Simply Spooktackular

Our good friends, Greg and Gayle,  returned this week from serving a mission for our Church.  I thought it would be fun to gather a few friends and have a little dinner gathering on Halloween night to welcome them home.  I wanted it to be "spooktackular"!  It was a lot of fun and it was great to visit with everyone and just enjoy a relaxing evening together.  I decorated to the hilt and it looked pretty festive tonight!  My dear BFF, Donna, made 2 absolutely beautiful centerpieces for my tables.  I was blown away when her hubby dropped them by this morning.

Isn't it fabulous? And to think she made 2 of them....Donna, you are amazing! They looked great on the main food table and the dessert table. I put 2 big tables in my living room to accommodate all 17 of us.

It was a simple table setting:

Tonight the candles were lit and the black roses were a nice touch. I made a few ghoulish dishes...such as:

Bone slices...

Skeleton ribs with a knife in his heart:

Brains...hey, there's always room for jello!

Clown eyes...

A trifle that sports a few "RIP" tombstones.  We also had cemetery clippings (salad),
zombie eyes (deviled eggs), haunted pasta salad, ghosts in the graveyard (twice baked potatoes) ghost wienies, vampire salsa dip, witches brew and ghost water....not to mention spooky cupcakes! With the food all ready and the tables set,  Jack and I put our costumes on.

OOPS! That's not my costume!

Here's our costumes...much better!

Guests arrived and hit the food table....and we ate and laughed and caught up on everyone's doings the 2yrs Greg and Gayle were gone.  I didn't get a pic of the lovely couple...I was too busy being "witchy" I guess!  It was a nice evening and I was glad we could all gather here.  October flew by and I can't believe tomorrow is November...I hope everyone had a bewitching day today...I know I did!

Night all!  Boooo!

Slip Sliding Away

With the wind at it's peak, the leaves were falling fast!  Our color for this Fall season is almost at an end.  We took a few small drives around town and caught some last minute color last weekend.

  Moving on down the road....

So pretty...

This is a lane worth taking a stroll down. More color showed up during the week. I made a special cake for a co-worker's birthday.  She called in sick the day I brought it!

I made one like this last year for a party and thought it would be fun to try again. The next day all that was left was this:

Spooky huh? As this month slips away, pumpkin carving is a must:

Phil and Lexi and Addy (enjoying the pumpkin goo) sliced and diced into jack-o-lantern perfection:

Not all color was orange this week.  A wee bit of tan in the form of an apple pie:

Take a deep breath and enjoy the cinnamon, apple and spice love! Yum! Grab a  camera, take a hike, smell the wet leaves, carve a pumpkin, wear a costume, hand out some goodies, and enjoy this final week of my favorite month!

Goodnight all!

Come To The Pines

We gather together every October for a small family harvest/Halloween dinner.  In the past we carved pumpkins but this year we just did an outside campfire and weinie roast...come to the Pines and see what we done did!

You'll be greeted by this charming fellow if you can find our lane between the big pine trees.

Follow Jack up the drive...

Don't be frightened  by the crazy haunted house..

However, these cousin monsters might frighten you!

Grab a plate and settle by the fire...what are we having you ask...

Halloween pasta salad with these:

Pasta shapes of spiders, pumpkins and bats of course!

I spy deviled eggs that just might spy back at you...

But these bat icecream sandwiches will delight all ages!

Cameron says YUM!

Beware of sipping the brew from a skull goblet....

Careful by the fire...the smoke might get in your eyes.

Or you might have to go long for a quick pass by Cam and Anthony!

Booooo....you never know...a goblin could pass by!

Wrap up in a blanket...it's chilly tonight!

Handing out Booger candy seemed like a good idea...until a big kid got hold of them!

Be careful to not "get the finger"...the witches finger I mean!

It was a fun afternoon of food, fire, kiddos, big kiddos and a beautiful sunset to go home by...hope you enjoyed your Fall visit to the Pines!

