Don’t you just love this time of year.  Our neighborhood has come full circle and instead of young teens trick-or-treating we have toddlers and grade school youngsters, dressed as princesses and fuzzy farm animals and scary monsters or super heroes.

{thank you, Kevin, for finding this image}

When our boys were young we would have our friends over for chili and beers and then the dad’s would take the kids trick or treating...thank you Lyn and Dave!  It was always so much fun.  Now we answer the door in turn so we can see the cute little costumed kids!

Don’t  you love this Better Homes and Gardens image…wired pumpkins.  Love the blue pumpkins!

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I keep thinking I will carve our address into a pumpkin…maybe it’s too late for this year’s Halloween, but for sure next year.

via Miss Mustard Seed

Isn’t it amazing how many varieties there are?  Pumpkins used to be just the large, orange pumpkins we all found in the market. Then one year there were these tiny orange and white pumpkins, now there are such a plethora of colors and shapes to choose from.  I visited my favorite nursery, Rogers Gardens, the other day and a lady had her cart filled with white pumpkins, white hydrangea and white viola…I could only imagine what a beautiful display she was planning.

via Miss Mustard Seed

I also really like this pumpkin, surrounded in bittersweet and the inked name “Ichabod” by Miss Mustard Seed.  Very clever and appealing.

via Party Resources

My grandmother lived in Connecticut for nearly a decade and when we visited in the fall it always warmed my heart that literally everyone dressed their front porches and yards with seasonal items…whether it was pumpkins and corn husks or man-made scare crows, everyone seemed to embrace fall!

via Decor Pad

In my neighborhood there are a lot of liquid amber trees.  That is our best source for fall foliage.  The trees come in a variety of colors, orange, amber or burgundy, and when the leaves turn it is a vivid shock of color.  The sycamore trees also give me the sense of season, sometimes their leaves drop and dry to perfection and I’ll gather them for table display.  We don’t have bittersweet in our area but the local florists sell it {for a pretty hefty price} so maybe I’ll look into growing it.  It may need some frost, in which case, I’ll be out of luck, much like peonies

via Martha Stewart

I’m not sure if flowers in a pumpkin still inspires me but I have to admit, Martha does a good job with flower selection and table settings.  Orange calla lilies and orange ranuculas with roses, a timeless combination for wow factor, don’t you think?

via French Essence

This centerpiece is more my style these days.  Granted, I would have to grow an apple tree to get full branches of fresh apples with leaves attached, but it is fresh and lovely.

I really like this idea (above) for a fall buffet.  How cute…I think you’d want to fun tack the plate on top of the pumpkin to avoid flying appetizers but it sure makes a pretty picture.

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Wishing you a Halloween filed with treats!

By the way I’ve joined the Open House over at Sherry’s No Minimalist Here