Snakes alive, it’s Halloween!

The weird little fellas in my header, were scattered round the vegetable department in ‘Target’, so I introduced them to one another, took a pic, and left them to have a cosy chat.There’s really not much going on in our immediate neighbourhood for Halloween. We were in Home Depot yesterday looking at bathroom fittings for our new/old house, and I saw hardly any Halloween stuff, but there were loads of Christmas trees and decorations already. Last year we bought candy, just in case any ‘Trick or Treaters’ came to our door, and ended up having to eat a myriad little packets of M&M’s, all by ourselves, over the next few weeks. What a terrible imposition!!

Hubby and I decided to go for a walk after dinner to see what scary things we could find, and this was the most spooky, all lit up, but it certainly didn’t rate very high on the horror scale. In fact, looking at it more closely, I think he could be a Saint Francis, so probably not even remotely Halloween-ish.

Our neighbour, who decorates his front garden for every festival throughout the year, had hauled his usual suspects out of their storage place in the garage. They all look very friendly, even the ‘wicked’ witch.

I guess it’s not the done thing here in Florida to frighten the old folk. It’s quite a different story up in New Jersey. The more grisly, gruesome and macabre, the better.

The scariest thing I’ve seen recently is this Red Rat Snake which we found yesterday, nestled between some spare roof tiles in our garden. Do you think he’s spine-chilling, or just rather pretty? Thankfully he’s not venomous, so we’ll let him live. He’d better not even think of coming into the house though.

Happy Halloween everyone, and have a great weekend too.

Blogger shoots Spiderman for Thursday’s Windows

Last week whilst up in Montclair, we took the grandkids to the ‘Comic Book Store’, where all their favourite Super Heroes live. I couldn’t resist this parting shot.

To see more entries for Dawn’s ‘Thursday’s Lingering Look at Windows’, just click here.

Wordless Wednesday: Happiness is…

Our neighbours’ Halloween garden decor.

 

 

 

Amsterdam First Impressions

My lovely South African niece Chere, has recently moved to Amsterdam. She is already in love with her new city. Why not follow her on her new adventure. She writes really well, and I’m so looking forward to reading all about her experiences in Holland.

looking for signs

Amsterdam has charmed and cast a spell over me already.  I have been here for 1 week and 1 day, although I have covered so much ground that it feels longer. I started off in a B&B on the edge of beautiful Rembrant Park and have now moved to Oud Zuid.  My new flatmates (from Latvia and Venezuela) and I are waiting to hear news on an apartment we want in Jordaan, an area people keep telling us, is really hip and vibey. I have been to the city center, to Kalverstraat, to Dam Square, all the touristy areas and of course, the Red Light District. I made my way to a very cool ‘locals’ bar, Pacific Bar, in Westerpark, to meet a new french friend I met through the Couch Surfing website. Yesterday, I spent some time in Museumplein, home to the Van Gogh, Rijks & Stedelijk museums. I have been horrifically…

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Sunday Stills: Fall Foliage in NJ

It was such a treat to see all the beautiful fall colours of the leaves in New Jersey. We don’t get such luxury down in Florida. I didn’t have time to go out taking photos, but snapped this one as we passed by. It sort of matches the pumpkins in my last post. I’m just about to board my flight back to 80F, so fall foliage will be a thing of the past.  We had a great few days with the family.

To see more beautiful  ‘Fall Foliage’,  just visit Ed’s Sunday Stills.

Precious Pumpkins

So many pumpkins here in NJ! Which ones to choose? I’ll take the two in the middle.

 

Word a Week Challenge: Reclining Golden ‘Boys’.

Sue’s latest Word a Week’ challenge is ‘Recline’. When I see or hear that word, I immediately think of our visit to the  ‘Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangklaram Ratchaworamahawihan’ temple in Bangkok. (Try saying that without your teeth in.) Better known as ‘Wat Pho’, this temple is home to the ‘Reclining Buddha’. It’s the largest Buddha in Thailand at 46 x 15 metres, and is covered from head to toe in gold leaf. The eyes and the soles of its feet are inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The statue barely fits into the space provided, so I had to ‘chop off’ his feet to get the pic. I also cropped it to get rid of all the tourists crowding around him.

Today, we fly off to New Jersey to visit our family there. Little Max, the youngest member,  likes to do a bit of reclining himself. Our son sent us this selfie at the weekend.

 

I may be a bit scarce for a few days, so please just talk amongst yourselves until I return, and do have a great weekend. 🙂

To see more entries to Sue’s challenge, click here.

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Yay! No more braces.

My eldest granddaughter really has something to smile about, after having her braces removed yesterday. She’s had to be so patient for two long years, but it really paid off.

 

Broken, but still Picture-Perfect: for Ailsa’s Travel Theme

Ailsa’s Travel Theme this week is ‘Broken’. Some things are really photogenic when they’re broken and in ruins, and millions of tourist every year, pay good money to visit them and take endless photos like these.

The Colosseum, one of Italy’s most treasure landmarks, was completed in 80 AD, and has been crumbling for many centuries.

I wonder if the labourers who built it, ever imagined that their efforts would one day look like this.  I’m sure that those unfortunate people who perished here, would be astonished to know that, way in the future, it would be such a popular tourist attraction.

There is so much ‘broken’ stuff in Rome, and I was quite happy to walk my legs off, in order to see as much of it as possible.

Do you also have a love affair with ruined buildings and broken stuff? If so, you may want to join in Ailsa’s challenge this week.

Oh yes, before I go, here’s a dumpster full of broken stuff outside our ‘abandoned house’. This is the second one that hubby has filled! He’s certainly been having a smashing time. 🙂

 

Cee’s Oddball Challenge: What’s this fascination with old loos?

Cee invites us every week to post some of our ‘Odd Ball’ pics, which to me means, the ones that we’re not sure why we took, as they don’t fit into any other category than ‘Odd Ball’.

The centrepiece of UShaka Marine World in Durban South Africa, is a wonderful aquarium, set in a recreated, rusty old cargo ship from the 1920’s. The crew’s ablution section, especially the toilet area, seemed to hold a great fascination for most people, including our family. This first picture was taken by hubby when our two South African grandchildren came to stay with us for a holiday. My mom was game to have a seat and rest her weary legs; the children just did as they were told, but as you may notice, I avoided sitting on the loo in public.

When our granddaughter came over from New York, some ten years later, we took her to the aquarium, and of course it was mandatory that she should also have her pic taken on one of these loos. Family tradition, I guess. 🙂 I’m not sure what happened with this photo, but it sure looks really weird. Love the sparkly shoes though!

Do you have any Odd Ball pics that you’d like to share, or maybe you just want to smile at other people’s. Click on the badge below.