Happy to be Back after the Hurricane!

Hurricane Sandy has come and gone and left us all on the east coast with quite a trail of destruction. Thank you so much to those of you who sent me emails inquiring about our fate here on Long Island where we were all struck quite badly. I am happy to report that our home and family came through it all just fine, but we do have our share of horror stories and it's bewildering to see the destruction around us.

As for my own home here in Commack, we sustained heavy branches falling, a power surge that caused a small flood and power outages that lasted for two weeks. No phone, electric, heat or internet can be quite a humbling experience albeit a good one as I realize how much time is lost on the internet and phone. I am grateful to be up and running once again since this past weekend. It was quite a harrowing experience. Caitlin was very distressed as the storm was happening and there was just noplace to hide from it. It was loud and the sound of things crashing was unnerving to say the least. A utility pole fell in front of my house as did two trees. One tree crushed two of my neighbor's cars and another tree crushed their front porch. Further down my block, a ranch was demolished by falling trees. All in all, at least three houses down my block were struck by trees and on the block over from us more than five. There was no easy entry into my development for days. It was truly terrifying to see the winds raging and the destruction before us. Nine utility poles in all fell JUST ON MY BLOCK!  Again, a whole lot of clean up but even more thankfulness that our damage was superficial. School was closed for two weeks because during all of this mess we also got hit with a n'oreaster! We received about 5 inches of snow on top of the downed trees, poles and wires. It was brutal. I was thinking "what's next? A tidal wave?  We are on an Island!"  Then more sadness....

To make matters worse, the day after the storm hit, our beloved cat Dutchess passed away. Dutchess, aka Dutchie or Dutchie Doodle Bug was the calico I joke about in the last post that enjoyed pillaging my Halloween village. She was a super sweet old lady who passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of approximately 18 years. Sadly, we had to hold on to her for three days as veterinarian offices were closed due to no power and streets were impassable. It was just another incident in a time of distresss that made us sadder and helpless. On the third day my husband was finally able to get her to Commack Animal Hospital for cremation.They had limited power and were still closed but Billy knocked on the door and told them of our situation. They took Dutchess from us.
 Life went from being easy to  extremely hard that week dealing with such situations. Rest in Peace my  Dutchess. We adopted her from a vet's office years back and she was a wonderful, loving pussycat.
Gas lines and empty food stores were another complication.

It's so sad to see the damage to our beaches and complete neighborhoods washed away. I would listen to a transistor radio and hear about New Jersey's devastation and about Staten Island (which is about an hour or so from me) and it is mind boggling. Our schools and community have organized different drives for help and our Brownie troop is collecting pajamas and books for kids. Another group is collecting coats and hats. Yet another is collecting toiletries.
The goodness in people is shining through.

Before the hurricane, some good stuff had been happening at our house in October! Check out these sweet guys! And also my popcorn monster cups! I made so much more stuff but as is the case usually when you host a party, you don't get to take photos!

 

 We had our Halloween party two days before the hurricane hit and the kids had a great time! About 15 guests came mostly our Brownie troop.
Caitlin helped make party favors and some of the treats. We also made goody boxes instead of goody bags. We used Halloween decorated popcorn boxes and filled them with little toys and candy. It was a nice change! Caitlin cut out black paper bats from a template and we glued eyes and added black tulle to attach our fruit roll ups to! Hence we made Fruit Bats! I had bought three big rolls of black tulle from a garage sale this Summer for fifty cents a roll, and I knew I would use it for Halloween in some way or another!
Here are some photos of our table with just SOME of the goodies we had. The kids had so much fun. A very old fashioned party with games like hot potato, musical chairs, a pinata and simple backyard games. I enjoy our Halloween party so much. I was also glad that we had it because no one in our area could go safely trickor treating! That was such a let down  but the wise decision to make since clearly there were wires and limbs blocking every inch of the streets. Since the hurricane ended I have heard from three different Moms thanking me for the party, and they said that our party made it less painful for the kids missing trick or treating!  Made me smile :)

Here's what I worked on during the storm!

