A Little Life in Her Yet

Dried hydrangeas for fall display

Signs of winter are surely on their way.  We had to turn the clocks back which amplifies the reality that the days are short.  Meaning daylight.  My husband and I walked through the remnants of the garden this weekend, discussing what plant carcasses to remove.  We were saddened by all the dead plant life.  However, just when we thought all was lost, we discovered life still hanging on.

The once-bold hydrangea bushes have long since given up the pink blush in her petals, but stalks remained where the thick green leaves had once hung.  Nature had dried the flowers to a perfect cream color.  A little clear acrylic spray to set them, and I have a lovely little fall display for the front table.

Rosemary, thyme still green and fragrant.  Dried hydrangeas.

The rosemary and thyme from the vegetable garden were still green and very fragrant.  Rosemary smells delicious and is something I love to have hanging around in my kitchen.  I pulled what remained and put the stems in a Ziplock in my refrigerator.  These delicious herbs will be included in with some other ingredients in a poultry culinary creation soon.

I treated myself to a bit of a pre-holiday-madness shopping at a few of our local boutiques in West Bend.  I love to look at the creativity in their Christmas displays.  This year all things are vintage, and decorated with sprigs of natural fauna, sprinkled heavily with silver, sparkly glitter.  Ah... I love glitter.  It inspired me to do a little crafting of my own.

Indian corn and pine cones spark my creativity.

In the garden we found two left over ears of brightly colored Indian corn, which I'll incorporate into my fall tabletop display.  For winter, I'll swap fall with a scene showing silvery, pine-bows.  I gathered pine cones from the yard and have sprayed them with silver spray paint.  Adding just a bit of glitter for brightness, they'll look nice atop a silver tray surrounding a few white pillar candles.  Fun!