I wish autumn had a nice little phrase assigned to it...you know, something like "Spring has sprung." I suppose we could go with "Fall has fallen." But that seems rather dismal, and I prefer the term autumn over fall. Autumn sounds much more regal--it's a word befitting this lovely golden time of year...
Other than walking the trails along the Spokane River or crunching through the leaves in Finch Arboretum, I never made much of an effort to go out and enjoy autumn in Eastern Washington. But now that I'm back in Tacoma, I have a hankering for seasonal activities like no other. Maybe it's just that our foggy mornings are beginning to stretch into foggy afternoons and evenings, or that the days are now officially numbered for sunshine, green grass, and garden products, but when Catherine asked if I wanted to go to the pumpkin patch in Tumwater, I said: yes!
Our snakies went into hiding for several weeks, but with a few days of sunshine, they pop (or slither, rather) back out to warm themselves in the bushes and on our little rock wall. I always look for them and am super-excited when they make an appearance. There are two in the picture below. (There were three, but one skarkered away before I took the picture.) Can you find the second snake's head?
A snake left me a skin this week! I had to peel it out of the heather bushes, but no matter because it was still mostly intact. You can see the little skin pockets that covered the eyes. Amazing, right? I saw another snake that was looking a bit dull-skinned and milky-eyed, which means a shed might be imminent. Soon I'll have another skin to add to my collection. I'm mega-excited.
Speaking of snakes--yes, still--I decided to finally make a snake wreath for this Halloween. I've been meaning to make one for a couple years now, but have never gotten around to it. With all the snake activity, I knew it was a fortuitous time for a snake wreath undertaking. And despite Mom's feeble protests about not wanting a snake wreath--psh!--I went ahead with my plan. A pack of glow-in-the-dark snakes from the Dollar Tree, a grapevine wreath from Michael's ($4.99 - 40% off coupon), and some black spray paint borrowed from Catherine got the job done for under $5.00. That's a bingo.
Is that the pumpkin patch with the corn (maize) maze?
ReplyDeleteOff to our dollar store hoping they'll have those snakes....
I don't think this place had a corn maze, but there are several pumpkin patches around here that do. Corn maze is on my autumn list though, and I need to get to it!
DeleteI hope you found your snakes. The Halloween window is closing!