This week there have been lots of bloggers sharing art and photography on the theme of Halloween . Looking back over the last few years, here are some of the pumpkin carvings/paintings I have done in the past.......
I had a steroid jab in my hand this week to help with chronic arthritic pain, it's helping already but not up to pumpkin carving standards yet! .. this is a painting from last year which included our little cat, Mollie.
We are fairly competitive amongst ourselves with the pumpkin carving, the scary faces are done by hubby.... he will be doing the carving this year.
As a child 31st October was a very special day for my pagan family and has happy memories. My mother was a clairvoyant and observed 31st as a time when spirits were closer to the earth, we always decorated our house, carved a pumpkin and had games like apple dunking... I have kept/adapted some of my family traditions but dropped the apple dunking!
We have had some beautiful sunsets this month and the garden is still full of flowers as temperatures here are still mild during the day and no frosts yet.
The allotment is thriving although a lot of work is still needed on the soil but earthworms have appeared! quite big news for us as they will have worked their way up through that solid, barren soil and into a ton of manure that we laid ... and that means they are aerating and turning the soil and taking that manure down for us . A few weeds have appeared which I gently remove if they are invasive but some can remain, like dandelions which provide early nectar next year for bees.
Talking of bees, one of the other allotment holders keeps bees and I have some of the honeycomb, it's not as sweet as commercial honey, much nicer I think
I got a book on companion planting which will help me to provide some harmony.
How's your garden growing? are you decorating for Halloween? carving your pumpkin? if you have time to leave a comment it's always welcome.
Great carving on all the pumpkins. The cat one are my faves. I still reckon you should have pubished those drawings as cards. I would definitely have bought them from you! I hope your joint pain benefits from the jab - ouch! must have been so painful to have that done. I've been crocheting pumpkins and dug out last years velvet and satin attempts, tied some 'spidery' ribbon round my brass candlestick and called it done! We call apple dunking 'dookin' for apples up here and I can remember the Brownie Halloween parties which included trying to find smarties in saucers full of flour and bread suspended from strings, dripping with treacle! Thank goodness things are more civilised now!That ceramic tree trunk is interesting!x
ReplyDeleteSmarties in flour - that's a good one! my ceramic tree holds a litte tea light, during the day it looks smiley but as you can see, in the dark it has a scary face! Thank you for the encouragement ref printing cards, one day I will have more time to get that together and enough pics to make a set :)
Deleteseven to eight years ago i suffered with wrist pain and right knee pain dear Betty .both made me slow .i was unable to wash utensils as it would hurt my wrist .washing clothes and squeezing them after wash to get rid from extra water so not tremble on wire .it was becoming impossible and unbearable then i headed to doctor who prescribed voren tablet and few other which i forgot the name because after three months course he said i can take voren if pain comes back .he asked to remain "careful" in my eating because healing won't be permanent without it and i followed it till this day and i can sit for recitation while bending my leg which was impossible due to swelling and pain and my wrist ache never returned thankfully .
ReplyDeletehope your pain is healed with new medication .
i loved your older painting .how sweet your hubby will be doing carving this year :)
your yard flowers are gorgeous specially the red climber on wall looks spectacular .
best wishes for all ahead
that's interesting about your treatment for your leg and wrist - my wrist was at the same stage as yours, I could not open a bottle top or twist laundry to wring it out or pick anything up without dropping it so this has been an improvement already!
DeleteGreat Halloween post Betty. You have some super photos. And lucky you to still have your allotment going. I pulled my garden a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for visiting my blog, and nice to "meet" you. hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteHi Erika thanks for visiting
DeleteMy daughter inherited raised garden beds when she bought her house. She just pulled the last of the produce and her compost bin is filled. She now needs to read what to do in fall to prepare for spring. I was not a gardener so new to her.
ReplyDeleteoh there's so much for her to do Sam! turn the compost and let it rot down, get some onions and garlic in the ground maybe, buy her seeds reaady for the Spring :)
DeleteOh Betty, this is a delightful post. I love the carvings and art. You probably have some, if not a lot, of "sight" as well passed down. Hope the injection helps your hand. I know it helps my back. The allotment is looking fantastic and ohh to have some fresh honeycomb. That is a treasure. I don't decorate the outside of my house any more, but the inside of my house is "decorated" all year long. I invite you to link this post to my Friday Face OFF. Have a great day today.