While I had no power and just  generator for a few hours of the day (before she died ) I did do alot of crafts and cleaning! I started making gourd bird houses and I did some arrangements. We have to keep busy right? I used my dried hydrangeas for several projects. I wish my camera took better photos of them.

I  also put all the Halloween away and decorated for Thanksgiving!

I made the display above with branches from my yard that I sprayed with sealer. Hey, I can keep myself very busy during a storm! I'm quite good as a shut in :)

Now I am concentrating my efforts of Thanksgiving. I make a big breakfast on Thanksgiving morning that we enjoy while watching the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade and then we are going to my sister's house for dinner. I hope to blog again before Thursday!

Have a wonderful and safe day!

Someone is Peeking at you!

 

Believe me when I say that! In my house, there are "eyes" everywhere! This mister on the front porch of my sister's home greets visitors with arms wide open and a happy smile! I hope you all are enjoying this Fall seaason and are smiling just as broadly!

When I look around my home, I actually noticed that there are so many birds and wildlife watching me--albeit they are artificial! Okay, so my "real" cats watch my every move as well waiting to eat or to cuddle-- but the many birds and roosters and squirrels in my house, their bodies made of wood or resin or ceramic, all watch me too! My little friends! And I love them so much. I thought I would introduce you to some of them starting with the  little ones who watch me do the dishes--they are fascinated by the scrubbing and seem to say "Oh my! The suds!" Mr. Duck loves to watch the water rise over the plates. It's all I can do to keep him from joining in and paddling around my sink!

Above my sink in my decorative scale, a little friend has made quite a nice comfy home in the straw. Suspended above my head as I do those dishes,  it's a perfect place to see everything going on in my busy kitchen. Plus, she tells me when I've missed a spot!

Hanging from the curtain rod is a lovely green ladle and believe it or not, a little bird has made his nest in it! Isn't it cozy? Why even when I made a new display in the kitchen in my pumpkin basket, a bird made a nest! How do they get in the house to do so?  :)  Perhaps they fly in the open windows on beautiful sunny days. And then, wouldn't you know it, he invited one of his friends to build another nest hanging from the curtain rod! Oh my goodness! I guess there's room for everybody!

And now we move on to other rooms in my home --the bathroom!

Congratulations are in order for a new Mom! Above my light fixture is a nest with two darlings.

Sooo cute but oh soooo noisy!  They chirp all day and they chirp all night!

I have to admit it did take some time for me to get used to my friends in the bathroom. High above my head, two little birds who flew in one day found a comfortable spot to perch! We have a cathedral ceiling in our bathroom and these two perched themselves on the decorative molding on the base of the cathedral. They find the most amazing places! And they get plenty of sun from the skylight! Do you see them? They chatter with my friend Miss Chicken who resides on top of my medicine cabinet next to the washboard and basin. She's quite a nag about the laundry, but I love her anyway.

If I have told my children once, I have told them a hundred times--close the front door!! See, the little squirrels have come in and made their home in my parlor! One mama is even raising her family--see the babies peeking out at her?And her neighbor is another bird family. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Back to the eating area of my kitchen, there are more residents. At least this one is contributing to our egg supply! She brought along her kids to chirp, chirp, chirp....

The walls will stretch to fit us all, I'm sure! And yet more nests, more squirrels, a couple chipmunks...A man who has friends should count himself lucky! I have both two-legged and four legged, living and artificial and I love them all. 

Moving on to the family room, well my two little ducks are keeping Raggedy Anne company as she does her knitting but sometimes these two brother ducks argue with each other. You see,  our buddy on the ground wants to find a place next to Annie too but our buddy on the bench says "there's no room!" so sometimes we hear some sniping between them but it usually ends rather quickly. Besides, no one wants to disturb Mr. &  Mrs. Birdie who have just made their home in a rusty mailbox and have proclaimed it their "COTTAGE".

