Picking Pumpkins...

Today was a gorgeous fall day....

 

so we decided to

pick the pumpkins...

 



 

this back corner of the veggie garden

is my little pumpkin patch...

 

this year

it overflowed...

 

 

literally,

they climbed right over the fence...

 



 

dangling...

 (Jarrahdale Pumpkin)

 

on surprisingly strong vines...

 

it makes me want to try growing them

vertically next year!

 

 

a pair of Porcelain Dolls

hiding among the vines...

 

the Pink Pumpkins...

 

this was the first year I grew this variety,

and they grew really well...

 

 

 

my bucket should have

overflowed with

little White Casper Pumpkins...

 

but...

 

a mouse

(or many mouses)

 

decided to make little houses out of them,

their bellies full of seeds...

 



 

after they were all picked,

there were nearly twenty...

 

so I am off to clean them up and decorate,

you'll be seeing more of them soon,

I'm sure...

 

Thanks for stopping by...

Franklin, WA....

Several weeks ago,

I went for a day hike

to the town of Franklin, WA...

 

I have waited to share

the pictures I took,

because Franklin is a Ghost Town...

 

I saved it for October,

the spookiest month of the year...

 

Franklin really wasn't that spooky,

but it's only the beginning of October...

 

 

Franklin was a coal mining town,

and as a lot of coal mining towns did,

it had a lot of tragedy...

 

here is a link

 if your interested in the towns history...

 



 

bits of coal still litter the ground...

 

 

when I think of Ghost Towns...

 

I think of the old west...

 

 I imagine

weathered buildings,

where the wood has turned grey....

 



 

but here,

ghost towns are void of wood,

only moss covered foundations remain...

 

leaving your imagination to fill in

what it was all like,

back in the day...

 



 

it is a beautiful hike...

 

through the deciduous forest,

here where conifers are too common,

it's a nice change...

 





teasel weed...

 



 

and it's wicked leaves...

 



 

 

meadow flowers,

gone to seed,

in the late summer...

 



when you reach the hilltop,

you find them...

 



overgrown graves...

 

I noticed all the English Ivy,

through out the town...

 

it's not a native plant...

 

I imagine a young bride

traveling far from home...

 

bringing along a snip,

of ivy,

something from home...

 

now, it has gone wild,

consuming the town...

 



 

the forgotten...

or maybe

not forgotten?

 



 

this is what made my heart beat

 a little faster...

 

the grate covers the main mine shaft.

it's 1300 feet down,

and when you drop a pebble through the grate

it takes a long time to hit bottom...

 



 

I'll be linking up to...

Outdoor Wednesday

 

Thank you for coming along...

Fragile Beauty....

Throughout the summer,

I have been gathering...

 

 

roses in apothecary jars...

then I started

just tossing petals

around,

letting them dry in place...

 



a sort of hoarding,

for the coming drought...

 



 

pretty paper roses,

in their cheerful simplicity,

always thrill me too...

 

I am very uncomplicated that way...

 



 

ombre roses on a platter...

 



the kitchen chandelier

often becomes

an impromptu drying rack...

 



 

buds served up

on a silver platter...

 

 

heads bent,

dried right in the vase...

 

graceful, 

fragile beauty

 

 

snips of lingering blooms,

tucked in creamers

on the kitchen window sill...

 

make doing dishes

a little more fun...

 

Thanks for stopping by today....