I pulled them out, they started to come back to life.

Nothing could make me happier.

And you should see the endless caterpillars growing.

It's so lovely.

The only thing is, the pumpkin vines exploded in size due to the rain, and I almost can't even get into the garden now in some places.

Normally I have a designated patch, but this year I dispersed them here and there.

The heat and lack of rain usually keeps the vines from going bonkers, but now it's a sea of vines, so crazy.

Of course, I leave it alone and look forward to all the pumpkin babes I'll be collecting.

There are so many new ones and several ready to come in already.

Below is a photo similar to a few days ago, only thing is...

The butterflies are allowing me to get closer and closer.

I really needed these butterflies.

What with everything going on in the world, they are a light.

I am normally a very jovial wacky and fun loving girl.

A sort of introverted extrovert, as I love my alone time too.

But the other side of me feels too much and is very sensitive to everything all around.

My daily wish is always for people to grow their compassion, and think of others more.

Throughout my life I have noticed so many things that could have turned out different if there was more compassion.

Sometimes, everything seems like a whirlwind around my head, and just going out and sitting with the butterflies makes all the difference.

I went up the hill to watch the full moon come over the mountains last night, it was spectacular.

I feel like I have sooo much too say, and nothing to say at all.

I am at a sort of interesting place in my journey.

I came here as a 30 year old with the mind of a 13 year old.

I am totally and completely different in so many ways, and the same in others.

The important things are so different, mainly because your priorities change so much.

For many years I stayed tucked in at the country house, growing huge gardens, making art and raising dogs.

I was really grounded and super content.

When I was younger I had been so utterly social, that I almost needed a break from the world.

And then one day, I woke up and I felt that I was busting out of my soul, like a tree growing out of its stake and ties.

It just happened, from one day to the next, or maybe it was ML urging me to go out and live it up.

I wanted to climb hills all day, go on airplanes again, have adventures.

I would go hiking for hours every day, get too much sun, listen to loud music.

It was incredible, I'd leave a bouquet of wildflowers on a wooden fence in the middle of nowhere, at the top of the hill every single day.

I needed these things, and so I ventured out of my safe nook and went everywhere, a lot on foot.

Then I went even farther, I journeyed back to the ocean where I lived as a kid.

And then, I went even farther than that.

I went across the ocean.

Sleeping in castles, losing myself in Irish gardens, going for walks in deep forests by myself in the middle of nowhere.

Being in the most mind blowing fairy tale settings you could ever dream of, ever.

Down a forest path, with ferns and ivy everywhere, ponds surrounded by hydrangea bushes the size of cars.

I had dinner at Le Poulbot in Paris, after carrying around a postcard someone had sent me of the façade a decade before.

Walked everywhere, even strolled under a pink sunset, through Marie Antoinette's secret country garden with the grand-sheep of her lambs.

I could go on and on...

And then all of a sudden, everything changed in the world, it was time to hunker down at home.

Instead of losing my mind I decided, as you know, to start a whole other garden.

It's funny the way things happen.

It was time to refind my coziness at home, to plant more seeds.

I suppose part of my destiny has always been to grow things.

And now there are butterflies everywhere, in those old forgotten hills of rotting cactus, that I handled with a shovel, seeds and a dream.

You never know what on earth will happen, who could ever expect any of it?

The crazy things going on, the unfathomable things, and amongst all that, trying to find your own strength and joy.

One thing I do know is that when things seem too much to bear, the best thing to do is allow yourself to feel.

Do not fear the feelings, do not push them away, just let them flow through you and around you.

Eventually they disappear like a plume of smoke.

I've spent years learning coping skills that I never had to have, and they are invaluable.

Life is a very beautiful and very strange place all at once.

Have you watched the documentary of Netflix called Fantastic Fungi?

Really fascinating.

Not sure why I threw that in there, haha.

 

It's so amazing, the wisdom age brings you.

I am enjoying that part of the journey a whole lot.

Anywho, those are my thoughts for the day I suppose.

 

Day 8, butterfly magic and rambling thoughts.

 

See you sooner than soon.

Love, Vanessa

 

A little video of my butterflies.

