Changing with the times

Baby Elliot has settled easily into home and hearts ... and his mother's arms

A thousand pirate apols in advance.

I realize that you lot are not even remotely obsessed with my new grandsons or with my seasonal decor.

But as bloggers we do enjoy the odd family-home-hearth slide show; do we not?

So let's get started.

This is a mulled cider candle

Yesterday I went to Erica's house and sat holding Baby Elliot for an hour or so. 

He was mostly asleep but when I first started holding him, and again towards the end when he woke up and was hungry, he was alert and looking all around.

Quoth the Raven: "Nevermore."

For an eleven- (now twelve) day-old, it was extraordinary. By my reckoning, he was acting like at least a two-week-old. Which he will in fact be, come Thursday.

As for Baby Guy in Tennessee, he recently got almost two weeks older (he will be seven weeks old on Thursday) while his dad, our Andrew, was serving his country by refueling fighter planes over the Pacific Ocean nonstop for eleven days.

Oh hi ... that you, Dad? Photo courtesy Brittany Weber

From Hawaii to Japan and back. Rinse and repeat. He touched down in East Tennessee early in the morning a few days ago, and rushed home to see his wife and children. Baby Guy was probably wondering who the grinning mustachioed pilot was, but I'm sure that pretty soon he figured it out.

This wreath will greet you if you're invited in through the garage

Dear old Dad! Welcome home.

Meanwhile, fall (If you mentally corrected the lower-case "f" ... don't. Contrary to popular belief, it's not supposed to be capitalized except at the beginning of a sentence, or when used metaphorically.) is progressing as it usually does in South Carolina: warm -- some might say unseasonably so, but not for us -- during the day, pleasantly chilly at night and in the early mornings.

A little graveyard humor for your October enjoyment

We haven't had a whole lot of rain lately and I get the feeling that I say this every year, but the drier the weather is during this crucial time, the less likely that we will have "real nice" fall color when it finally does develop, which is usually in November.

But we shall see.

Dagny found the vampire gnome at Dollar Tree ... note his red-lined cape

Despite the warmer climes (albeit with pleasantly low humidity), we as a family had our first chili supper last Friday. At our house.

I've shared this before, and I have also eaten better chili than mine, but for EZPZ you cannot beat my recipe:

It's a fool-proof recipe. No fooling.

Brown three pounds of extra-lean ground chuck or sirloin. To that add three cans each of chili hot beans and chili ready tomatoes, plus one packet of chili seasoning. Stir it up.

There you have it. Allow the flavors several hours to "marry," serve it piping hot, and I promise, your large crowd of chili-eaters will not be disappointed.

This wreath adorns the door in the TV room which leads to the master bedroom

Of course you can amend this recipe to make smaller (or larger) batches. One pound of meat to one can each of the beans and tomatoes, for example. Adjust the seasoning to your taste. 

But the smart money is on making my three-three-three-one recipe and freezing what you don't need, for the next time you feel led (not lead) to serve chili. Work smarter, not harder.

I like lots of twinkling lights on my table

Anyway.

The chili -- which I made this time, to my exacting can-and-packet-opening standards, in my Lodge Dutch Oven instead of in the Crock Pot -- was delicious and of course I served it with the usual accouterments: Fritos (no apostrophe between the "o" and the "s") Scoops, hand-shredded extra sharp cheddar, sour cream, and mild banana pepper rings.

I give you Cassius Crow

For dessert I baked a Marie Callender's Cherry Crunch pie.

The reason for the party was that I wanted Baby Elliot to come to Mamaw's house for the first time since the last time he was here, at which time he had not been born yet.

This little fella sits on the hearth in the TV room

I also was keen to show off my October decorating.

After easing into late summer with a sunflower theme towards the end of August, it is my habit to transition during September to more sunflowers, plus the first wave of orange-and-brown autumnal decor.

This is the second year for the black cat gnome

As in, I break out some of my fall stuff but not all of it at once.

That's because in between September and November comes October, and although I do not "do" Halloween in any true sense of that word, I admit to a fondness for the funny, campy decorations for October.

The glass skull glows eerily with the help of a tea candle

And I have a real affinity for skeletons and skulls (year round, actually), which I find humorous. The skulls and skeletons, that is; not my affinity for them.

You know I'm a card-carrying, rank-and-file, dyed-in-the-wool taphophile, so I'm into cemeteries twelve months out of the year too, but in October I let that child out to play, as it were.

I've got owl S&P shakers, and also sugar skulls

In fact, on Temu I recently found (and duly purchased) two new tees: one with sleeves and one without, but both in black and both with skeletons.

