This Perfectly Imperfect Life

I can't believe it's here already and just about over! (I won't be sad, I won't be sad, I won't be sad...) I hope you're all having a spooktacular day! Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Halloween Eve, soon to be Mischief Night, already! Where has this month Gone?! Hubbs isn't off tomorrow on Halloween since his boss & wife had their baby the other day so we took a trip to the cemeteries to visit B & Nana this morning. It looked so different last year! (Click here to see). Full of Autumn foliage the cemetery glowed in shades of yellow, orange and red. This year with all of our storms, many of the trees look like Winter already and there's even a coating of snow in the cemeteries this morning from yesterday's Nor'Easter! I have more photos from my Nikon coming later today or tomorrow. Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

But I'll have it up just as soon as possible friends! Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Sincere apologies for my delay, the silly skeletons have had dreadful tummy aches and the broom flew off on its own again! I wanted to take a moment to thank all of those who dropped by my Halloween Party post for this year's annual blog-hop hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist whom I send much love for doing so again! As with the last two years, it was so much fun creating the post and visiting blogs! I'm glad to have seen old friends and met new ones too. To new friends & followers: Welcome!!! I'm already a little sad that my favorite month of the year has just about come & gone again and in just 4 days, Halloween is upon us! It really comes and goes too quickly for my liking. But there are still pumpkins & other goodies to carve so that Pumpkin Manor will be ready for the big day! And the big question? Will we or won't we have snow before Halloween this year?! (For those of you who don't know, I'm quite fond on snow!) Sent on the Sprint®

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'Queen Elizabeth' grandiflora may be putting on her final show of the season with this and one more bud about to bloom. With stormy weather ahead for Thursday & Saturday and temps beginning to drop, we'll see if the Queen has any last minute surprises in store for me as Autumn progresses! Pink has always been one of my favorite Autumn colors in my garden! Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Head on over to New Jersey Through My Eyes and scroll through today & Saturday's posts to see.

(Click on pics for larger view). Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Welcome Friends! It's time once again for A Fanciful Twist Halloween Party ! Warmest thanks to the lovely Vanessa for hosting again this year. My apologies for not having this up sooner, I've been dreadfully under the weather and my helpers have been more of a hindrance! My lovely kitchen witch Helvetica has given up time off and has been cooking & baking away since last night but the skeletons have been eating everything in sight (damn their bottomless stomachs!) though they won't fess up and the invisible man has been raving on and on every time the door bell rings! I do hope you'll enjoy your visit to Pumpkin Manor and have a Happy Halloween ! I look forward to your return. (Slideshow below - if it plays too fast, hover your cursor on it until the <- -> appear & click on them to view what you've missed). To see my previous posts for this special event, please click on the "A Fanciful Twist Halloween Party" label at the very end of this

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If you'd like to see what's blooming in my New Jersey gardens, head over to my original blog by clicking on: Diggin' Around .

Disclaimer: My slideshow for today's post is a tad long! (Don't say you were warned :o) With winds over 40mph all day, taking pictures out in the garden today wasn't an option so I've gathered here pictures I've taken throughout the month, all of which are in fact blooming today here in my coastal Zone 7a garden. (Those few pictures of my northern Zone 6 garden are labeled). Sit back & I hope you enjoy the show! For more Garden Blogger's Bloom Day fun, head over to May Dreams Gardens .

A week ago today, Mom and I took a walk around the town we were both born & raised in. I've been battling an upper-respiratory infection for a couple of weeks and decided getting some fresh Autumn air would do me good, or if nothing else, get me out of the house for a bit. Why I wanted to take a walk around our hometown instead of where we're living, I don't know but I'm very glad I did. I wasn't surprised that it's changed. All places do with the passage of time and despite not having lived there since 1993, I did work in town off & on into 2003, and by then it had already changed a lot, but what a transformation it has apparently gone through in the last 8 years! Aside from my Church, grammar school and 2 shops, it literally doesn't resemble the place of my childhood & teen years, nor does it Feel like that place. As a matter of fact, I felt nothing as we walked! It's That different now. As you look at the buildings, their architecture and

African Daisy, 'Ballerina.'

The Morning Glories last through dinner-time! If I've told you once, I've told you thousands of times, gardens are magical places. And from the looks of it, my garden appears to be a bit haunted as well! 'Tis the season :o) (Click on pics for larger view). Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Head over to New Jersey Through My Eyes to see more. (Click on pic for larger view). Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

I love this time of year here, but not just for the colorful show Autumn puts on in the foliage department, but because of the cloudy skies above. It's amazing to watch them here on the coast, swirling, whizzing & lumbering by. (The only unfortunate part this year is that they all apparently contain rain, of which, we've had more than enough of after 2 months strait of it!) (Click on pics for larger view). Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Happy October everyone! Thankfully our Autumn weather has returned and is rumored to be here to stay now. Unfortunately it appears the rain is as well. (We're already over 2 feet above our normal rainfall for the year and we've roughly 3 more months left to go!) It's been a busy couple of days, in the garden, out of the garden, haunting the halls & garden (aka decking the halls for Halloween ) and such. The slideshow above gives a hint to the delightfully creepy & magical goings on around here! (More of which is to come throughout this month we call October!) This morning I watched a lovely old suspense/horror movie entitled The Spiral Staircase from 1946 on TCM, a great way to spend the foggy morning of this the 1st of October ! (To view the trailer and other information, just click here ). Today also marks the start of the Countdown To Halloween hosted by The Whimsical Cottage ! (And this is my first post). I hope I'll be able to keep up with post