Afternoon on the Prairie

My neighbor across the alley used to live about a mile outside of our little village. She and her late husband planted several trees on that property, many of them evergreens. She called me on Wednesday afternoon and invited me to join her out there to pick pinecones and gather boughs for Christmas decorating. This tree was planted for her husband's 50th birthday several years ago. She said it was a mere 5 feet tall when they planted it.

The weather was gorgeous for December. High 50s and sunshine, no wind. A perfect late fall day. Since there was no wind, it was quiet in a way you only get in the country. My neighbor and I chatted a bit, but mostly worked together in silence. At one point I mentioned how much I enjoyed being out there, how the quiet was so lovely. She said it was so nice to not have to talk, that this time was an appreciated escape from the stress of having to worry about current events.

It was a lovely hour spent outside, and did my heart good. We filled the box of her pickup with clippings and pinecones, and I'm going to enjoy using them to bring a little bit of the country to my house in town. 

Fall-ifying!

I love to decorate my house for all of the seasons, but with the grandboys being so young and here all the time, the past few years have been on the lean side for decor. They’re getting old enough now to not mess with my “pretties” so much if they have their own decorations to put out. Things that they can change around as they wish or use in their play, and it’s okay.

Last Spring I had Brad put together a bunny garden in a large flower pot on the front porch. He loves gardening anyway, and this little pretend garden was a very fun project for us both.

That bunny garden weathered snow and ice, tons of rain, blistering heat, and days of drought. He did plant some alyssum and pansies in the pot, and by this Fall, there were just a couple small alyssum plants left – but they were flowering now that the weather has cooled some.

It took a bit of convincing, but Brad finally consented to putting away the bunny garden, and in it’s place, making a scarecrow pumpkin patch. He went to a pretty big pumpkin patch over the weekend, so with that experience fresh in his memory, it was the perfect project for this busy boy.

When my Fall decorations were unpacked, I found a container of small pumpkins and gourds, and an inexpensive scarecrow, as well as a small hay bale. All were perfect for a flower pot pumpkin patch! He took it all outside and started “planting” pumpkins. The wind was blowing pretty hard, and those tiny pumpkins are just styrofoam, so we had to put toothpick skewers in each one to keep them in place. Now they’re not going anywhere, except when one of the boys decides to rearrange. Yes, that has already happened several times just in the first afternoon.

 

Silas helped a little bit…

 

He decided it would be more fun to play down on the sidewalk and left the rest to his brother.

Here is Bradley with the finished (at that moment) project. We’d like to add a small pumpkin patch sign, so as I dig through my decorations, I’m looking for something we can repurpose for that.

 

He’s very anxious to add some Halloween things to make it a scary pumpkin patch. I think I’ve talked him into waiting until it’s at least October. LOL.