Garden Invasion

Halloween was as fun as ever. It is the Gayest Holiday which is probably why it is Tony's favorite. On Halloween night, we got dressed up and passed out candy to the neighborhood kids (we gave out the good stuff -- Reese's PB Cups). I was a prisoner (good ol' black and white stripes) and Tony was a gay pirate/vampire/Long-John Silver character (leather pants, ruffled shirt, Kato mask, boots, fangs, and a cape). But the costumes were only for the children; we changed before we went out to the yearly production of The Exorcist at Renegades.

Then on Thursday night we went out to PsychoPath. We try to go to at least one haunted attraction every year and we had never been to this one. Most haunted attractions have a hay-ride where you are crammed into a trailer with 30 other people, you sit on some uncomfortable hay bales with no back support, and you get diesel fumes blown in your face -- fun! This one was different and much better. They used six person gondolas powered by electric carts. It was silent, comfortable and intimate. Plus it was divided into a series of vignettes rather than just the random jumping-out-of-the-bushes-with-a-chainsaw that so many attractions use. Their walk-through event wasn't as good as most but we'll definitely go back to PsychoPath just for the ride.

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In Knitting news: I got my 40" Options in the mail on Saturday. I now only have 5 rounds and the BO left on Hemlock Ring. Weeeee!

Tony has started some Fair Isle mittens I have have started a Double Knitted scarf. They are holiday gifts so they wont be appearing here til January but I'm sure they will be up on Ravelry soon.

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In baking news:

I've been trying even more breads. MMM chili cheese bread. If you get the dough consistency right, you can throw anything into the bread machine.

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It's that time of year where we have to think about over-wintering plants and pets. I only have a few plants that I keep over winter. Tony has a ton of plants. And in his old house, he had tons of space for them. The plants were actually one of the biggest concerns he had when we started discussing living together. Personally, I could compost a plant and not think a thing of it. I do have a Rubber plant that I've had for several years that I am fond of, but otherwise, they could go. Tony isn't that way. He even has live plants in the fish tanks. This one, in the bedroom, has six live plants in it -- and 14 fish.

And yes, I said tanks. There are two fish in the living room and one tank in the gym/cat/plant room that will house the 13 fish in the garden pond.

Ultimately we left half of his plants behind. Even still, the house is a forest this winter.

My plants include a rubber plant -- tied up to save space -- an impatiens that I've had for 4 years, a piece of rosemary and a Gerbera daisy

Tony's:A Gianormous peace lilly. Seriously Gianormous. It is stashed behind the keyboard. We had to trim it back by half because it was 7 foot in diameter.

Mother-in-law's tongue. This four footer is one of three. Two were left behind.

Of course there are ferns:

I love this little one.

This one found a home in the living room:

This Shamrock, oxalis triangularis, is my favorite of all!

We have a make-shift greenhouse were the Orchids live. Some other plants hitch a ride as well.

And not pictured . . . that's a list. There is a giant pineapple -- that will fruit one day damnit! -- a giant lucky bamboo, some stinky thing, a rare cactus, dozens of orchids, and several that I don't remember.

This week we will be planting our spring bulbs and taking up the tender bulbs. Fun! I love tulips, daffys, hyacinth, and crocus.

One more photo of that shamrock. Isn't she sweet?

Later,

Eric