Fall Foliage: 12/22

 This is the first time in my life, that I have lived in a home

 that is surrounded by seasonal color,

Looking North in our backyard

 and I must say, I am loving the fall foliage.

Looking Southfrom our backyard

Looking west

Of course, there is a downside...

I think it may take me until 2023 to get all of the leaves 

that have fallen raked up

and 

into the compost pile.

Butterfly Migration: 10 / 2020

 There's been a party going on in our yard all summer long. As soon as our zinnias and echinaceas started blooming,

the Monarch butterflies showed up,

followed shortly by the Cloudless Sulfer butterflies,

and a misc. mix of other tag-along species.

But last week the Monarchs suddenly disappeared, and this week, the skies are filled with the Sulfer butterflies, all fluttering south toward to their winter migration grounds. It makes me sad to see them go. Our world seems so much brighter and happier when I am in their presence.

TIme for a new holiday theme: 12 '19

It's time to start  packing up our Fall decor so we can move on to

celebrating the  Chanukkah and  Christmas holidays.

Still, I feel sad to be saying goodbye to these little guys.

They always bring a smile to my heart when they greet me every morning.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all : 11 '19

Wishing y'all "Happy Thanksgiving"

From: Bruce, CC, and "Sammy"

Low Country Fall Color then and now: 11 '19

Willbrook Plantation Cypress 11 / 2019

I was looking at this photo, I took yesterday of the fall foliage colored cypress trees at Willbrook Plantation (see first attached photo. It reminds me of one of the first oil paintings I painted shortly after we moved here in 2006 (See 2nd attached photo). It was of cypress trees growing at the edge of one of Pawleys Plantation's ponds. I guess my aesthetic interests haven't changed all that much in 13 years.

Pawleys Plantation Cypress 2006

Nine Holes at Willbrook Plantation: 11 '19

 Bruce and I had a great time today playing a round of nine holes at Willbrook Plantation.

Its one of our favorite courses,  with lots of 

water hazards

and sand traps everywhere.

There's also a lot of wildlife
hiding in plain sight

like this little garter snake  we found sunning itself on the fairway

or this very large alligator pretending to be a log at the edge of a water hazard.

Today was especially fun .
Not only was the weather was near perfect
but the fall color was at it's peak.

Everywhere we looked was a a picture perfect scene just waiting to be photographed.

Bruce was able to maintain his focus on the game amidst all this beauty,
while I ( CC) completely lost it.

And spent most of my time  taking pictures.
Either way, we both really enjoyed the morning.

Date nite at Murrells Inlet and Hagley's landing

Bruce decided it was time for us to have a date nite so we headed off to Murrells Inlet to have a couple of appetizers and a tall glass of Octoberfest, and listen to some live music. 

As we watched the day fade away, it soon became apparent that we were in for a beautiful sunset. Only one problem, we were facing east, and the sun sets in the West.

So it was off to Hagley's Landing which faces due West.

It was well worth the effort. We were rewarded with a truly spectacular ending to an already lovely day.

Halloween is coming: 10 ' 19

With the center front flowerbed closest to the street decorated, the  only remaining area that needed some Halloween spirit was the large flowerbed by the front porch.  I decided to add three more ghost, using the same tomato-cage under-structure and draping materials that I had used with the Rosa sisters,

 but this time I used  clear Halloween masks to make them look like one of Bruce favorite characters: 

'The Weeping Angels' from the 'Dr Who' TV series.

Only one of them has a name ( IT) 

The other two just have signs indicating that they are watching you.  

And to make the point a little more  obvious,

I put a lot more eyeballs around that flowerbed 

Most are solar powered so they light up at night

A few are just plain creepy looking

Halloween is coming: 10 '19

The next  logical  place for a Halloween makeover was our front yard flower beds.

We already had some  ghosts at the front door,  and I wanted to stay consistent with the ghost theme in front, but I also wanted something more interesting  than what was available in the local stores.

After searching the web for ideas I decided it would be more interesting to  construct some ghosts using my out-of-season tomato-cages as the under-frame for our ghosts.  I purchased some sugar-skull face masks for their faces.  (You guessed it .. I got them from the Dollar Tree). Using  large plastic milk h bottles for the head shape under the mask, and plastic table cloths draped over an upside down tomato-cage as the body,  the ghosts assembled fairly quickly. To make sure they didn't blow over in the wind, I set them over large  flowerpots filled with mulch (which will be spread in the flowerbeds once Halloween is over.)

This time around I gave them all  names and made signs so everyone can  know who they are.

I  called them 'The three Rosa sisters":

Una (above), 

Dos, 

and Tres.

and I warned visitors repeatedly not to 'pass' Tres.

Then just to make it more visible at night, I hand embellished some skull solar lights I found at Dollar Tree 

to make them look like sugar skulls.

Halloween is coming: 10 '19

It safe to say that at this point CC is on a roll and there was no stopping her  today as she turned her attention from the back flower bed/ pumpkin patch  to to the  fall scarecrows standing in the potted plants  on either side of  the back door to the Carolina Room.  

That has become a home for Boos and Ghouls 

Complete with more hand-painted signs 

and Dollar Tree Ghost and Ghouls

Halloween is Coming: 10 '10

This year CC has decided to extend the Halloween decor  outside as well as indoors.

First order of the day was to create a pumpkin patch  in the back yard.  CC moved  last month's  fall scare crows from the front yard into the back and surrounded them with bales of pine-straw  (which well be used  as a protective mulch  for our flower beds during the winter.  A few inexpensive plastic jack o lanterns  from the Dollar Tree store and a some large orange bags filled with  raked leaves completed the scene.... or so we thought.  Then a neighbor asked CC if she had named her scarecrows .... Ha. So  CC went back to the Dollar Tree store to get some Headstones to name her Scare crows.

Meet:

Jack B Ware

Jack the Reaper ( Pumpkin Keeper), and

Jack O Lantern.