I got this one (I'm wearing it as we speak) and this one.

Skelly in the house ... when October goes

I mean who could decide between those two? Not the pirate.

I've already got (have had for years) not one but two versions of the classic I've Got Your Back skeletons, with one brandishing the other's vertebral column.

I showed you my new front-door wreath before, but here's a close-up

That's a classic.

At any rate, for the nonce I have put away much of the overt orangey autumnal stuff and brought out my black table runner with silver studs in a spider web pattern.

Do ye? Well do ye? Aaarrrgh! I do!

At one end of that I put my hearse and my pirate bride and groom.

Out came my graveyard-themed salt-and-pepper shakers from Cracker Barrel, and my heavy solid glass skull tea light holder. I added my cream-colored ceramic pail with a repeating pattern of skulls in black.

I've had these fall-leaf-shaped tea light holders for years

From the front room where he stays the rest of the time, I brought out Cassius Crow in his cage. There is also my raven.

Dagny found me the vampire gnome at the Dollar Tree for a dollar and a quarter, about a month ago.

The old-timey hearse is rich in detail

I already had the black cat gnome from last year.

Then there is the usual lineup of pumpkins and owls and various and sundry other homey decorations that work for both October and November.

The sugar skull S&P shakers were a gift from my friend Andrea

On November first we will switch out the October layabouts for the all-out autumn ones, adding turkeys and like such as, for the Thanksgiving holiday.

What a foofaraw! You may be saying.

I've had this scary-funny decoration for many years

If you're confused, don't worry. The pirate will take care of everything. And there will be pictures. You'll get to where you know my decorations so well, you'll think they're yours.

You may have noticed from my last post that I did buy a full-sized skeleton (it's plastic) this year, and poised him on the apple-green bench beneath the white oak just a few feet from our front steps.

This pail will hold something or other before it's all over

Name of Skelly. He wears a pirate hat.

I plan to bring him inside after October, and put him on the bench in the sun room, and dress him for the seasons.

This wooden leaf was a gift from my friend Marsha

Or something along those lines. We'll play that one by ear.

Speaking of ear, you should hear the sound when an acorn pops off the aforementioned white oak which towers over our house, and strikes the metal roof of the sun room, where I am usually sitting.

I gave this leaf-and-bird dish to my mom many years ago

It sounds like someone has lobbed a boulder at us from ten stories up. Sweetness does not flinch but Rizzo nearly jumps out of his skin.

When it happens I feel like quoting Rhett Butler in the library when Scarlett, in a fit of pique because her romantic overtures to Ashley were not repaid in kind, throws a priceless decoration across the room, which objet d'art shatters on the fireplace mantel.

I bought this jack o' lantern at Walgreens for $3 at least 25 years ago

Has the war started? the urbane Rhett inquires sarcastically as he makes his presence known. It's one of the greater cinematic moments.

Be that as it may, I am convinced that it's not too early to declare a mast, or boom, year for the acorns. We're getting a bumper crop, as it were.

This glass pumpkin holds treats for those who need such things

On Sunday I sat on the front porch for a while and watched a squirrel poised at the base of the white oak, munching acorns as fast as his little jaws would allow.

I'd do that with the candy I put in that pumpkin jar, but neither my waistline nor my dentist would appreciate that. So for the most part, I'll stay out of it.

It's for the kids anyway.

And we're having another party this coming Friday for those same kids, so I'll tell you all about that next week, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Tuesday

Comments

[Ginny Hartzler]

What a gorgeous photo of Guy and his dad. Your seasonal decorations are my favorite posts, and I go over and over them. Some of them are so specialized and unusual that I don't know where you got them! I have the leaf and bird dish! Your wreaths are stunning! And some of my favorites are the black cat gnome and the crow Skelton in the cage. Can't wait to see more and more and more...

[Jennifer]

@Ginny ... well I am glad you like them! I've had some of them for so long that I can't remember where I got them either. I do love wreaths; don't you? Especially fall ones. I think that leaf and bird dish is so cute and every year since my mother went to heaven, when I get it out I think of her. She had a whole shelf of nothing but bird stuff and I gave her that to add to her collection. In the spring and summer I have a green ceramic dish that holds the glass candies. Isn't that black cat gnome darling? And my crow skeleton just never fails to delight, hahaaa xoxo

[AC]

Not one or two gorgeous wreaths, but three. 😲😊👍

So many other impressive decorations.

I get around the Fall/fall thing by usually calling it autumn, at least when I write.

