MYSTERY FLOWERS AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

It is a lazy, wet Saturday and I didn't open up my front drapes until about 9:30. There, on my door mat was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The card said, Too The Best Mom, with a rather unintelligible message. But the address was to a house I haven't lived in for 18 years. I thought, who calls me Mom but doesn't know where I live? Hmmm!

And, it is Halloween time and this bouquet is in a beautiful glass pumpkin. But, Halloween is a time for tricks and treats and maybe there is a bit of trickery going on here. I decide to call the company that delivered the flowers. She told me, "Our truck broke down on Pennsylvania Gulch Rd. in the middle of the road. A couple came walking by as the tow truck was hooking onto our truck and the driver, with bouquet in hand, asked the couple if they knew me?  No, they didn't but they walk by the Hanging Tree Rd. address and they offered to deliver the flowers for him. Hmmm!
I call the folks who live at the Hanging Tree Rd. address and they said no one had delivered flowers to them. Aha! The Plot thickens. The people who claimed they didn't know me obviously knew where I lived. I've called the neighbors and no one will own up to delivering me this beautiful Halloween Pumpkin filled with flowers. I'll eventually find out who sent them and I'll enjoy them in the meantime. But, since I love a good mystery, double thanks to whoever you are.
And, since I haven't blogged in quite some time, I will play catch up.  I had a surprise visit from my friend Maril:

We like the Firewood Restaurant in Murphys. Maril loves their fish tacos.

I'm a button collector, and Maril and I tooled around town and acted like tourists, which I love to do now and then. We came across this button festooned jacket collar, but I have too many clothes. I wouldn't buy it.  I might try decorating a similar jacket.

Calaveras Community Television has purchased the property under the Paul Moeller Studio. (Paul is our founder and it was so named by the County to honor Paul.)  Pam Quyle and I walked the property and found the boundaries that encompass a gold mine.  We have a heritage tree above it also. Just look at those roots.

It's kind of fun to have a goldmine on your property. But, this one panned out long ago and has no gold. We've arranged to have it "fenced" off with wrought iron stakes, (rebar) every four inches apart so no living creature can ever get caught in it. Yet, it allows water to flow through to the creek below.
And, CCTV will be changing hands with a group, under our name, who will have many hands to do fund-raising and support the studio. The only constant is change.

I saw this kid, zooming through a clothing department and stopped to see what he was wearing?

He calls them "Wheelies". It reminds me of that movie, Back To The Future, as in what will they think of next? Truth to tell, I love it. innovation, surprises, life is good! Happy Halloween.

MONROE, WA.

Saturday, I decided to walk the town of Monroe and view the various historical buildings that managed to survive the fires and re-developments that obliterate the past.  Jim took the Bronco over to Mike Coleman’s, his mechanic/friend for an adjustment on the transmission and let me out on the street to begin my walk from the Historical Society Museum.
Names interest me and from the Museum I learned that the Post Office shared quarters with the Park Place Store, but the U.S. P.O. would not approve a name with two words. They could have asked for PARKPLACE, but, instead, submitted Monroe, after the Monroe Improvement Co.  plotting lots on the present site of town at the time. And, as they say, the rest is history.

I hadn’t walked but half a block when I discovered an antiques fair lining both sides of a side street.  In a motor home you can’t buy anything except small stuff.  What the heck,  half the fun is looking. I should have taken pictures of the entire affair, since it was very well done. By well done, I mean they really had antiques, not flea market junk.  Some unusual things caught my eye, like this turkey foot. Nearing Halloween, hmmm. I considered. While examining  deer horns and feathers and bone buttons an Indian woman identified herself as a Pomo. She collects buttons and makes Indian vests with colorful buttons and feathers.  As we talked, she offered to buy my collection as described and I gave her my card to call me in October when I return to Murphys.

I admired this bag worn by a young cow-girl named Judy. She bought it during the Evergreen Fair. Minutes later I found two similar bags for sale.

Not antique, but beautiful future antiques.

Signs, another interest of mine, as long as they are unique or humorous.

I’m not sure Edison actually said this, but I figure I’m half way there, I’ve got the junk.

