Lanterns

 

What can I say, lanterns just make me happy! Bold black and white graphics that work for Halloween are hard to find. I wanted to make eyeball lanterns only that would require the right base color lantern and painting it. Then I stumbled across this set. Ordered today. Even if I don't end up using them this year they will make an appearance at some point. 

Noticed heated discussions about trick or treating on my Nextdoor.com site. Similar to the wearing a mask or not threads. Not thrilled that the choice to trick or treat or not trick or treat is now political.

Phrenology Head

My new phrenology head from Michaels. Ordered from the web site and now they are  back in stock.   You might still find it in store. $14.99 and Halloween is now 50% off.

                      

                                         

He looks like he belongs in the cabinet of curiosities. 

The smoke has cleared after an impressive set of thunderstorms. Giant hail with dramatic thunder and lightening. The airing out and washing to get rid of the smell will be a project. The smoke leaves a layer of brown residue.

Purple Globe Lights

 

The purple halloween globe lights as promised.  Photo with dining room lights on and off. The lights are woven through a garland purchased at 90% off from Michael's last year. 

I am pleased with the color and brightness. The plan is to wrap the 30 foot garland to go across the front porch. Swag the lights from the porch roof to complete the look. The only problem is timing. The smoke has set back painting the house by a week and the house had to be washed again. Hopefully the porch will be done in time to decorate! 

      The lights are still in stock at Walmart. 

Fires in Oregon

                                        

 The view from my porch looking to the West Hills of Salem. This was on Tuesday. Fires are burning on the entire west coast. Blanket of smoke across 3 states. 33 current fires in Oregon with a loss of 900,000 acres.

 

                                                        Backdoor view

Photos are from 2-4 in the afternoon. People have been kindly asking how we are doing. We are fine. Salem is the evacuation location for many of the surrounding towns. The state fairgrounds is housing people and animals.

                                              View from my desk

The Red Cross is Taking donations for the thousands of displaced residents. The Red Cross provides hotel vouchers for families. You can designate where you would like your funds to go. Thank You.

Update: Posting a link to a local family who lost so much and the mother is in critical condition. This is their story with a link to a GoFundMe page.  

It is so heartbreaking the loss and devastation. The air quality here in town dropped from Hazardous to Unhealthy today. Salem is still safe. A good reminder of how we all need to have a bug out bag ready just in case a disaster should happen. Cash, paperwork and or USB with paperwork and photos of the interior of your house for insurance, medications, shelf-stable food like granola bars, water, a tarp, and change of clothes. If you have pets have food for them and carriers ready to go. I grew up in CA with earthquakes so we always have bags and carriers ready to go. 

Socially distanced candy slide

 Cute idea for handing out candy. It would save kids having to climb all of our steps. More information and story here. This was the first time reading about Los Angeles having canceled trick or treating. The city did back down to not recommended.  My assumption is by October we should see more cancellations. 

Trying to make the blog more mobile friendly since I am getting more notices from Google. I chose one of the new Blogger templates and the text color choices alone are not great. The first image always shows up giant size. HTML and my memory are not playing well with each other. Hopefully, I can get a friend to help me make the site more attractive. 

Globe lights back in Stock

 The Globe lights last year were a hit for decorating. They look like glass carnival  lights only they are plastic 

Walmart now has the spools of lights back in stock in Orange and Purple. Ordered the purple today and my only fear is the purple might not be bright enough. I'll post a photo when the lights arrive. We used 3 strands of the orange lights on the front porch last year. In case you missed the final Halloween video from last year: 

 

Halloween at World Market

 The only down side with ordering online is sometimes you have to take a pair or set of items. If you like the black and the white palmistry hand then it works out just fine. Good price for the set.

Cute little tea light lantern. Sadly, it is only available in the store.  Thank you to Bruce for letting me know the lantern is now available for shipping. 

Tiny adorable bats on the flameless LED taper candles. The spider set is listed separately. Ordering the bat tapers and will keep you posted on how they look in person. The rest of the Halloween collection is here.