§ A Room "With a View"...

For a change of pace, I figured that going through the house a bit, y'all may see a different view of my Halloween at home.  ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK   Let's go through the living room into the kitchen/dining area and then a bit of the library...

...a bit of the main chamber of the living and dead...witches and ghouls, reapers and horror...

Everything's bigger in Texas....including spiders!



Besides the coven of witches, jack-o-lanterns light up the night, and perhaps guide the grim reaper

It's all about atmosphere and the fun of the season probably. I have several areas that have candles aglow. Other spots a string of lights create 'flavor and mood swings'. Such as the candy corn lights around the witches.  I entwined a short grouping of the violet, bloody red, lights atop my witch I painted [and Bud framed] many years ago. I have it propped up along with a 'cult like jigsaw puzzle' and witch dolls on the hearth.   The grim reaper is torn ragged material draped over an iron tomato garden prop with a skull and hat.  Also a DIY'er.   Several flies buzz around all the smell of Halloweens' past. You know, like the rotting flesh type odors? [hehehehe] While witches fly around and light anywhere they choose....   Watch your step, keep your eyes open at all times and ears clear for things that go bump in the night! Step up from the 'sunken' living room into the dining room...
coming next

[Some ask]... Yes, I decorate only indoors these past few years. We used to go 'big' on decorating our home on the exterior, but after getting a lot stolen or vandalized here, we just stopped. The kids in Tucson really looked forward to what Bud would do outdoors. One year, he even wrapped our entire house with webbing and giant spiders! I remember one boy who came to our door and said "My brother and I look forward to each Halloween at your house! We wish you'd keep it up all year 'round". That really made Bud happy. Now, we do Halloween just for the two of us. And share with family in photos and here on my blog of course.

§ ...Foggy Morning, Continued...

All the shared photos below are still of the foggy Thursday morning walk at the park along the river bank and in the wooded area. It shows quite a lot of color change on some leaves [which we don't see often here]. I thought it was exceptionally pretty with the misty atmosphere, the quiet gray-green current of the river, and a favorite of mine...the Spanish Moss!  Along the trail I also went into a dense area that has a viewing  platform nestled in the woods on the large pond shoreline and sighted a Green Kingfisher, silent in the murky air.  So, we continue with the woods, the fall colors, the deer, and even a dew-laden web...

If you missed part one, click HERE



...and a few more critters:

§ What Did I Hear? Is That RAIN on the Rooftop?!?!!

WEATHER

Altho, it's been hot and miserable most of the summer....as I type this [on Tuesday]...it finally RAINED!!! Last night and into early morning. The clouds remain heavy and dark, promising more rain perhaps. I can only hope!! Yesterday, on Monday, it was cloudy with a threat of rain, but no go. At least where I was. I actually left early in the morning, as the sun was rising among the darkened clouds, to return to Pollywog Ponds since there was a report of an Anhinga, and a Green Kingfisher spotted in the area. Around our neck of the woods, at one time, Anhingas were abundant along the river bank and near the lakes if there happened to be a heavily wooded area. Lately, the last three years, Anhingas seen are a very few! I was anxious to see one again. But, no such luck. I walked through the woods and tall grasses on the path again only to find a HUGE garden spider in the bird blind on the smaller pond! Yuk!! Creepy looking boogers.

Advancing toward the pond's shore I spied three tri-colored herons and a few kiskadees. The larger pond had least grebes, snowy egrets, common egrets, the ever-present stilts, green herons, kingbirds and sandpipers. Plus a few American Avocets.

At the Nueces River, nothing noteworthy. Until I rounded the corner to traipse the other side of the large pond...there I spotted a Green Kingisher. I was thrilled!  Walking back to the car, I sighted in on a Vagrant [meaning not supposed to be in our area of Texas] Hawk. I almost walked right on by it. It was posing in a tree across the feeder ditch, about thirty feet from me!! A beautiful specimen and it didn't fly off as I raised my lens! In fact it still may be there! LOL I am saving those photos for my bird photography blog. Then....walking further, I heard what I thought may have been an owl...but crossing the bridge of the feeder ditch, I followed the song....nope, no owl. It was actually a dove with a sore throat! But!!!!!!!---while there with my binoculars aimed at the dove, my peripheral vision caught sight of a black bird flying from the same tree to another tree. I thought it was a grackle...nope! Not a grackle...but a Groove Billed Ani!!! There were four Anis!! I was excited about those too. They're not all that scarce around here, but they're only here a very short time in a particular month!! Got a few pictures of them also, and saving them for my bird photography blog!

