It's pretty much dead, but still keeps on truckin'.
When I was a kid, halloween was awesome. Nothing could stop us kids from dressing up and going door to door.
And I'm Canadian, remember. Our first [substantial] snowfalls would usually occur mid-October.
Did a little [4 feet of] snow stop us from candy??
No!
We'd begrudgingly put on full snowsuits under our costumes and trudge out anyway!
I can't find a pic of myself in one, but this is a good idea of what we looked like (because all Canadian kids share this experience)
I don't think the Wimpification of Halloween is due to the kids, but the parents. It always comes down to the parents.
Parents, parents, parents...(I'm drawing this out to give you parents time to build some outrage against my comments...blog posting isn't fun without a little outrage.)
My mum is a Halloween veteran. With three children born in three different decades (1968, 1973, 1981), she's been through it all.
Making costumes, walking with us door to door (when it was -30C on the occasional Halloween night, she'd drive behind us so she could have us warm up on the run), buying candy for other kids, decorating, dressing up herself to make it more fun...
And you know what? She was probably sick and tired of doing this crap every year (I think she likes it again now that she's had a few years rest). But she made the effort, because it made us kids happy.
Because that's what moms do, dammit!
When we got old enough to go out with our friends on Halloween, it was a big deal. I think I was about 9-ish when my friends and myself were allowed to go out to get candy in groups in our neighbourhood.
We'd take our pillowcases (no fancy candy containers for us, pillowcases had more candy-capacity!) and troop around for a couple of hours and come on home tired and happy.
I didn't even really like to eat candy at that time. I gave it all to my brother Kurt. But I had fun getting it!
Do parents even let their kids go out trick or treating by themselves anymore?
I'm betting not. These are the days of mall trick or treating. Which I think is totally lame.
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.
There were just as many 'dangerous' people in the 60's, 70's and 80's as there are now I'm sure. I survived without being kidnapped into someone's basement or finding razor blades in my candy.
Which is a total urban myth that news stations still warn parents about.When was the last time you saw a news story about a kid ending up in the hospital from candy poisoning?
These days we're more likely to get salmonella from lettuce grown at a tainted corporate farm operation...
And I'm not just talking about the parents of trick or treaters. I'm talking about adults in the general population...the ones that turn all their inside and outside lights off and hide in the backs of their houses hoping that no one rings their doorbells.
I think there are people who don't feel like buying candy for strangers. I think that there are people who are tired of getting less and less kids coming to their door every year and don't feel like shelling out money for candy for nothing and having to eat it themselves. I guess I can't blame them all really...
Anyway, I still carve a pumpkin every year. I don't think I've ever missed a year. I don't ever do anything elaborate, but I try to make them different every Halloween.
I enjoy digging the slimy guts and seeds out of a pumpkin. I like the smell of raw pumpkin guts. This year was the first time Chuck and I have tried roasting pumpkin seeds in the oven, and they were delicious.
I asked Chuck to come up with a design for my pumpkin this time, and this is what he came up with:
We live in a housing development which until recently wasn't very developed. In the last couple of years it's comparatively exploded.
We expected a few kids this year. Not a lot because we still live in a rural-ish area, but a few.
Got the pumpkin on the porch, and got the candy bowl ready.
Our first visitor was the kid of some old friends of Chuck's. Shelley's so damn cute
After that....almost nothing.
We eventually thought we wouldn't get any more kids, but we saw an SUV slow down in front of the house at about 7:30, and two more girls popped out and came to the door. They got a big haul from us, because we knew we probably wouldn't get any more kids after that.
And we were right.
Chuck and I spent the rest of the evening gorging ourselves on 'fun-size' chocolate bars...
Sometimes it seems like the title of my blog is a dirty, dirty lie, but I promise it didn't start out that way!
I just lose all my gardening mojo for the summer. In my last video blog, I promised I'd be back to it in Septemeber.
And I am!
Chuck thinks my dirty hands are hot.
The sun is sitting a little lower. The afternoon breeze is cooler. We're getting a damn sight more rain. Not a ton, but at least the grass isn't crunchy anymore.
Yesterday I decided to go out to the garden center and get some petunias. Right now is starting to be the second perfect time to grow them. They fade away during the scorching summers, but if you plant more in the fall you get another couple of months of color.
I didn't realize that my outing for petunias would turn into the quest for The Holy Grail.
Seriously...the petunias were just as ridiculous to find, and I met this dude Roger who kept asking me if I wanted a shrubbery.
I swear I even heard the faint sound of coconuts.
I'm thinking I may have gone out on my quest a week or two too soon. Even the big garden centers didn't have any.
At the last place I drove to (40 minutes away...I wanted petunias dammit!!) I found a few paltry purple petunias (nice alliteration, eh?)
If I had gone out for mums, I could've come home with a truckload. But I'm not interested in getting mums quite yet, that'll be next month.
I did get a few consolation prizes, however. I found some sexy sweet potato vines for 50% off.
And by sexy, I mean bodice-rippingly gorgeous.
I'd never plant them in the ground here, as they tend to get invasive. But they're awesome in a hanging container.
The green one is Ipomoea batatas 'Marguarita', and the dark one is 'Blackie'
I ruined at least two shirts looking at these things.
I also found some huge coleus plants that were on sale at a different garden center. Normally 6 bucks, I got 'em for 3.
This one is 'Stained Glassworks Copper'. Looks really awesome in the morning sun.
And this one didn't have a tag. I had some last year, but I can't remember what it's called.
But it's sexy, so who gives a fuck? If you saw a sexy man/woman across the room, would you care what their name was??? No!
