my best friend's ghoul-friend

 Woo hoo!  Another Halloween is successfully in the books!  Halloween socks were donned.  Halloween decorations were hung.  Halloween cards were mailed.  Thirty-one scary movies were watched.  

And then there was the baking.

One mini pie pan + store-bought cherry pie filling + leftover pie dough (thanks, half birthday!) = perfect mini ghoul pies.

Once baked, the red cherry filling added a delightful affect.

Leftover filling was stirred into oatmeal to make a "Hearts of Newts" breakfast.

I used a zombie cookie cutter and my handy mini pancake maker to make a zombie pancake chasing after 'brains.'

I made 'brain' cupcakes, too!

The cupcakes and the ghoul hand pies were made last week, for our Small Group meeting, but I had some leftover frosting...so on Halloween, I utilized my "perfect vanilla cupcakes for two!" recipe to make two tasty Halloween-themed cupcakes.

After a multi-week frenzy of scares (and sugar), I'm ready to look forward to a more peaceful November. The weather has been cool, and I've still been seeing bees napping on the few remaining flowers.

There's even the odd weevil still kicking around in my front porch plants.

I've continued to spot a turkey or two from my office window - just a glimpse as they head across the field and into the trees.

There's a huge double telephone post right in the middle of our barnyard - annoyingly - but it does draw birds!  It seems to be a favorite of turkey vultures.

They are massive!

With the weather getting colder, I hurried to plant my bulbs last week...fifty grape muscari and twenty large ruffled parrot tulips.  After I'd planted everything, I noticed about twenty "bulbettes" - tiny tulip bulbs about the size of a Chapstick lid - in the bottom of the bag.  Viable?

I decided to plant them in a leftover pot, which I placed under the front juniper bush.  

We'll see what happens in the spring!  

We've been getting some seriously hard frosts lately...

...and the fall color is nearly finished.  We had one last glimpse of it as we drove through Morgan-Monroe State Forest this week.

The annual flower garden is completely done.  Only a few persistent perennials remain in front.  Since that seed supply is gone, we're faithfully filling the feeders.

The cats are letting us know that they know about the cooling temperatures.  We've got cats in windows, seeking the sun...

Cats in laps...

...and cats on heat mats.

Claudia is soaking up every last bit of sun, too.

We've got at least another couple of weeks of blue skies and cool temperatures before the real bite of winter has the potential to arrive.

Perfect for cleaning up the garden beds and a few brisk walks. 

Have a great week!