Fall is here! At least it is at the Casey House. After some years in Minnesota and Virgina, Autumn has easily become my favorite season. Unable to enjoy the rich array of colors in nature (because I live in Central California) I do what I can to bring the spirit in doors.
For us it begins with this painting, Halloween Ride, by a Virginia local artist, Pat Palermino. We purchased it at the Farmers Market in Alexandria Virginia, a favorite Saturday tradition while we lived there.
Because of a problem with ants, we began eating outside. This allowed me to really dress up the dining table without the clutter of a high chair, booster seat, and endless crumbs and spills. Start with a fall colored table cloth from TJ Maxx, ceramic lidded pumpkin soup bowls from Kellers (like Williams-Sonoma but local),
follow with a $5 set of six brass-like candlesticks from Goodwill,
dark brown tapers from Hobby Lobby and some other goodies collected over time.
and you’ve got something magical.
For the mantle, sprinkle some fall magic with a faux crow, little home-grown, pumpkins, more soup bowls, and a plate we purchased a few years back at Pier 1:
Now for the crown. This project was inspired by Pottery Barns “Happy Halloween” banner. I took some orange burlap-esque (ha, that phrase looks like burlesque) fabric, cut them into equal size rectangles, and sewed a black border around each rectangle. Since they are a loose weave fabric they would have eventually unraveled into nothing without that step. Next my husband spent a lengthy amount of time determining the correct conjugation for the phrase “Happy Autumn” in Latin. We considered different phrases, “Happy Halloween,” “We eat children here” but decided Happy Autumn captured the spirit of the decorations, would have great longetivity than something purely related to Halloween, is not creepy like eating children, and sounded the best in Latin. The Latin is a nod to our Catholic heritage and because, darn it, things sound neat in Latin. So here it is:
Some more lovely pumpkins made it into the house…
And lastly I made my wreath!
Beatus Autumnum!