ReplyDeleteThank you :) yes lots of 'sight' here but I prefer to be blinkered where possible.. Injection is helping already.
DeleteLovely Halloween post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Christine :)
DeleteBoth Jon and I have had those steroid jabs and they were magic. I hope the results are as good for you.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved the Mollie Hallowe'en pictures, can it really be a year since you painted them? They would make wonderful greetings cards. The pumpkin carving is fantastic, too. There was a piece on our local news this week suggesting you use your hollowed out pumpkins as planters after 31st October. You can bury them in the soil once they start to rot.
The allotment sounds fantastic. Our crops are almost over, although the raspberries are the gift that keeps on giving, I'm picking a bowlful every day - not bad for a £1.50 plant from Morrisons. xxx
Carving and painting pumpkins sounds like quite a delightful occupation!
ReplyDeleteOrange is one of my favorite colors too. For pain use ice, ice, ice. Steroid helps , but it sometimes has side effects.
What a wonderful post filled with all those things for which we love October. Admiring your art and reading about your gardening experiences are top on my list.
ReplyDeleteHi Betty. I hope the steriod jab helps you. I have heard good things about them from friends who have had them. We have never really got into celebrating Halloween here in New Zealand- its more popular now but for many years we didn't celebrate it or see anything Halloween related. I guess living rurally we didn't really get the trick or treaters out here. In fact I've lived here 22 years & only ever had One girl call in. When my step son had a Mexican girlfriend she used to get really excited about Halloween & celebrating the Day of the Dead. It made me realise how many more Countries celebrate this tradition, which I think is great. She used to plan for it for weeks & work really hard on her costume.
ReplyDeleteYour pumpkins are great Betty - I just love them. I am enjoying seeing all the pumpkins on blogland & YouTube but it seems odd as we are going in to spring. Have a lovely week Betty - gentle pats to Mollie cat. xx
Your pumpkins are fabulous! I love them all. And also, your paintings. I really need to post some art -- it's been too long. I love hearing how different people around the world celebrate the same holidays! This post is a favorite!
ReplyDeleteHi Betty! ♥ I love your pumpkins and your Halloween art! I'm working my way up to Halloween night myself, it's my favourite time of the year! ☺
ReplyDeleteI forgot about dunking for apples.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe
Lovely to see…no Halloween here by me…I do not like pumpkins to decorate …only the soup is my favorite …mmmmm…I have made it to eat….love from me …happy autumn love Ria and Leaf 🍀🐾🧡🌻🌾🌽🍄🎃🍁🍂
ReplyDeleteYour Halloween carvings and art are really beautiful, thanks for sharing. Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI think your artwork- both the Pumpkin sculpting and the paintings are brilliant! You are clever. No halloween activities from me here- I have always disliked all the activities that were supposedly about it in the commerical sphere (trick or treating- yuck! scary costumes- yuck) but your Pagan version sounds much more pleasant.
ReplyDeleteI ate delicious caramelised pumpkin made by a Thai friend when I lived in Bali.
P.S. I agree about the honey. My Grandad was a bee keeper and I used to earn money (well, I earnt Enid Blyton books from WHSmith) by sitting there patiently bottling it for him from the huge container!)
ReplyDeleteYour are blessed with the real joy of Halloween, thanks to your family upbringing and you have carried it on. Your artwork is awesome and I LOL at your husbands pumpkins. Believe it or not, I do cat pumpkins too ... can't resist. We are late this year doing our pumpkins so I don't have anything to share yet. Our gardens are long gone, but I can tell that your will have awesome soil next year for your crops given the manure and earth worms. My DIL has put manure on our raised gardens as well, but haven't looked for the earthworms. They are there or at least they have been there in the past.
ReplyDeleteSteroids can be a wonderful thing and, from the sound of it, yours seems to be working well. It should eliminate the pain completely if it is done right. I wish you well because living in pain is very tiring. Lovely, uplifting post, Betty ... and a Happy, Safe Halloween to you and your family:)
Andrea @ From the Sol
Very nice..
ReplyDelete