October! At last!

I've been busy with autumn and Halloween snail mail and crafty projects for the last week.  We also took another quick trip to Blue Moon Gardens in Texas on Saturday and bought Fire Bush Lime Zest, some ornamental peppers, some Henry Duelberg salvia, and a butterfly bush.  I've started clearing out a place to plant them and some lettuce.  

The owners of the nursery are getting ready for the Scarecrow event in late October, but they already have a few scarecrows busily tending the garden.

 My Favorite

There are several more scarecrows in progress on the porch where they work on them, and they will be popping up all over as the month progresses.  I wish I could see them all in the garden, but I don't imagine we will be making another trip over there any time soon.

Outgoing Mail

to my daughter, Erin

to Anna (my first Halloween Mail)

Then some postcards to the grands.

to Bryce Eleanor

to Mila

to Max

I've been making some rosettes, too.  They are easy, but a bit tedious because I have a tendency to miss the mark on the scoring and have to be careful not to skip a space.  Two ideas in mind about how to use them, but not sure yet.

Now that October is here, it is time to begin moving my Halloween decorations downstairs. 

Reading:  Finished the latest book in Sherry Thomas' Lady Sherlock series.  The Hollow of Fear provided another engaging adventure, but the series that benefits from starting with the first book. 





From my review of the first book:

A Study in Scarlet Women.  Charlotte Holmes is brilliant.  She is also a fallen woman.  Deliberately so--although things did not turn out as she planned.  

When her father reneged on his promise to pay for her education, Charlotte decides that losing her reputation would put her out of the marriage market and carefully chooses a man to aid her in her quest.  Her plan to keep this quiet and use it to pressure her parents goes awry, the scandal is public knowledge immediately.  Oops.

Charlotte is intelligent, observant, and logical.  However, her life has been limited to the safe and secure strictures of society, and she is unprepared for the difficulties she is about to face as a social pariah with no practical skills.

There are a number of things that bothered me about both books, but for some reason the characters kept me absorbed.  Charlotte is never the typical heroine (she seems to fall somewhere on the Asperger's scale).  Mrs. Watson charmed me.  The two form the consulting detective business and solve some murders.  And I had fun.  :)

 I've thoroughly enjoyed this series of a gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes.