Early Fall ~ Autumnal Delight

I have just been thoroughly enjoying these early fall days...

Ornamental cabbage...makes me smile...

And my version of a garden ornament...

Fleur~de~lis~a~rama...

Details...

You know I love, love checkerboard...

Oh, and this is how I have been spending my days...

Sewing for my Etsy shop....can you hear my heart singing?

Early fall decor...don't you just love it?

Smiles ~ Ramona

Fall

...enough said.

Smiles ~ Ramona

Pumpkins!

Can you feel the love I have for pumpkins? What other food could you make soup from, carve out and fill with a savory stew, use to bake a yummy bread, roast the seeds, use the seeds in a craft, decorate your home, bake a pie with, make a day of it going to a patch where they are grown, carve in celebration, put a candle in, AND...in a pinch...use as a carriage to take yourself to a ball?

None. No other food has this many uses...I am pretty sure that I am right about this...she typed smiling...

Any~who...I am hooked on this cutie~pie yum~o~rama squash! Noooo...what gave it away? Yep, hooked. Just like I am hooked on Julia's Friday Hooked~On party. Julia ~ I am sending you a virtual pumpkin pie my friend!

Pop 'em in a hanging basket...

Or on a pot of ivy...

Place a gigantic fake~ola one on a bench...

Even sneak and display a cool, never seen before, dark green one on a cake stand...

{truth be told ~ this is really a "Danish Squash" pretending to be a pumpkin squash that I picked up in the produce department this morn}

Santos love pumpkins too...

Grape vines twisted into pumpkin likeness...

Sweet...

Pumpkins and berries...true love...

Grape vine squash on a cookbook shelf...

Yep...hooked...

Sitting a spell...

I am even sewing them...this is my latest OBSESSION!

I mean passion...

I heart burlap almost as much as I heart pumpkins...

Details, details...

HOOKED!

Head on back over to Julia's Hooked On Friday party for more of what other folks fancy...

If you need a ride...just grab the pumpkin carriage out back...Cinderella won't mind...

Happy Weekend Friends....Fall Begins Tuesday!!! Oh happy, happy day!

Smiles ~ Ramona

Why We Love Autumn

While driving along this morning...over the river and through the woods {this is the Northwest after all}...I felt so relaxed...like I was being gently rocked...cradled in the arms of the gorgeously foggy...golden sunbeam~y...wood burning crispness of it all.

Good golly I love this season...there is just something about it. While driving along...under falling leaves and rays of sunshine in my eyes...I thought...there is really something more...more than the leaves and the soup and the pumpkins and the angle of the sun and fog and the sweaters and the cozy yummy~ness...there is something more to explain why we all love this season so much.

This is the time of year when the Earth prepares for a long winter's nap. All of the wonderful Autumnal things that we love are really just Mother Earth preparing for that nap...it is like she is rocking nature and us gently in her arms...lulling us to to sleep...and Autumn is that delicious moment between being awake and falling into rest...you know that moment...it is a wonderful surrender...AND...there is just nothing else like it.

Amen!

So surrender...

Breathe in every moment this gorgeous season has to offer...

It is a sweet gift from Mother Nature...
She knows what is good for us...

And we all know that Mother is always right!

Smiles ~ Ramona

Dogs Can't Knit...

They really cannot...

I'm just saying...

Happy Weekend!

Smiles ~ Ramona

30 Days Has September...

Yes...that's all...30 days and we are already a third into them...AND this is the calm before the storm. Did you know that? The calm, sweet, late summer, early fall days when you have a moment to conjure up grand plans for the upcoming months. It's calm right now 'round the house so of course I have time to conjure a bit.

I love these calm days of September so much that one might think I'm Hooked on them...and they would be correct!

Julia's weekly Hooked on Friday parties are also my calm before the weekend...

For me...September is the calm~est of the calm months and I couldn't think of a better way to spend my budget of calm but by put~er~ing, putt~zing and nest, nest, nesting the day away...in an autumnal way...of course.

I love me a good nest...

Filled to over~flowing with this, that and the other...

Every autumn nest needs some polka dot eggs...

And some wood~stained clothespins...

Orange hydrangeas make my mind smile...

A chair fit for a squash...

A drop cloth cushion...

Can you feel the calm?

Paint some cloth today...and you too will feel the calm~ness to be had...

The details...

Or...a drop cloth with attitude...

Smooch a sleepy pup...

Can you see the guilt on her face? She ain't 'posta be there...

Shhhhh...I won't tell Dad...or..."The Top Dog" as he refers to himself...

Peeking through the muddiest door in the West....can't wait to see these windows a few months into a soggy Northwest winter...

But I digress...

More drop cloth pillow placement...

Love these colors...

Simple~dimple...

Puttering~a~rama...

I saw this on another blog...I cannot for the life of me remember where...but too cute to pass on...my Husband always leaves the measuring cup in there...but this is way cute~er and way, way calmer...

Yes, way calmer...

Enjoy your remaining days of September...the calm before the storm and IF the storms come early....just make soup!

Smiles ~ Ramona