Breakfast this morning: we served blueberry pancakes.
Yes, the guests said they were d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s, served with fried bananas and toasted almonds and pecans... maple syrup of course.
Just the thing for the first snowy morning of this coming Winter. This is an early dumping, so hopefully it will all melt away in a few days but it sure is pretty.
We had to get some aluminum sulfate to try and neutralize the pH level so grass will grow in our yard and Little Tree Garden Market had plants still for sale at 60% off! Whoa! We indulged!
Since moving in, we both disliked the hydrangea plants on either side of our front door. These plants have huge, showy flower heads too heavy for their stems which fold or break from the weight. A very pretentious, impractical creation, in my mind a ridiculous twist of Mother Nature's glory. We wanted them gone.
And so we started digging...
And digging... There were huge roots, but they gave in to my ratty determination and mom's axe! In the end...
this is (part of) what came out of the hole and what went in. The right side was messier.
Now we wait for Spring and hope that our new babies will survive the wintery weather okay. A bag of mulch should help cover their roots and tuck them in for a good sleep.
Looks a little naked, but then so does the rest of the property: we had the hedge that hid the house along the sidewalk cut down to about chest high, and the magnolia cleaned up. Thank you to Jake Neely at Companion Gardening for lots of helpful information and guidance and a fantastic job of tidying up our whole yard, helping to make our Flying Leap look a bit more loved on the outside.
If you're lucky, when you're here at the Flying Leap you might find these coming out for dessert after breakfast! Yummy! Toasting the oatmeal makes a big difference!
(I made these as a Hallowe'en treat... I guess you could call them ghost poop on baked, crushed bones. Okay, maybe not.)
I can't believe it's already November and Hallowe'en is already boxed up and put away... it was a great month, though, and we did Hallowe'en in style!
Our Hallowe'en definitely has a cute creepy look to it... here's our door wreath, used for years now. I made the spider from a little kit, cutest little spider around!
Now, having an 1891 house certainly makes it easier to make a respectable display! Our house back in Stratford never looked this spook-tacular!
Inside I was all set to greet the trick or treaters in comfort: our sunroom is just the best for treat giving, zipping a glass of wine, munching yummies and NOT freezing or annoying the poor pup with the constant doorbell ringing.
As night fell... pretty darn perfect! In the end we had 59 trick or treaters, with the rain falling on and off but getting heavy around 7:30 which certainly curtailed the routes of the ghouls and goblins out and about. The costumes were amazing, the kids were all polite and enthusiastic! Just an awesome evening!
Here's a wee video of our "home haunt":
The next day we celebrated the Day of the Dead, our Jack o'Lanterns scaring off unwanted visitors so our invited spirits could enjoy their favorite treats. A lot more solemn than the night before, we lit the candles and left the spirits alone to savour the goodies.
Still, it's a joyful event... this morning I read the following passage from the book In the Slender Margin: the Intimate Strangeness of Death and Dying by Eve Joseph and it got me to thinking...
...the silence, the fear of not experiencing a sign, the finality of death is exactly why the Day of the Dead is so appealing. Break the silence, create the sign, welcome back the dead and appreciate life!
And now we wait... 363 days to go 'til next Hallowe'en!
Since moving in, we both disliked the hydrangea plants on either side of our front door. These plants have huge, showy flower heads too heavy for their stems which fold or break from the weight. A very pretentious, impractical creation, in my mind a ridiculous twist of Mother Nature's glory. We wanted them gone.
Looks a little naked, but then so does the rest of the property: we had the hedge that hid the house along the sidewalk cut down to about chest high, and the magnolia cleaned up. Thank you to Jake Neely at Companion Gardening for lots of helpful information and guidance and a fantastic job of tidying up our whole yard, helping to make our Flying Leap look a bit more loved on the outside. 
