A Different Kind Of Winter Decoration ...

Hello my dear friends,

it seems that I am just not getting away from pumpkins just yet!

Today I am sharing a different kind of Winter/Christmas decoration that I have created.
 Well, I have made it before just not like this if that makes any sense to you but you will see what I am talking about in a moment.

The idea of this was born a several weeks ago at my daughter Ashleigh's last tattoo appointment when I showed my pumpkin trio to her tattoo artist. All of the sudden the talk was about Christmas pumpkins and how beautiful they would and could look all in white and other "cold" colors, with crystals, snowflakes and kissed by the frost. Of course that idea got stuck in my mind and I could almost see how this neat idea could turn into something beautiful. I started to think about how I could create these beautiful things. My thoughts were with with snowflakes, jingle bells, holly leaves and the glistening of the frost floating around in my mind. Oh, the possibilities were almost endless.

I started "small" at first with a single leaf, not a holly leaf as I had planned at first but a simple pumpkin leaf made from my favorite pale green velvet ...

... to see if I would like the way it would look on my pumpkin.

I made a first attempt for the pumpkin not long after that but it went really wrong and I took it apart right away and didn't even take a picture of it. My second try out was exactly what I was thinking of.
Once I was happy with my idea there was nothing stopping me. It took me a little time to finish but I did it and today I am sharing my first Winter pumpkin with all of you.

And because I am a big softy for little happy stories, I thought it would be nice if this pumpkin creation had one to go with it.

~ The Little Winter Pumpkin ~

There was once a little pale pumpkin that been all forgotten about at Halloween time. It sat in a dark room in the basement of a house for weeks and weeks. Snow had already started to fall outside when the owner one day stumbled over it again. The little pumpkin had turned from pale orange to a pure white in the darkness. It's stem had fallen off at one time but the little pumpkin itself was still firm after spending all that time in the cool gloominess of the basement room. The house owner being a kind soul and not wanting to be wasteful felt a little sorry for the pumpkin not having it's "big day" or rather night on Halloween and decided to make it up to the Autumn fruit. Placing the pumpkin on the kitchen table and gathering lovely bits and pieces together, the homeowner went to work and shortly later, the pale pumpkin was transformed. It was now all festively dressed in sparkles and shiny things. It looked so beautiful like the Snow Queen had just kissed it and Jack Frost had done the same. Now the pumpkin was going to  have a special time after all because now instead of seeing lots of ghosts and ghouls on All Hallows Eve, it was going to see the wonder of Christmas.

And that is my short story for my Winter pumpkin and here are some more photos (actually a lot of them) of my creation for you to see.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my creation and the story that goes along with it. I thought that it is rather lovely. It is a nice thing to be able to imagine things having a happy ending in my eyes, it just makes you feel so warm inside.

 Dana and Ashleigh, thank you for giving me a neat idea and inspiring me to create it.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Of Picking Pumpkins And Apples ...

Hello my dear friends,

the second part of our day out in the countryside continued with heading towards the pumpkin patches.

We had spotted the first pumpkin as we walked along the rows of apple trees.

Peering through the leaves there was a pumpkin, sitting high on a tall wooden stake ~ we were one the right way.

We walked a little further and saw on old barn in the distance and a pumpkin patch ...

... in which little pumpkins were growing. We decided that we would look for a large one first and then come back to this patch but something else caught our eye ...

... the corn maze!

 Pumpkin picking was going to have to wait a little longer.

It was so neat! High walls of corn stalks everywhere you looked.

We were told not to eat the corn since it was cattle corn and would become us. 

The sun was high up in the sky and just added to how lovely everything looked.

A little wasp was also enjoying the corn and the warm rays of the sun.

Unfortunately it would have been at least one hour to do the maze and that was if you didn't get lost. We just didn't have the time for the entire maze that day so we turned around again and headed back out.

And finally it was pumpkin picking time!

We ended up right back were we started at the pumpkin patch with the large pumpkins ...

... and there were so many of them in the field.

There were fully grown ones ...

... and some that hadn't even started to grow yet.

My daughter Caylagh just stood in the middle of the field for a moment, to see if she could spot "the right one".

My daughter Ashleigh was happy to wait with me for a little while before we started to join in looking for a good pumpkin.

And like I said, there were a lot to choose from!

But in the end we found the large pumpkin that was right for us. Next was that patch where the little pumpkins were growing to find a few more autumn fruits for us to take home.

It was such a lovely view, the pumpkin patch scattered with little orange pumpkins and large trees backing the old grey barn. It was so nice to just stand for a moment and take in how beautiful the scene was.

Four hours after we had started our little country side outing we were done.

We had a great harvest of all sizes of pumpkins and not forgetting the delicious apples too so it was time to head home once again. On the way to the car we came across the pumpkins that were for sale and that you didn't have to pick yourself and they had some really big ones there but we were very happy with what we had gather ourselves.

It was such a nice day, doing something you don't normally do very often or at all.

Hmm ... I am wondering what we could do next time?! What ever it is, I will make sure to share with all of you  here on Todolwen.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Of Picking Apples And Pumpkins ...

Hello my dear friends,

I am so behind with sharing things with all of you these days but I am trying to slowly catch up and this post is one of those late ones.

A few weekends ago my daughters and I went out to the countryside which was only 10 minutes outside of  London, Ontario. We went to visit an orchard called Apple Land Station that not only grows many different types of apples but it also grows pumpkins and squash too. The weather was beyond perfect ~ the sun was shining bright, the sky was blue and it was wonderfully warm.

We walked up and down rows and rows of apple trees.

Everywhere you looked there were apples ...

... yellow ones, red ones, green ones and mixed colored ones too.

We picked a few apples here ...

... took some photos in between ...

... and then picked few more apples until our bag was full.

Many of the trees branches were so full that at times they were weighted down so much that they actually touched the ground. 

It was so good there because you could just eat the apples off the tree. No chemicals are used at this orchard, just pick an apple and buff it on your clothes and bite into it! Perfect! 

Another good thing is that ...

... they ask you that when ever you are done with an apple to throw it under a tree and not into the trash. This way there is no waste. The apples on the ground help the apple trees grow. Isn't that just great?! ... And it helps nature too.

I was brave enough to get very close to this apple that had many wasps feeding off it and they sure did enjoy this red apple.

We walked for hours believe it or not, my two beautiful baby girls and I.

 Love them so much!

It is actually surprising how relaxing picking your own apples can be and we also had so much fun doing it too. I wasn't only interested in picking apples though. I spotted a lovely pine cone laying on the ground and just had to find out where it came from.

It didn't take me long to find the beautiful fir tree ...

... that had so many pine cones hanging off it just like Christmas ornaments.

 

It was such a large tree and of course I wanted to have one of it's ornaments for me to take home ...

... and I was lucky to find one laying under the tree that had recently fallen to the ground. My first pine cone for this coming Christmas  ~ check!

Of course there were a few animals at the farm. Amongst them were three baby cows and a horse that spent their time together.

And where there are animals ...

... that is where you will find my girls, giving and receiving a little love.

Since we had enough apples and animal kisses, it was time to continue our other mission of the day and that was to now find a few pumpkins but I will share that with all of  you in my next post.

But before I go ... if you are wondering what happened to thee apples we picked ...

... I baked several German apple cakes from them to share with my family, friends and neighbors and oh my, they were so good! If you would like to try to bake one yourself, just click on the link below. It will take you to the recipe that I used. 

(Photo courtesy of Sweetphi)

German Apple Cake

Thank you for taking the time to visit me here at Todolwen today, it is always so nice when you do.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.