Archive for the ‘celebrate it’ Category

“I am rich today with autumn’s gold,
All that my covetous hands can hold;
Frost-painted leaves and goldenrod,
A goldfinch on a milkweed pod,
Huge golden pumpkins in the field
With heaps of corn from a bounteous yield,
Golden apples heavy on the trees
Rivaling those of Hesperides,
Golden rays of balmy sunshine spread
Over all like butter on warm bread;
And the harvest moon will this night unfold
The streams running full of molten gold.
Oh, who could find a dearth of bliss
With autumn glory such as this!”
–   Gladys Harp

The weekend is almost here and I hope to enjoy the Autumn Glory to it’s fullest.  I rarely make a To Do list for things I want to do… but here it is:

• Watch the Utes win their football game!
  
• Pick pumpkins.
• Rake the leaves.
• Visit the Witches at Gardener Village.
• Create a ghost out of an old sheet out on the front lawn.
  
• Walk along a crunchy path with a canopy of Autumn leaves over my head.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  Cheers, Calli

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. – William Shakespeare

It’s getting spooky around here… and the little witches love it.  Even though she can hardly see above the rim of the cauldron.

I always look forward to decorating for Halloween… and I love that many Halloween decorations don’t have to cost much, if anything at all.

This spooky cauldron is easy and inexpensive to create.  I happened to already have everything I needed.

I started with an old twiggy wreath.  It used to hang on my front door long ago.  It’s the perfect first layer for the cauldron.  You could even make a twiggy wreath by wiring twigs to a metal form available at most craft stores.

Next use a couple of pieces of colored tissue paper to make the flames.

Place heat proof bowl into the center of the wreath on top of the tissue paper.  Place a strand of Christmas lights into the bowl, make sure all the lights are in the bowl and will not come in contact with the tissue.  Those lights get hot, and you don’t want a real fire!  It works great to keep the lights bundled up. Plug an extension cord into the lights and run it out the back.

Next comes the cauldron.  This is a copper colored plant container.  You can also use a black canning pot or a dutch oven.

Every Halloween, I make homemade Root Beer or Swamp Juice with dry ice served right out of the cauldron…  Doesn’t that look like a real fire?  When it’s smoking… I almost think I’m a real witch.   Maybe the owl carrying my letter to Hogwarts got lost in a storm over the Rockies.

Hopefully the owl for my kids will have better luck.