I'm happy that the side of my house that faces the street is looking pretty again. The back side still looks like shite, but I don't care about that.
The holly berries are turning red, just in time for *gasp* The Holidays.
Fun fact: If you look really closely at the window behind the sweet potato vine basket, you'll still see a Christmas decoration up from last year. I like to call it 'Redneck Chic'
The salvia has come back a little bit since being pounded by the hurricane. This little bee is enjoying it...
The fall wreath is on the door. The fake pumpkins are out. Kyna's dreaming of the two thanksgiving dinners on the horizon.
I had to make my podunk garden sound more impressive. Did that do the trick?
Decided to take a walk through my yard and take some garden pictures this morning, just before sunrise.
Because the name at the top says 'Crystal Coast Gardener' not 'Crystal Coast Liar Who Rambles About Other Shit When She Promised You Gardening'. Right?
I hauled myself out of bed and headed straight out there before I could procrastinate. Usually when I get the notion to take garden pictures, it's midday, and the sun is blazing, and the pictures look like crap.
This time, the pictures still look like crap, but at least there isn't all that annoying glare.
It's five days away from the official start of fall. Time for turkey. Time for pumpkins!
No, not those Pumpkins! Sillies.
These ones!
That's better. :)
My gardens look nice for about 2 seconds in the spring. They look horrible for 4 months in the sweltering summer heat. And then they look good again towards the beginning of fall, and stay that way till Christmas usually.
These are from my back garden.
All of the vincas you see? I didn't plant them. Those things reseed like mofos, they're all offspring from last year's planting. Because I was cheap this year, and they LOVE the heat of the west side of my house, I let a lot of them just grow.
This is the first year I planted purple gomphrena. Those bright globes have been delighting me constantly since springtime. I'll be planting them again next year. Ditto on the salvia.
Osteospermum IS something I plant every year. They fill in the garden nicely. Usually I plant the 'spoon' variety. This year I opted for the white with a purple center.
Moving on through the backyard...
The other thing that has perked up with the cooler temps and the sun not being so high in the sky is my okame cherry tree.
It stayed bald or burnt most of the summer. I planted it in full sun, hoping that it wouldn't be too much for the tree in NC, but it was hard on it. And hard on my water bill. But it's looking better right now. Especially with that beautiful autumn-coloured tree across the cotton-field as a backdrop.
I'm hoping that it will build up some tolerance to the sun as the years pass, if I just water it enough lol. Like my 'Ann' magnolia did.
This is the best year 'Ann' has had, despite the nasty hot temps. I also planted it in too much sun. It got crispy and bald three years in a row.
This year I've barely watered it and it stayed nice throughout the summer. No leaf loss, and it stayed completely green until the last couple of weeks. Had a lot of flowers on it this spring.
You're also looking at my project for next spring.
Here's another view.
I really want to find something that will hide the A/C unit and the gas can. Some sort of latticed screening maybe. That crap is on the south side of my house, and very visible to the road. Bleah.
Also on the south side...
My clematis has squeezed out a second flush of blooms. If you can call two blooms a 'flush'. :)
And my butterfly bush is looking the best it has looked all summer. That thing's kind of been a bitch to take care of. It looks all mangy at the bottom if you let it go.
Finally, the front of my house, which faces east. The only place I have shady enough to plant anything that needs part shade.
My 'DD Blanchard' magnolia is doing well. This is the first year I had to actively water it since I planted it, it was nearly leafless by the end of June. It's bounced back and is now a healthy 9 feet tall. When we planted it four years ago, it was 4 foot 2. We planted it on our first wedding anniversary, so I have a very soft spot in my heart for this tree.
It only had one flower on it at the end of May (when it is supposed to bloom), but I got 5 more last month as a surprise second blooming.
This is my front garden.
My rosebush is all blackspotty, but this is the most leaves and blooms it's had in the fall since I first planted it. Usually it's bald and yellow by now. I'd dig it out, but it's my baby. And it looks so nice in May...
Next to that are my toad lilies. They're just starting to bloom.
Nothing much else is in that garden besides my azalea. I'm planning on planting some stuff in there in the next couple of weeks...some petunias or pansies or something that will last through Christmas.
There is some colour in my front porch garden, although things are starting to look kinda ratty. Which is awesome since it faces the street :P
These pics don't look too bad.
My elephant ears look terrible. Oh well.
My potted coleus looks a little less sexy than it did a couple of months ago, but with a little makeup it would look fine.
The geranium needs a shock to the heart. It's been growing for two years though, maybe it's a little tired.
And I recently bought my first Japanese maple!!
My cheap ass found one on clearance at Lowe's garden center a few weeks ago. I paid a whopping $12 for it. They always leave these things in too much sun (pot calling the kettle black), and they look like crap by the end of August. I gave it some shade and it's popping out a couple of leaves. it's still on my porch because I can't figure out where I'm going to plant it. :(
For some reason the camera wouldn't focus properly on the new leaves unless my feet were in the picture. Sorry.
The 'Red Beauty' holly is sporting some shiny red berries! I highly recommend these.
They have such a nice upright, compact habit. And they were bred to withstand our southeast coastal conditions.
One of my neighbours must have a holly, because this is the only one I have and it still gets berries.
I'm starting to move in the autumn plants as well.
Orange mums.
Gaillardia. They look kinda sad though.
Being a gardener, you would think that spring would be my favourite season.
Not so! I love fall. I love the leaves turning. The cooler temps are refreshing after the heat of the summer. I love eating all the delicious food.
And in MY house, we get two thanksgivings. One in October for the Canadian, and one in November for the American.
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