My Deck Decorating

Not again! Yes, again...☺

It's Tuesday and that means "Mantels and Porches" for Melissa's Fall Nesting Party. I have neither. What I do have is a small deck where we enter our home.

It's been so rainy and muddy that I'm afraid the charm is off by half. I'm linking to the party, but not participating as...well...reason already given. ;> There'll be lots of great ideas, though, so peek in and see how others have decorated their mantels and/or porches.

One of my very favorite mantels this season has been Kari's at Thistlewood Farm *here* and *here.* (Just in case she's not linking to this party. And I had forgotten that Kari was having a linky party herself that day and has a lot of great participants with great ideas as well.)

One of my favorite porches is Kim's at Happy at Home *here.* Those pumpkins are so charmingly displayed.

                                                                 

You don't suppose that I'd use any of these for my own Note Card Party do you? Mr. Linky will be up between 8 and 8:30 tonight. Giving you all a break (and myself, too) and closing comments... 

Around the House

Melissa is hosting another Tuesday in her Fall Nesting Series called Fall Around the House. I'm linking, though not participating beyond visiting those who are. What great ideas! You can find lots of sweet things to copy. **ETA: And giving proper credit, of course. I just re-read this and it sounded awful. 

Blogger and I seem to be at odds with one another. It's eaten a post and several videos.  The frustration level is pretty high so I'm declaring this *a gradient 6 day big time! Above are the last of my garden flowers plopped unceremoniously into a Tupperware pitcher...gradient six to the rescue!

These sweet fabric apples arrived last week from Kati of Kati's Little Corner of the  World. Such a thoughtful gift from a thoughtful gal. The little chalkboard, you may remember, is a gift from Sarah. **(ETA: Which reminds me that I copied this font right *here* at Melissa's party last week. )

The Climbing Brown Eyed Susan received yet another reprieve from the dreaded frost. Since she's climbing, I am unable to bring her inside as I'm doing nightly now with all the other plants.

 We are not taking blue skies lightly around here having seen so few of them.

Anytime that I see temps above 40F in the morning, I breathe a sigh of relief.

You'll have to trust me on this. I had done the most darling, impressive, truly magnificent video to share today entitled, fittingly enough, Fall Around the House. I took you all around inside and then moved to the backyard where I swished through the leaves and chattered like a magpie about the projects, the raised bed, the golden leaves, my neighbor's home, and then I took you to my door where I discovered that I had locked myself out. Terrific! This video is the only one that Blogger will allow me to upload. Perhaps the others were a bit too long at 3 minutes and something seconds. Oh, warning, I didn't clean the house for you!

Have a great day...


P.S. For those who have wondered...A Gradient 6 Day is my euphemism for times when things are not just working quite as I had planned. Gradient 6 is an option from Photoscape (Google it) that allows one to fuzz out the edges of a photo as I've done in this post. Sometimes Life requires a fuzzing of the edges, too. = )

Fall Nesting Party 2011

Welcome to this year's Fall Nesting Party hosted by the incomparable Melissa of The Inspired Room. I'm very happy that you are here!

Some points of disclosure: First of all, I'm not ready for fall. It's not just turned chilly here. The leaves, usually already turning, are still vivid green. Second of all, it's raining. Raining and dark. Dark and dreary. My goal was to add some warmth and cozy without resorting to the usual autumn palette or the furnace.

China Cabinet

All decorating in my home begins here. It's the first place for eyes to rest when anyone comes through the door. I'm working with browns, tarnished silver, inherited china, flea market finds, and my favorite poem: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, which I popped into the apothecary jar.  I think it would look especially cool with a page torn from a poetry book, but I'm not willing to tear up my Norton Anthology for that cause.

Poetry in an Apothecary Jar

There are few matching pieces, the bookend tea cups and the candlesticks notwithstanding. I'm a quilt kind of gal.

*Mosaic will enlarge

While I was busy taking photos, my hubby was outside working in the rain. At one point he came in looking like a drenched rat and requested hot tea.

You know what? Nothing speaks autumn-cozy like a cup of tea on a rainy day! 

I'm looking forward to seeing all the wonderful things that you're doing once my busy morning of running errands is over.

A blessed and cozy autumn to you...