October Days

One of the things I love best about autumn are the crunching leaves underfoot. A lot of the leaves in our front yard have already fallen this year, I suspect because of all the rain we got over the summer. That usually makes for less color in the fall. The leaves turn brown and fall to the ground. But autumn in Virginia, even in a less colorful year, still rivals anything I ever knew growing up in Texas.

Because of this, we took a drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to a higher elevation this week to make sure we hadn't missed peak!  We watch the graphs and predictions for our area every year, and while they are usually right, every now and then it sneaks up on you. Oddly enough, the higher we got in elevation the less color there seemed to be. There is color, but we are probably still a good 7-10 days from peak foilage. We determined it must be the type of trees we have in our yard. We do have a number of dogwoods and they always seem to change early.  At any rater, I'm glad we didn't miss it and we plan to go back soon for the show! It is dazzingly!

We've been working on a number of projects around the house this week. We picked up a free chicken coop a month or so ago and it is so cute! We're going to use it as a little gardening shed, and this week my husband built a new base for it as some of the original boards were rotting, and we got it set in place.  I'll take some pictures soon to share with you. I spent most of my time placing all the cute pieces that we picked up last weekend at the 100 mile yard sale, my favorite being this little antique chalkboard. I got several of the old books, the little stacking boxes and the white speckled pots and pans shown in the picture at the sale, as well. My plan for the pots is to plant some houseplants in them, but for now I just sat the little pumpkin atop it! The little black stool is a recent yard sale find, as well. Since this is the first thing you see when you walk in our front door, I wanted it to be warm and welcoming and I think I achieved that!

I've decided on my hand-made gifts for Christmas for our family this year, and I'm going to be getting started on making those this week. I'm so excited about it and I hope they turn out as lovely as I envision them in my mind!

Other than that, we enjoyed some favorite seasonal movies this week, Practical Magic and Arsenic and Old Lace! I just LOVE those Brewster Sisters! Aside from the poisoning and the bodies in the cellar, I would love to befriend two little ladies just like them! If you've never watched Arsenic and Old Lace, it's an oldie, from 1944, I HIGHLY recommend it! 

There are several festivals in the area today, so my husband and I are planning on checking out a few of them. They are calling for scattered showers, but I don't think that will deter us much. There is something about a rainy autumn day, just before the weather turns too cold. With the gray skies overhead and the golden carpet beneath your feet. It is simply delicious!

I hope you have a lovely autumn day today, and I'll be back here to visit with you again soon!