Thursday, September 19, 2024

Autumn Mantles

Autumn is fast approaching here.

Let the Fall decor begin.

Today both of my fireplace mantles....
and a look back at others from our gift shop.
Hope you enjoy.
 









In other news,
Tuesday morning was a rare treat for me
driving into work.
Started out my drive at 5:30am and noticed
the bright full moon with a bit of fog while 
getting into my car.


Here is a map of my drive.
If you look to the right, this is the town
just to the South of us
called Algonac.
We live about 1.5 miles North of town
 along  the St Clair River.
The straight line is the marsh I drive through.
The lake I drive around for a bit is Lake St Clair.

Anyways, back to my story. 
The fog disappeared once I got into town
as I was not driving along the river.
However it came back as I approached the marsh.
The moon started getting orange by then.
With the color of the moon and the fog
this reminded me of an old horror movie
when they would show the moon 
in a foggy cemetery.
It was an awesome view.

Driving past the marsh now heading for the lake,
the moon was getting bigger and more orange.
Again reminded me of a big ole Halloween moon.

Turning now to the SW and then due South
the orange moon was directly in front of me
setting down fast.

By the time I got to work the moon had already set.

As you can see I drive in all four directions
on my hour long drove to work and back. 

In other news.

Carla commented that she cannot wait for 
my Halloween decor.
So sorry to disappoint you Carla,
but I did not do my themed Halloween this year.
I thought moving the gift shop I would still 
be able to do them, however our antique store
is a building built in the 1800's with high ceilings.
We added LED lights,
with only one light switch for the front half
of our building. 
Bob could not remove the lights in 
the gift shop part, therefore
I could not add the lights I wanted to.
So no decorating going forward.
If you remember from years past,
 I had to start planning
my next year's theme each Summer before
 because I had to have
 my wholesale orders in for both Halloween
and Christmas by January.
Thus planning was done in advance.
 I did have a them and was already working on it.
By last December we knew we  were selling 
the gift shop so I did not order anything
for this year.
We were not sure if there would be enough space
since the "new gift shop" area is much smaller.
Therefore I did not purchase any Halloween
or Christmas for that matter this year.
Any hoot...if you followed all of that...
my theme was going to be a
Halloween Extravaganza.
I wanted Bob to make some Carnival games
out of wood of course, and I had planned on 
the space to sorta look like being inside a tent.

Here is a look back at the 4 years 
of Halloween mantles
from our gift shop.
We were in business for 4 years.



2020 Gone Batty


2021 Witches & Witchcraft


2022 Haunted Hotel


2023 Mad Scientist

I sure wish I could have done my them this year...
as I sure do miss my shop....

Mantle Blessings To All!
Janice




 




13 comments:

  1. As I was looking through all the photos - I noticed that the orange brought out every scene you made. I loved them. Doesn't always have to be Halloween themed.
    I didn't know you had to drive that far - all around the lake. Wow.
    I did like your past decorations - but this year's is wonderful too.

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  2. I remember your awesome Halloween displays over the years and always looked forward to them. It's hard when change is coming and things have to be a bit different. I like your mantles at the house! I'm just getting started. I was going to put off the Halloween decor until Oct 1st but I think I'm just going to go with it and get it all done now. That moon was spectacular the other day and it was also a lunar eclipse. I didn't get to see it since I went to bed instead! Have a good week Janice!

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  3. Your fall mantles look so authentic. Absolutely love it. Does your home smell nice like cinnamons and apples? Just looking at your fall decor makes me think I can smell. Isn’t that weird?

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  4. You are so gifted at this! I just love your Fall decor.
    I also enjoyed some mist and the big orange moon. It was beautiful!

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  5. Your fall decorations are all great looking. Cloudy here, didn't see the moon, but I see if often on my morning walks.
    You have quite a commute!!

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  6. All your mantels - then and now - are wonderful. Given your love of decorating and pulling together a theme, I bet you miss your shop. Oh well, it gives you more time to stitch? The harvest moon was incredible. And then the eclipse! I hadn't heard anything about there being one and while watching the moon on Wednesday, I saw the darkness over the top of it but thought it was just clouds passing over it...but the clouds stayed and didn't move on. I read later it was a partial eclipse. Definitely eery looking. Wish I had taken a photograph! Another storm moving in as I type this....Sure hope the power stays on as I still don't have a back-up generator....and haven't begun to fix the damage from the last storm. ~Robin~

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  7. I'm sure you miss the shop, but what a blessing you were able to sell it in today's economy.
    The only thing I could fixate on was those wonderful crocks in pictures 1 and 3. Be still my jealous heart!!!

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  8. Good morning (early) You have a gift for setting up displays and I love the autumn months--we are back to the 90's again this week with high humidity-ugh
    Kathy

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  9. Janice I love both of your mantle displays. I think mantles are fun places to change things out for the seasons. I am enjoying your cross stitch progress too, and new starts. I know you must miss the store decorating...but now you have more time to focus on your own home. I hope you enjoy a good weekend. (Sandra)

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  10. I am impressed with that wonderful hour-long drive, in all directions. You do the best mantle displays ever! Wow!

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  11. That yellow is such a wonderful pop. love every photo. I'm sure you miss the shop but it probably does free up some time for other wonderful creative pursuits!

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  12. Hi, thank you for sharing about your Halloween ... I will miss the themes. I was always excited to see what you would pick. Mad Scientist was a very unique idea.
    Sending hugs, Carla

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