Rose Cottage Ltd

Please be safe out there and remember little ones will be out and about looking for treats this evening.

I got up this morning remembering Halloweens past and have to admit to becoming a bit nostalgic. Maybe it’s that I took my Mini Cooper to the dealer yesterday with a warning light – to find out the module that must be replaced will cost $1550! That is $300 MORE than I paid for my first car in 1974.

That seems like a lifetime ago and then for some unknown reason I started trying to imagine what my life would have been like if I’d lived in the time of my great grandmother – who was born around 1890. I can guarantee I wouldn’t have been charged $10 for a small pumpkin! And I wouldn’t have a car that needed $1500 worth of work either. I’d probably have a horse or three that would need feeding – and the occasional replacement of a few shoes.

Most likely by this time of morning I would be up and doing something – not sitting on this computer. I’d have probably been up at 5 am to get breakfast ready for the family and any farm hands (my great grandparents had a working farm.) I then have bread to bake or vegetables to get in from the garden.

At this time of year I would probably be canning food for the coming winter and making arrangements with local farmers who raised hogs and cows to make sure I had a ready supply of meat. Nearly 100% of any animal killed would be used to provide food for families – no trophy kills here. My great grandparents also lived on a river so, she and her children might be out fishing later for some late-season fish and would already be wondering if it will be a good season for fresh oysters.

She would not have had electricity or indoor plumbing. Mention of these two missing “necessities” casts a pall on my fond look back at the world. But not for long. People worked around what they didn’t have and in fact, moving the bathroom facilities inside the house seemed a bit strange to many people – for a long, long time. I got this piece of news straight from my great grandmother!

The lack of electricity seems a larger burden to overcome. But again, if I hadn’t had it, I wouldn’t miss it. I’d probably have a few more sinus issues on humid days than I do now since I’d have no air conditioning but then again – my great grandmother never had to get up in the morning and wonder why her internet connection or cable TV was down. I like reading news from around the world via the internet. My great grandmother was also a news hound, but she focused on knowing ALL the comings and goings in her local area – versus having the stress of worrying about so much going on around the world. She didn’t have time in her day to worry about what she couldn’t fix. She also didn’t have all these new and “necessary” monthly bills to pay.

One thing is for certain…if my great grandmother celebrated Halloween, she would have hand-made the treats she was giving out to Trick-or-Treaters – and none would have been thrown out over fears of poisoning or razor blades or any of the other horrific things a few people decided to add to Halloween treats. She could have let her 5 kids go wherever they wanted without much fear except the fact that they might trip over something in the dark.

And she would have grown her own pumpkin.

And here it is! I made a few errors working on a pumpkin during the daylight hours that I didn’t really notice until I lit the candle inside but, it’s different if nothing else. I’ll be curious to hear what the neighborhood “experts” think once it is revealed!!

Well, if you’ve been keeping track of the 2013 Paperwhite bulbs, you’ll be amazed to see how much they’ve grown in the last week:

You can see the growth from Week One and Week Two

Tomorrow I’ll be revealing my 2013 Pumpkin Design. I doubt it will win any awards but it has been fun to work on – almost finished!!

If you’ve ever thought about adding a “fire feature” to your garden or patio environment, now might be a great time to do so. Temperatures in North Carolina took a surprising drop to near freezing this past week – accelerating thoughts of what’s to come, i.e. WINTER!

Below are a few ideas proving that you can find a fire pit or stove to match well with almost any outdoor space, or budget. Items shown here are priced from just under $200 to over $4,000. Let your wallet be your guide!

Happy Fall!

Granite Top Chat Table w/ Lazy Susan Firepit

35″ Copper Fire Pit Set

Mosiac Tile w/ Stainless Steel Outdoor Firebowl

Mirage Stone Outdoor Woodburning Fireplace (Pewter)

Tree Leaves Firepit

Sonoma Gas Fireplace (Mocha)

You can see the picture of these bulbs from last week in the post just below or via this link. Here’s a picture taken today, October 22, 2013.

There has been a LOT of growth in just one week!

I’m off sometime today in search of the perfect pumpkin – have found some new Halloween pumpkin design ideas online and one new method I am ready to try.

Clue: It involves using a drill…but not a chainsaw…

More on that later…

I’ve been planting Paperwhites (Narcissus) each year for I can’t remember how many years. If I time it right I have a nice bowl of white flowers just in time for Thanksgiving. Looks like they might bloom a bit earlier this year:

I’ll try to get a image of them at least once a week to show how they are doing. For today’s photo, they’ve been in the bowl one week and there was no sign of life then so – think I have a good batch of bulbs this year!

I have no problem finding these in North Carolina but if you can’t find them locally, click on the link below. You’ll find lots of great bulbs, seeds, plants, and even some great gift ideas…Look under “Fall Planting” Bulbs – the bulbs shown here are “Ziva” and they are on sale right now.

Believe it or not – there are only 74 days until Christmas. Sounds like a lot of time until you remember how fast the days seem to fly this time of year.

As promised in a earlier post, I’ll be presenting you with some gift ideas from great online merchants.

Order when you have time to think about it, avoid the last-minute shopping, traffic, and crowded stores – and spread your holiday spending out a bit. Buying gifts for those we care about is supposed to be fun – not pain!

Here’s a great place to start – National Geographic online.

++ Shop more than 150 new items in the National Geographic Store!

++ Sale! Save as much as 70% in the National Geographic Online Store

++ Gear and Gadget Sale! Save as much as 50%!

++ The Kid’s Shop from National Geographic!

Let the games – begin!

I’ve been watching the leaves fall from the trees just as they do about this time each year. The most obvious thoughts are that raking needs to be done and winter is on its way. But yesterday I had a third thought as I noticed how much more of things I can see and hear once foliage is gone.

Most people don’t pay any attention to trees and if they think at all about the leaves it is only to take a quick appreciation of fall color. But what about the noise abatement and cooling leaves provide? What about the bit of privacy they can provide between houses or between busy roadways and residential areas?

What is the overall effect of removing a large block of trees from an environment?

If you’ve ever walked from a heavily shaded area into the bright sun and heat of an asphalt parking lot you will know – if you took a second to actually think about it. What if you had a look at the aerial view of a Google Map from 15 years ago of a suburban area (if they were available,) and then looked at the same map now. How many formerly treed areas have been completely cleared – leaving yet another wide open parking lot or a new subdivision – where they will no doubt plant a few new trees?

I’m not pondering this because I have no paint to watch dry or because I am going into some global warming post – although I do think we are destroying huge portions of this planet. There are plenty of municipal areas that consider the importance of “green space” and plenty of people who will only relocate to an area that has an abundance of it. On the other hand, people who live in urban areas hardly even see a tree – unless it’s in some sort of exhibit or if it is one of those lone and hardy stragglers you see – attempting to grow up and through a concrete sidewalk.

In a world that seems to have gone so completely stupid in some ways I think today I will just ponder trees. They provide a service most don’t appreciate, they never whine or complain, and they just continue doing a good job of making the world a better place – as long as someone doesn’t come along and knock them down.

There are certainly worse things to think about.

No rest for the weary birdwatcher! My feeders are packed with birds at the moment – Wrens, Cardinals, Nuthatch, Chicadees – and a few new visitors I haven’t identified just yet. Here’s a little help for your Fall and Winter 2013 shopping season:

Win $250 Duncraft Shopping Spree

Enter here at duncraft.com.

And where DO Hummingbirds go?

Here’s some good info: Hummingbird Migration