Trick or Treat?!

Leaves are changing, gardens are getting a little TLC in the form of pine straw, and people are having parties - any excuse! Neighbourhoods, shops, schools and businesses are decorated in swathes of orange and brown, and/or spooky garlands of leaves, skulls, and the like.

Isabella and Kym at Maggie's "Not so spooky Halloween Party" for the kids, last weekend

Tyrannosaurus Danielus and Isabella Meow Meow, playing mini-pumpkin hockey

Spooky party food...that's my hummus with the paprika pumpkin!

Maggie, Eric and Ethan's front yard

Daniel admiring the Fall display at his school

Downtown Perry, Georgia...

Because tomorrow is Halloween, I've been warned to keep Abby Cadabby inside. Believe it or not, there are some people who trawl neighbourhoods for black cats to do unspeakable things to - for "fun", so our little princess will be enjoying a day inside!! God, guns AND stupidity!

I was "forced" to keep up with the Jones when these guys turned up and gave me a rate I just couldn't refuse! Almost every garden in our estate has pine straw covering the garden beds. It gives the gardens a lovely uniform look, and acts as mulch and insect repellent all in one. 

In hindsight, it did seem a little too good to be true...and as they say, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!

Just as well I resisted the urge to have the whole yard done, as this turned out to be "hot" pine straw and had been nicked from the only "long needle pine straw" farm in Georgia. You might think these guys look scruffy, but really, they didn't look that different from the legitimate gardening guys I have over most fortnights!

With the fall of the leaves, comes the ramping up of Hunting Season. The local sports stores have all their hunting gear in stock, along with ads featuring children learning to shoot firearms with their parents under the caption: "A family tradition"...Yikes, I'd rather go out for yum cha!!

 

Speaking of local "culture", I recently came across "shotgun shell jewelry"...not sure this will catch on at home (or anywhere else, for that matter!!). 

Note, camo gear is regular casual wear here, and I've even seen camo baby romper suits in - in green and pink! Sooooo tasteful - NOT!!!

And on to some happier things...

This morning I joined some of the ladies for a Pumpkin Carving session. Lizzie hosted and had purchased some kits - complete with tools and stencils, and all we needed to do was BYO pumpkin(s).

Pumpkins are sold at the supermarkets, Walmarts, service stations - you name it. They're everywhere, and as I've mentioned previously, many churches have pumpkin patches out the front, though the $8 and $12 tags seemed a bit steep for this patch, just outside Charleston...after all, my pumpkins cost less than $4 each. Perhaps the church is fundraising with these?!

  

Unlike our Australian pumpkins, which we love roasted, in soups, and the like, these Halloween pumpkins look amazing but are pretty sinewy inside with light coloured flesh. They're purely ornamental and not at all for eating, I wouldn't think! They smell pretty awful, too! 

BUT, they are very easy to carve, and even a novice, such as myself, managed to do an alright job on my first ever pumpkin carvings!

Here's Fay enjoying a choc-chip bagel (from Panera) before the carve-off...

And here's Kathi and Rose, two of our English ladies, about to get creative! 

And, as for Maggie - the yoga teacher, triatholon competitor, and party-thrower extraordinaire, she might look friendly, but she even approaches craft with a competitive edge and attitude!!

Here's my first one - looks pretty ugly, doesn't it?

But this is what it looks like in the dark, with a candle inside it!!

Here's my second effort...

We've been invited to a Halloween street party, catered for by a local BBQ joint and funded by the Home Owners' Association. Our landlady said they're a lot of fun and the kids go around trick or treating together after dinner, so we'll get to meet a few neighbours and indulge in excess sugar all at the same time. 

Someone's excited by the prospect of excess sugar...



Here's one of regular little garden friends, Squirrel Nutkin...always sipping water from Abby's bowl and checking out the bird seed! 

The "bandits" - our resident raccoons - had raided the bird feeder overnight, hence the jaunty angle of its lid!

"Are you lookin' at me???!!" Another of our regular visitors, with hand in the cookie jar, or paw in the birdfeeder, whichever the case may be...before I got wise and suspended the feeder from a hook.

"Oh well, now you know what I'm here for, can I just carry on with my midnight feast?!"

Daniel had a Country Hoe-Down at school today, so it seemed fitting he ride on in on his trusty steed!

My one and only walking trail, where I often see squirrels and chipmunks scampering across the path - so CUUUUUTE, as Bubba would day. So, there it is: pumpkins and pine straw, the secret to a happy Fall, y'all!