 Silly, I am being today ;)  but it sure was fun!

  I hope you enjoyed the introductions.

I have been busy with lots of good things--still decorating, working with my Brownie troop, cooking, Church class and crafts. I unpacked one of my favorite items for Halloween that I have--My Warren Kimble "Pumpkin Dreams" plates and mugs. I treasure these, and I only have four of each. These were bought at such a bargain several years back. I found them after Halloween at Kohls on clearance for $5 for the set of 4 plates, and $5 for the set of 4 mugs. I remember seeing them on the shelf with the big red clearance sticker and being slightly startled and then a little paranoid that someone was behind me just waiting to take them out of my hands....my imagination. They were such a steal and I love them because that black cat reminds me of MY black cat Robin. Now if only I could find the pumpkin dreams flag...

I'm excited that the temps are dropping tonight--by 25 degrees!! We are gonna be chilly here for sure, and I couldn't be happier! I have already put extra blankets on the end of Billy's and Caitlin's beds and added some throw blankets to the family room and basement family room. You never know when you need to curl up with a blanket right? My kids are big snugglers. They've both been suffering with sinus infections, and I made them some hot grits. My kids love hot cereal.  Even us Northerners like grits!

When I opened the cupboard to take out the grits, I saw the Quaker oatmeal box so I made some cookies too. Caitlin threw in some chocolate chips. She's a chocolate lover like me :)  Maybe we will make some more today.

In cool weather, I could cook all day!  I made a big pot of turkey soup on Wednesday. We gave some to a friend from Church whose daughter has been suffering with a bad cold that keeps hanging on and on.  What's better than soup? A homemade remedy!

Finally, sadly our village has been pillaged....or is this a scene from a 1950's Japanese horror movie?

Oh Dutchess, why, why WHY????  You can't live in this neighborhood!  Even the headless horseman tried to evict her by throwing a pumpkin at her but that didn't work.  Within seconds she was fast alseep on top of our candy apple covered bridge and cemetery. We did end up moving the village to safer quarters, and we neglected to send Dutchess a change of address card  :)  but as every cat owner knows, it's just a matter of time till she finds it, sleeps on it, we let her sleep, we pray she won't break anything, and we pack it up for next Halloween.   Us cat lovers are soooo easy.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday and have time to snuggle too :)

More Fun for Fall

It was a very rainy Friday here yesterday. Over an inch of rain fell. I loved every minute of it because I had a lot to do and as I always say--I'm so productive when it rains! I made a couple of changes in my decorations--I replaced the wooden sign on my electric wood burning stove with a Spell book--actually it's from Hallmark and when you open the lid it holds candy! Then I set up my witch and haunted house in the parlor. I strung orange lights around them and when you stand in my foyer and and gaze through the french doors into the parlor it's MAGICAL! I love how it looks. and of course I love my haunted house. My Dad made that for me :) orange lights are so exciting to me! I have them strung on a shelf in my hallway too, above my ghost trio!

We went to Hicks Nursery last Sunday. It's our family tradition. I have been going since I was little. Otto the ghost is the friendly ghost who tells of his latest adventure  through diaramas that you walk past and read. The story changes every year and we all look forward to going. It just wouldn't be Halloween without Otto. Hicks Nursey is a Long Island landmark! It has been there for over 100 years and the Hicks family is somewhat of a founding family here. Besides being an all purpose nursery, it also has decorations, home decor, bird supplies, everything. I took a photo this "pitcher plant". Isn't it amazing? The blooms are incredible and I very gently felt the "pitcher" and it was quite sturdy! What a great plant!

Here are some of the images of Otto's story. The employees of Hicks construct them. I wish you could all go in person!

 

After we did our walk through of the story, we did some shopping. I fell in love with all these pumpkins--ceramic, terra cotta, and there were some pretty resin ones too. There were also aisles of real ones and gourds. I just love how they set everything up. I could move in there and be happy :) Even the plastic ones put a smile on my house!

 

Have a great Saturday my friends!