Happy Halloween!

still here...

Yup, I'm still alive but boy did I fall off that photo a day in October wagon! Autumn is my favorite season and I've been too busy enjoying it (without a camera) to stick to my blogging every day with a photo challenge. I'm going to cry "uncle" on this month but stubborn as I am I will try again in November when it's too cold to be outside and I have more time to sit with the computer.

That said I've spent the month enjoying the season's changing colors and temps with a few weekends away and lots of time at home doing cleanup and other autumn chores. I've also spent a fair amount of time inside sewing and crafting. Five little girls each got 2 new ruffle skirts & matching t-shirts and Brooklyn got a few party decorations as well as a birthday shirt & flag. I'll share photos of Brooklyn's party (which was held a week early) this Saturday on her actual birthday. October's cooler temps and many rainy days have inspired me to turn on the oven and make more "comfort" style meals as well as baking too.

Of course, any and all free time I can manage seeing these two Princesses usually tops my list :)

Last weekend's party girl - we got a few smiles but she was sick with a fever for her party so I hope she has a better day for her birthday this weekend.

Seasonal Colors...

The trees around my home are not yet showing today's photo prompt of Seasonal Colors so I went looking around my yard for other spots of seasonal color.  First up is a branch on one of the sumacs...

and some wild Virginia Creeper vine that winds around some of the trees.

The hydrangeas that were white earlier in the season have all turned soft shades of green and pink...

and did you spot the bee?



Fall mums are blooming and the annual infestation of asian beetles has started...

I always love seeing the yellow mums reflecting in the pond and currently several dozen frogs are living in the pond. Two of them are in this photo...

Chinese lanterns spread by runners and took over my old garden in the middle of the yard. That garden was taken out quite a few years ago and this spring I hauled in several 5 gallon pails of dirt off our company's black dirt pile to fill in some holes in the garden and wouldn't you know it some Chinese lanterns popped up from that dirt! Of course, these were in the most snake infested area of my garden so I was too scared to work in that area digging them out and as a result I have some beautiful fall color.

Pinks and purples are not usually thought of as an autumn color but in my garden they are two of the most gorgeous. Pink asters...

and purple ones.

Purple also makes an appearance in the flowering kale...

Last but not least is our view across the road which has changed from green to golden browns...

Hats Off...

If anything this October photo challenge I am embarking on will surely get me back to blogging on a regular schedule! While there most likely will not be a blog post everyday there will definitely be a prompted photo (or two or three, maybe ten) and I will post them as able. Today's prompt is Hats Off - and I took it literally and decided to take photos of my vintage hats and of course I couldn't take just one :)

Are you of my generation? I remember growing up when you didn't think of wearing anything to church but a dress, you had your Sunday best shoes, coat & dresses that were saved just for church. At Easter, you got a new summer dress (sewn by mom) and purchased white gloves and at Christmas, another new winter dress (again sewn) debuted at the SS Christmas program and Dad bought us Christmas corsages (not fresh floral, but shiny artificial ones with baubles and greenery). As girls we didn't wear hats but I remember mom pinning hers on every Sunday right before we left. By the 1970's the hats, gloves and corsages were gone and by the twenty-ten's we sometimes see jeans and shorts appearing in the pews. I still love hats even though I've never worn these in public but have pulled them out for garden tea parties.

If only I had an occasion to wear a magenta pink feathered velvet hat...big sigh...

or maybe the blue floral pill box...

or a soft white chiffon rosette number.

I think these next ones are the oldest ones I have - definitely a 1940's shape...

and then the pill boxes became popular, thanks to Jackie-O...

I think the royal blue one above and this black one - we could actually pull off wearing as a fascinator as the British do.

Some of the old labels are even kind of cool.

This last one I'm actually storing for Jayme, it is one of her Grandma Mary's hats & gloves found in the attic when the family cleaned out their home after Grandpa passed away. Very pretty and elegant in peach...

I have one more photo to share that has nothing to do with the prompt of the day but instead my favorite subject to take photos of...the grand girls!  They were so cute in their matching outfits!