Thursday, October 31, 2013

HALLOWEEN

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Does your family celebrate Halloween?

The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition.

Most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions.

Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who follow Wicca, the official religion of witchcraft. In fact, it is one of two high and holy days for them.

I do not ignore or promote evil in this world.

October 31 is not celebrated as a sacred day with pagan rites and superstitions at our house.

We do have our own Halloween traditions.

We carve pumpkins.

We bake and give out goodies and treats for coaches, friends, neighbors, teachers, and family, and all the little Trick or Treaters who knock on our door.

We dress up in costumes, and go Trick or Treating (Ring doorbells and collect goodies and candy).

We don't throw stones, because we are called to be SALT to the thirsty and LIGHT to a dark world.

"You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness,

how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything,

except to be throw out and trampled underfoot."

"You are the light of the world.

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand,

and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

that they may see your good deeds

and glorify your Father in Heaven."

Matthew 5:13-16

Holy Bible

And we have FUN!


thegraphicsfairy.com

What did one owl say to the other owl?

Happy Owl-ween!

What do you get when you cross

a Cocker Spaniel, a Poodle and a ghost?

A cocker poodle boo.

What is a vampire’s favorite fruit?

A nectarine!

What do you get when you cross

a snowman with a vampire?

Frostbite.

What do you call a fat pumpkin?

A plumpkin.

What do birds say on Halloween?

Twick O Tweet

Why didn’t the skeleton want to go to school?

His heart wasn’t in it.

Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road?

He didn’t have any guts!

What did the little girl say

when she had to choose between

a tricycle and a candy bar?

“Trike or Treat”?

What do you get if you cross

a cow and a monster?

An “udder” disaster!

Are you...

        Thirsty?

               Hungry?

We'll give you something
                    salty and something sweet.

Come on by.

Our light is on.

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and bring a friend!

Happy Trick or Treating!

Marcia
Norwood

America's
STORYTELLER

Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

What do moms dress up as on Halloween?

Mummies!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

AUTUMN

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Autumn

The season between summer and winter.

Fall.

In the Northern Hemisphere: From September equinox to the December solstice.

In the Southern Hemisphere: From the March equinox to the June solstice.

"I cannot endure to waste anything so precious

as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.

So I have spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air."

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 10th October 1842

(1804-1864)

American Novelist and Short Story Writer

Letter to Miss Lewis, 1st October 1841

George Eliot

"Is not this a true autumn day?
Just the still melancholy that I love —
       that makes life and nature harmonize.
The birds are consulting about their migrations,
     the trees are putting on the hectic
        or the pallid hues of decay,
           and begin to strew the ground,
              that one's very footsteps may not disturb
                 the repose of earth and air,
                    while they give us a scent
                        that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit...

...Delicious autumn!

My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns."

George Eliot, Letter to Miss Lewis, 1st October 1841

George Eliot (Pseudonym of Mary Anne or Marian Evans)

(1819-1841)

English Author

"Autumn burned brightly,

a running flame through the mountains,

a torch flung to the trees."

Faith Baldwin, American Family

(1893-1978)

Successful U.S. Author of romance and fiction,

published some 100 novels.

"The Falling Leaves," Under the Maples

John Burroughs

"The time of the falling leaves has come again. Once more in our morning walk we tread upon carpets of gold and crimson, of brown and bronze, woven by the winds or the rains out of these delicate textures while we slept."

"How beautifully the leaves grow old! How full of light and color are their last days! There are exceptions, of course. The leaves of most of the fruit-trees fade and wither and fall ingloriously. They bequeath their heritage of color to their fruit. Upon it they lavish the hues which other trees lavish upon their leaves...."

"But in October what a feast to the eye our woods and groves present! The whole body of the air seems enriched by their calm, slow radiance. They are giving back the light they have been absorbing from the sun all summer."

John Burroughs,

"The Falling Leaves," Under the Maples

(1837-1921)

American Naturalist and Essayist

Important in the evolution of the U.S. Conservation Movement

"The Grand Old Man of Nature"

Autumn

is a second spring

when every leaf

is a flower.

Albert Camus

1913-1960

French Nobel Prize Winning Author,

Journalist and Philosopher

Autumn,

the years' last loveliest smile.

William Cullen Bryan

1794-1878

American Romantic Poet, Journalist, and

Long-time Editor of the New York Evening Post

Autumn Songs:

http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=Autumn+songs

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend!

Marcia Norwood

America's STORYTELLER

Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Monday, October 28, 2013

BOTTLE TREES

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Have you noticed Bottle Trees

in gardens and at garden centers?

Bottle Trees are often referred to as

"poor man's stained glass" or "garden earrings."

They are simply bottles on sticks.

They can be made of dead trees limbs tied together, wooden posts with large nails, welded metal rods, or bottles stuck on the tines of an upended pitch fork, or a small number of rebar rods stuck in the ground or fence posts.

This beautiful blue glass bottle glistens in the sunlight. It's perched on a rebar rod, at the top of a handmade twig-fence in the Heartland Harvest Garden at Powell Gardens, the botanical garden, east of Kansas City, Missouri.

Every year we throw out enough glass bottles and jars

to fill a giant skyscraper...

according to A Recycling Revolution.

CLICK on the link or

COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:

http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html

One glass wine bottle

                    takes 4,000 years or more to decompose -

                                                        longer if it sits in a landfill.

What happens to your wine and sparkling grape juice bottles that you haul to the recycling center?

Much of the glass goes into making more glass bottles.

The glass is broken up into smaller pieces called cullet,
and used to make more glass.

The beautiful, colorful, sturdy glass bottles make the perfect material for upcycled projects for your garden.

Upcycle:

To process of taking used goods or waste material

to produce something

that is often better than the original.

I'm

fascinated

with

bottle trees.