Instead, happy to see rain drops on the yard flowers....


Yellow flower is our Esperanza bush and the purple is King's Mantel


- - -

Fences and Sky Shots


Early Morning -fence line at Packery Channel Park on the Island
and
2nd story observation tower at Port Aransas

_ _ _


MOVIES

Sunday afternoon, Bud and I had a late lunch at Texas Roadhouse. Of all the restaurants we've patronized [and that is many!], we think this one has the BEST char-grilled steaks in town! We used to go to a chain restaurant in Colorado of the same name...same atmosphere and food quality. And they have some wonderful, always fresh and warm from the oven, dinner rolls. Laden with cholesterol to be sure. I had a sirloin, with house salad and a baked sweet potato with cinnamon butter. And a delicious frozen margarita! Bud had the same steak with steak fries and a salad. His margarita was on the rocks. I like mine frozen...I know it's odd, but I think I'm getting more for the money. LOL After finishing our meal, it was time to head to the nearby theater where we sat down in our reclining chairs to enjoy the movie, "Hell or High Water". The movie was slow to begin with, but the momentum went into high gear midway through...all the way to the end!  No spoilers here, but this:  Bank Robberies, West Texas....modern day 'western' with Jeff Bridges and the cute guy....Chris Pine, was better than I expected.  One of my favorite parts is The T-Bone Waitress!!!!!  We both enjoyed it a lot. And not to leave you hanging...the "coming soons" before the flick started...some have promise. Keeping Up With the Joneses, Magnificent Seven, and coming in November for Veteran's Day - Hacksaw Ridge [based on a true story]. I'm thinking this latter movie mentioned, being that it's directed by Mel Gibson, it will be graphic and bloody...but we both like the three genres depicted here...comedy, westerns, and war movies.

§ Singing in the rain...

Lord have mercy!! As I type this, it is finally raining! Quite heavily at the moment. Of course, it's more like a sauna outdoors, but some much needed moisture is here. Our son, Erik, called last night around dinner time and told me it was 79° in Houston. Wow. Maybe we'll get some relief from the inferno. I know, I know...it's still summer in Texas...it's...Only wishful thinking.

I finally finished the book, Imperial Dreams, by Tim Gallagher. A previous read, The Grail Bird, his other book about the nearly [probably now] extinct bird, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, was excellent which was a  great adventure in hopes of finding one surviving in the Deep South regions of America. Imperial Dreams, on the other hand,  takes us readers on a journey through Old Mexico...the Sierra Madre Occidental to be more specific. And the 'specifics' of this recent book were a whole lot different than The Grail Bird. It is a grueling talespin of violence in the country just south of us. The drug cartels, marauders, local vigilantes, treacherous mountain treks and hikes....once a near death experience. In search of a special bird seen decades ago.  Is the Imperial Woodpecker actually extinct? The author shows a lot of compassion and devotion, yet as he wrote this memoir, in the end...he and his companions are very happy to be back on American soil, when they land in Houston on the way to respective homes throughout USA. The Epilogue and Afterward in this particular book is a gut crunching update on his quest for the Imperial Dream.

150 years ago...Alice in Wonderland was published.  Since ending that book aforemetioned, Imperial Dreams, I begin with another.  Supposedly a bit dark and sinister story of ALICE [a psychotic, young woman remembering very little except a large rabbit in the dark corners of her memory...Alice in Wonderland?].  AND!!!!---working with Google search, I find that there will be a NEW book out on the shelves in October.  By my all time favorite fiction novelist....the same who wrote WICKED....Gregory Maguire.  I have a collection of all his adult fantasy books published.  Each time a new one of his comes out, I anxiously look forward to reading it.  ...his new book, "After Alice".  Can't wait.  It's been quite a few years since he's had a new published novel for us adults who enjoy a twist of a classic story.  I just hope it will not disappoint.


We drove to Tule Lake near the oil refineries. The 2nd batch of Barn Swallows for the season are nearly ready to fledge. Well, most nests. There was ONE nest that still had a 'newborn'. And nearby the newborn I spotted a Daring Jumping Spider [or 'bold' jumping spider...same thing!]...





One morning I stepped outdoors through the patio and snapped a few photos of our backyard flowers. The blossoms are somewhat small because of lack of rain and only watering from the sprinkler system. But, I can't complain...they're still blooming.




Okay, it has been about 15 minutes since I began typing up this post. The rainfall has ceased, but the clouds are sticking around. At least for now. Hope it'll continue off and on today with more. Our lawn is awfully brown....


...but the frogs are just as happy as I am for the little bit of rain; they're croaking!!