Getting Ready For The Big "H"

Do you like Halloween?  I know there are some who really think it's a pagan holiday of evil and others think it's just a fun day for kids and candy.  I am caught in-between!  Really, I've celebrated Halloween since I was a fetus and haven't turned to the dark side yet, so I'm fairly confident I can continue in my decorating frenzy and fun times of this crazy time of year.  If you are of the "don't even talk about this evil day" kind of person, I respect that.  Please don't look at the following pics:

I'm having a little gathering on Oct. 31st and I'm readying the Pines for the hauntingly good times and the spooktacular dinner I have planned.  Just a small group of revelers but it should be fun.  I'm not done yet...but here's a teaser anyway. The kitchen has a fireplace mantle too, but it's not too scary:

See...not so bad! Well, to end this tirade I'll just post a few Eddy pics from last Sunday. We took a little stroll in the Creepy Woods.

He was super excited to visit his old haunts....(I know, more Halloween language)

These lovely lilac colored flowers line the paths everywhere and are so pretty.

Did you loose a feather in your cap?

This could be the perfect hanging tree....If I were having a haunted woods this year it would be the perfect spot for some fun.....

The look on Eddy's face says: "Yaya, get over the spook stuff...this is all about me today!"

 

The Not Working Retired

Wow, it's a red letter week with me posting twice!  I mentioned to Jack that it seems like we have been on a dead run since Fall began.  I wish it was because I was doing some fabulous things, but really it's just been normal stuff...like work...and...work...and work at home...and OK, we did play hooky last weekend and enjoyed our Saturday adventures.  But I wanted to tell about another activity I enjoyed.  Last Friday I went to a retirement party for one of my co-workers (who just happens to also be a neighbor!).  Elaine has worked at our hospital for 45yrs as a dedicated RN.  Samaritan Hospital used to have a nursing school attached to it. Elaine graduated from there and has worked with SamHO ever since.  She's one of those people that never gets angry.  Well, I've never seen her angry anyway! She always has a smile on her face, a quiet demeanor, a class act.  A good nurse.  She and her hubby are moving to Florida and the house is up for sale.  I wish her tons of happiness, sunshine and no snow for once in her life! Here are a few pics from the evening.

Here she is with that special smile!

The gifts and cards

The beautiful flowers. Donna (Starkey Hollow), made the pumpkin one! So cute!

Donna and I made a candy bar card for her....if you've never made one of these you should give it a try...so fun! Just get candy bars and substitute them for words..like telling Elaine she was a "Lifesavor" for her patients..see..easy!

We got her the usual timepiece that retirement folks get. But ours is so pretty and special. The picture on the face is Samaritan Hospital as it looked back in the 1920's. It's from an old postcard from that era. I noticed the date on the postcard as 1910.  It must have been an architect's drawing of the then, future hospital, since SamHo wasn't built until the 1920's.  I love the saying: "When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece"....so true for her!  She wasn't the only one retiring this month.  One of our Docs...Dr. Krish...retired after 40yrs.  He's a urologist and I'm going to post some pics that I took today at our "carry-in" luncheon we had for him.  One of our talented nurses made a very special cake for him.  Now, you have to remember that we're a weird group with bathroom humor...especially if a party is for a urologist.  So pardon the cake and it's meaning...well, it was really funny!

Here's Doctor Krish (on the left), his lovely wife, and a photo bomb in the back on the TV! 

Donna and I made him a candy bar card too! He loved it! We also had his personal X-Ray apron framed.  Many moons ago he purchased an apron that had a big smiley face on the front with his initials embroidered in the corner. It was blue striped and so cute.  But the best part was the fact it was nice and light to wear. (shhhh..I usually stole wore it when he wasn't working!)  We only had the smiley face part framed..anyway I forgot to snap a pic of it..dang it!  He loved that too, but really the crazy cake stole the show....I could tell a funny story about it, but I'm going to refrain....Anyway, I hope both these folks enjoy retirement...I hope they have as many years of retirement as they had working to get to this point. Also, I'm jealous.......

However, I don't want this kind of cake when I leave...seriously.