[Mari]

I, for one am quite obsessed with those babies and will be checking over each and every photo! I can say that they are just as cute as ever!
Your decorations are looking fine. I love that leaf with fall written on it. Speaking of which, I have always capitalized the f. You're saying I've been wrong all this time? It's going to be hard to get past that...
Acorns keep falling here too and they make such a racket. I'm sure it's startling hitting a metal roof.
Hug Elliot for me! And Guy too, the next time you see him. :)

[Jennifer]

@AC ... well you're going to wish you hadn't commented on my three-wreath circus because I'm going to tell you about that. For the past many years I have made do with cheap fall wreaths I got from Walmart, because I didn't want to pay the freight on the kind of wreath I REALLY wanted for my front door. They can be expensive and I mean exPENsive. So the two you see that are not on my front door now, were from Walmart and they are smaller and cost about twenty bucks. But THIS year we went to CostLess when Andrew and Brittany were here visiting a few weeks ago, and I saw the BIG one like I'd always dreamed of, and it was only forty bucks and I know that's a lot, but seriously that wreath would cost at least twice that in any other store. I almost didn't get it but then I said, wait a minute! What am I doing! And I got it and I do believe that I will never have to buy another fall wreath. Happy happy happy! xoxo

@Mari ... ugh sorry to tell you but yes, you have been doing it wrong. But I had been opening my cans wrong for years with my swing-away can opener and you knew it and didn't tell me, so we are even. Actually the only reason I know for a fact that the seasons are not to be capitalized except when they are the first word in a sentence or used metaphorically, is that when I tutor grade school children we always learn capitalization and that's one of the first things we learn. It is counterintuitive but still incorrect to capitalize summer, winter, spring, and fall except in those two instances. Similarly, most people automatically capitalize Mom, Dad, Mother, Father, etc. ... but they are only to be capitalized when used in place of that person's NAME. So if you say "My mom ..." it is not capitalized because you wouldn't say "My Ann ..." ... but if you say, "I took Mom to the store," it's correct to capitalize it because you could substitute her actual name and it would read correctly. Isn't that interesting? Knowledge is power. Now for my grandchildren and decorations ... wow wow wow we are having fun around here! Oh how I wish you could hold Baby Elliot and then Baby Guy! They are the SWEETEST little men, so calm and content. Of course they are doted upon by everyone, especially their parents, so why not, but as you know, that doesn't always work, hahahaha! The acorns are UNREAL this year! TG will have such fun raking them up hahahahaha xoxo

[Skunk (aka Mike Bay)]

On the contrary...nice to see some established normalcy in this crazy world right now. Grandchildren should be celebrated and enjoyed. As for Halloween, I don't decorate for it 'cuz I'm usually working it but I can scare my pet rock with the lights out and me holding a flashlight under my chin. I keep my golf clubs in the closet so he can't get to them and *BONK* me when I do that (aka giving my inner four year old way too much latitude).

[Debbi]

Hi there Jenny-- I'll be back to comment more later but I just wanted to say that it's a bad Idea to walk a dirt road to church and try to wear high heels! Ha ha LOL

[Carla TePaske]

Hello Pirate,
Love, love all the decorations. I have the glass skull that you have the votive candle in. :-)
Thank you for sharing the sweet babies with us.
Happy October Days,
Carla

[Jennifer]

@Mike ... well, Seymour may be a tad bit jumpy but he makes up for it with his great personality and stellar wit! Give him my best! And yes we do promote normalcy here ... in EVERY conceivable iteration of that word and concept. xoxo

@Debbi ... YES I thought of that even when I said it was charming! I would never make it! But then we could hide our heels in our big purses and wear the flip flops to the edge of the church grounds and then hide behind a tree and pull a switcheroo! But even that won't work when it's 98 degrees and 90 percent humidity and the skeeters are bitin' ... aaarrrrggghhhh! xoxo

@Carla ... very cool! I love that glass skull! I'll give Elliot a kiss from you when I see him tonight. xoxo

[Jeanette]

Love all your Halloween decorations, girl! Especially love the pictures of Elliott (those eyes!) and Guy with his daddy! Precious! I am so jealous of all the baby cuddling time you get!!

[Judee]

Your decorative fall decorations are festive and welcoming of the month of October. So nice the new baby could meet his daddy and visa versa! Enjoy and have a great week.

[Jennifer]

@Jeanette ... Isn't Elliot just the absolute cutest! Yes his eyes are big and luminous, and he has luscious lips! And I have cuddled him SO MUCH you would not believe. It's heavenly. xoxo

@Judee ... Well luckily little Guy was with his Daddy for several weeks before Andrew had to take that trip! So it wasn't their first meeting but still very cute, right? Thanks for stopping by and I will drop in on you in a bit! xoxo