The week is almost over. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . and although still very warm here, autumn is in the air.

Early morning coffee in the gazebo yesterday.
 Time to put the summer decor away and bring out some autumn color.

This was one of those weeks. 

You know, THOSE weeks. 

The ones when you have a lot of crazy stuff going on, stuff you don't have much

 control over. For me, almost five hours (spread over three visits) in the dentist's chair 
was certainly exhausting. Meeting with four house painters for estimates
 was such a chore. Estimates are now in and the spread is so huge
it's going to take us all weekend to make a decision on whom we should hire 
for the job. 

At the end of the day you plop down in your favorite chair, with a glass of wine,
 hit the television ON button and just want to be taken away, somewhere, 
anywhere, to a place where things are calm and beautiful and you don't have to
 think about bad stuff. Best to stay away from any news channels, and instead look
 for cooking, decorating, history, and my favorites. . . . . . .nature/travel shows
 on PBS, all of which are comforting but interesting in times of stress and strife!

I bought some chrysanthemums to brighten the now bare front entry.

Around the cottage things are a mess as we had everything cut down
 in the front beds in readiness for the upcoming house painting.

  It looks desolate and sad but perhaps rejuvenation is required anyway.
Shrubs and vines were overgrown! Soil needs replenishing and new plants
 will go in later.    

Meanwhile another weekend is upon us. Whatever you have planned
I hope you have a great time.

A decor moment, well actually five minutes!

Because I'm going to be away so long, 

missing much of the Autumn season 

and Halloween, 

I decided not to decorate outside this year, however........... 

...............while out doing all those garden chores all last week, I decided I just had to add at least a little Autumn decor at the cottage entry.  I gathered my new pumpkins, my old gourds, my ancient English stoneware crocks, a vintage crate, a burlap sack, added a pretty pot of chrysanthemums.........voila, we're ready for Fall around here.

That only took five minutes and was certainly worth the effort!

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Happy Thanksgiving 
to all my dear Canadian friends.

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