Sort of impossible to properly convey, unless you are standing amongst them <3

 

 

 

 

7 O'Clock Garden + 7 Days of Blogging {Day 4}

Into the night garden...

Just as the sun is setting, candles are lit, with curious birdsong echoing.

Through the secret garden gate, into the wild.

A perfect evening for tales, as a storm teases.

Bubbles fizz, and stories told by my grandmother 30 years ago flutter about.

Tales of wild swans and magic flowers are retold.

Something is changing, something is shifting, something wonderful this way comes.

I can feel it in the underlying cool tinge in the air, and in the way the leaves rustle their secret language.

Another season, not too far away.

I grew up on endless fairy tales, some fantastical and others rather spooky.

I relished in them, I loved how my knees would knock under the table and my skin would shiver when my grandma would tell her stories.

Some because they were just so amazing, and others because they were downright terrifying.

I suppose that is why I have a fairy tale sensibility.

It was engrained quite early and then stayed with me always.

And so, as I sit under canopy of trees, which I arrived at by meandering through the very tall garden, I am delighted beyond compare with this moment in time.

Apples are ready, pumpkins are starting to be picked.

The roses have emerged from their summer slumber.

Why do I feel so young and free in my heart still?

Excited about seasons and what is to come.

Do you feel the same way?

I think about hiding up in my cottage, about crocheting all night, and shall I tell you?

I have been dreaming about another little being coming into my life (fur of course).

The whole thing could make me cry, and I don't want to mess up the feeling.

I'll tell you the story about how my heart might be ready tomorrow.

And some curious things that have happened regarding that.

But for now, we are in the hidden woods...

So hidden, you almost can not believe that they even exist.

Give me soil and a shovel, some seeds and a dream - 

And I shall try with all my might to create some sort of magic.

It's actually not really a try feeling that comes over me, but more -

I am compelled outside of my own control.

I hope that if I live a very long time, that I will have the gusto to continue gardening into my 90's like my paternal grandmother did.

I think about these things as I type to you from my garden, right in this spot.

The cardinals swooping in, wondering why I am in their garden.

Out of nowhere a big cloud is forming above me, laden with little sparks of lightning glimmering like fireworks.

There is the most glorious breeze whipping around, teasing my candles.

I can hear thunder as the last glimmer of light disappears behind a violet cloud.

What is this enchantment that calls my name?

That breaths the most wonderful feeling into my soul?

I can't describe it, perhaps you feel it too.

A dreamy feeling that I can escape within.

Where pumpkins and fairy tales roam.

Where I am the me-est me.

The truest I can be.

Where I am always that girl with a dream.

Where the night garden has brought me, don't miss this moment Vanessa, it whispers in my ear.

Be here it says, and so I stay.

A gust of wind blows out some of my candles.

I look up, as a few light rain drops fall upon my face.

And all I can really say to them is, Thank you.

When I was around 19 years old I had this profound moment, where I all of a sudden knew myself so well.

I understood my path and my journey to come, and I entered it willingly and openly.

I let go of some things, and embraced others.

I created a space deep in my thoughts, where I could always come back to me if I lost my way.

It is the paths under trees, the books by candle light, the garden growing -

These sort of things bring me to that place.

That place that I felt that one day, all those years ago.

It's different, but the same.

I am still me, but I have greater wisdom that grows with each passing year.

Of course, I don't know a lot.

When you are younger you think you know everything, and as you get older your realize, you don't know so much.

And it is comforting and okay, and you let go.

But I do feel that perhaps these fairy tale moments, like being in the night garden, are just like children pretending.

Playing out in the back of their grand parents' house.

Down the garden path and through the stream.

And maybe that, that is what keeps it all alive.

Maybe the map back to yourself is always down those paths of dreams.

I think, yes, it must be.

 

And then, poof...

The candles are out and it is time for me to go.

But at least, now I know.

 

Until tomorrow...

See you then, xoxo

 

Love, Vanessa

 

 

ps: I am here a bit late today because I spent all day cooking for Mister Lovee and his childhood friend who came to visit.

I hope they enjoyed it <3