I drooled over beautiful home-made lace sewn together with crude burlap in an effort  to disguise a hole in the lace. The burlap is already leaching acid onto the bottom of this gorgeous lace. It needs rescue.

And a beautifully rendered crazy quilt with home-made lace on the edges. Nice enough to frame.

Besides quilts and quilt pieces,  an unusual amount of rag rugs.

This well-worn braided wool rug is in need of rescue.

I’ve never learned to master the technique of this type of rag rug, though I tried once. Not antique. You can tell from the colors.

And this antique wool hooked rug was a beauty. The vendor had it on the street covering up a grease spot from cars. I wanted to scold her or offer to buy it. But, I have two unfinished hooked rugs of my own at home.

Hooked wool seat covers were nicely preserved.

Jim called all too soon, claiming his Bronco didn’t need anything  done to it. It had just started to rain and we headed for the Motor Home.  When I got my pictures up this morning, I realized how biased I was to women’s crafts. There was plenty at this fair for men, tools, furnishings, car stuff, wood work of all kinds. I guess I can relate to the craftsmanship of basket making, rugs, quilts and lace that bore men silly.

HALLOWEEN-A PHOTO OP

Having young children can inspire a person to celebrate Halloween with great fanfare. Thus, my daughter carving the cannibal pumpkin---

 

 ---dressing up as a ghoulish, green witch, filling the cauldron with candy,  and in general, enjoying the fun as much as the kids. The whole courtyard was decked out with a graveyard scene complete with fogger and sound affects.

Even Mother-in-law, Olga, got into the spirit of things wearing a witch hat while preparing dinner for all of us. Who can resist the "witchy mother-in-law" cliche, except anyone would be delighted to have Olga as a mother-in-law.

The kids picked their costumes with extra care and examined and adored them for days before.

  They practiced their super hero moves with flare.

Encouraging trick-or-treaters to come to YOUR house was fun. Trick-or-treating was gobs of fun.  But, the best part, the very best part, is counting your booty and hoarding it for the days to come.

 Yum, Yum.

 As adults we remembered the things we didn't like in our sack. Anything good for you, like apples, walnuts and bananas. The worst was a penny. And a tooth brush from the dentist. Oh, no!
From the look of things, it was a very exciting Halloween. And for me, a new recipe, I'll share tomorrow.

GETTING READY

All around me are the signs of Halloween. Yet unpicked pumpkin fields both yellow and white.

 Pumkins waiting on the porch to become jack-o-lanterns...


Kids rushing the season a bit by toilet-papering this house...





And, finding a bloody hand in your yard.Hmm!
Par for the course, around here. We definitely have spirits interested in making Halloween a fun event. It has become a huge event in recent years... big business as well. Kids scaring each other silly, scary costumes, frightening stories, great ghoulish stuff to choose from every where you shop. What's not to like?
The candy. Give me Christmas any day for candy. Halloween candy sucks.

My email, just like yours has scads of great Halloween jokes, but one card this year is the best: http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/bws8Shell.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3125133/graphic1

SCARE THYSELF IF YOU CAN

Its Halloween, and I hope everybody has a blast at their party, or with their kids or grand kids. I liked the hanging apparition above at a neighbor's house. I especially enjoy the moonlight at this time of the month and the weather is right for a crisp night-time walk.

Over the years, I've enjoyed memorable costume parties; enjoyed teasing the littlest kids at the door when they arrive with their bags for a treat. I admire the people who decorate with sound effects and scare the daylights out of kids. It gives them a thrill to remember forever. My adult children can still remember the addresses where they were terrified the most. As youngsters they looked forward to Halloween almost as much as Christmas.

But, scaring yourself is not easy, it takes a separation of logic. I was really scared only three times in my life as an adult. Once, when I read a book on rape and suddenly felt insecure. Another when I read a book on alien beings invading our planet, posed as true stories, and rather credible. (I was much younger then.) And again when I chanced to meet Uri Geller and he read my mind. He could answer my questions, that I framed mentally, before I gave them voice. It took me a pause to realize he was answering my thoughts. It still gives me the chills to think about it.