in the cottage: The wonder's of nature...

This time of year fills me to the brim with happiness!

What sight is more welcomed, after a L-O-N-G, hot summer than a leaf changing it's color? The air is crisper, easier to breathe. The light is no longer the too-bright glare of summer... it's paler and gentler. It's so romantic, and yet melancholy. Energizing yet calming. It's the in-between time, where twilight becomes magical and mornings are full of possibility.
...Obviously, my favorite time of year. ...

And one of Fall's greatest gifts is the amazing color palate it gives us. ...inspiring us to decorate our dwellings.

Here's are some things I love...

Gilded pumpkins.

Just pick up a couple cans of gold, bronze and silver spray paint and go to town. A Thanksgiving table would be beautiful done with nothing but these lavish pumpkins.

Simple silhouette luminaries.
This makes me think of something you would have seen in the 19th century.
Love it.

I absolutely adore white pumpkins.

They are eerie in a sophisticated way. And the idea of putting them at the curb with decorative nails to display your house number... J'adore.

I love the idea of frosting the mirror... you see no reflection. Wooo-Ah-Ah-Ahhhh!

I have always loved getting spooked. Growing up in the country had it's ups and downs... but i have to admit that Halloween-time was always fun! There was always someone or another who would agree to pile all "the young'uns" in the back of the pickup and take us on a haunted hay ride. We'd go out at dusk, walking in the back field, huddled together with our flashlights... while the older kids would sneak ahead and wait to scare the ba-jeebus out of us.
Fun times.

Now that I'm older, I still like to get spooked. I'm always up for a scary adventure. I remember in school when we had to memorize The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. I became totally obsessed with that poem... and subsequently, everything else I ever read by Poe. I love the old fashion macabre. Scary in a subtle, let-your-imagination-run-away-with-you-way. I'm not down with gore. Blood, guts, brains...?
No thankee.

Just give me some Poe, a flash-light, a graveyard, a dark night... and someone to squeeze, and I'm good to go.