Pages

Monday, September 20, 2021

Shine On, Harvest Moon!

The huge and lovely harvest moon, bathed in a rich golden hue, rose early tonight! I don't take photos of the moon anymore; they always come out like a dot or a little yellow pea when I try! But I hope the moonbeams found you, wherever you are! 

I redid a bit of my mantel, to showcase a fine fat gourd and its tiny "baby." The large gourd is a bottle or birdhouse type, and the little one nestling at its side is a "spinner" gourd. Can you believe the gourd was only $3?


A bit of candlelight, and the room felt very different, very cozy and fall-like!


I just adore candlelight. I am excited to have found a little candle -- and now I can't recall where, which is ridiculous since I go so few places -- that came with a cork lid. When it has finally sputtered out, I will have a sweet tiny container, perhaps for little safety pins or buttons or beads. The glass is a pretty amber color. My mother had many, many amber glass items, and I never liked them, until I turned 60. Then, I adored amber glass! 


I added a little stool I have and put a fake punkin atop it, and I think I'm finally happy with the mantel...but perhaps not. I think I have a fake mouse or two to add to it, somewhere!

I did buy a non-essential item besides the candle and gourd, too...a ristra! A long one that is very pretty. Ristras are green chiles (that turn red when fully ripe) that are strung together in a lovely swag, and sometimes into wreaths. But the swag is the most common. They are a beloved symbol of the turn of the year and of Christmas here. They smell very good when drying.


They hang from most houses, both inside and out, and also hang from the light posts in that little nearby village of Mesilla that snuggles up against the city of Las Cruces. I think it's precious that most manger scenes include a ristra here.


Mine is drying by the front door. If I manage to get another job, I will get one of the four-foot ones. But this one is about 3 feet and quite nice. Once it's drier, it will go inside. I use them in cooking but not enough chiles are plucked from it to make it look scanty. It stays pretty until the next year. Ristras are said to bring luck to a house.

We had a scare with one of the pets, the Chiweenie. He didn't want to eat, and that is a huge red flag, so we took him straight to the vet clinic and he had to stay there a few days, on an IV. The vet thinks maybe he had food poisoning or "just a sick tummy." But he's back home and I have him eating turkey and rice, and chicken and rice, and some little white bread and turkey sandwiches! He's not 100 percent yet...lighted a candle for him and all pets today after Mass...


The vet bill almost sent ME to the hospital! Dreadfully expensive. Insanely so, but what can someone do? These are strange times, changing and in scary ways, I think! Some changes I like, but the pace of change seems to be so fast, the older I get, and I think a lot of the changes are toxic! But there's still beauty...and I hope you have a BEAUTIFUL week! 


Tell me, have you finished your fall decorating? And did you see the harvest moon?

Kind regards,

The Olde Dame, Holly

32 comments :

  1. I did see the beautiful moon but like you was unable to get a decent photo. Love your Autumn decor, I haven't made a start on mine as yet. Glad your little dog is on the mend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder why the moon doesn't appear very big on the camera, yet in real life it looks so big???

      Delete
  2. that big old moon is shining so bright in our back yard right now at 3:50 am, i can see the grains of sand on the bottom of the pool. your mantle and shelf is absoltuely gorgeous,... i don't decorate but do love what you did. glad your pup is better and I shudder every time we go to the vet. it is time for annula shots and tags the county requires. will be a couple of hundred dollars, not county the cost of flea and tick.. any vet rx cost more than our human rx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have gotten a few of the rX filled at Walmart but the vet doesn't like us to do that...but it's cheaper there although still crazy expensive. The overnights at the vet are just astronomical here, back in Texas our overnights were "free" but those were old-style gentleman vets, very nice fellows.

      Delete
  3. I love, love, love you last photo of the Mexican bird of paradise!! We have them here which I planted from seed (took some from our yard in Tucson when we moved to Texas).

    Hope your sweet little fur baby recovers! Love the chili peppers & your mantle (yes, mice would be a great addition).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just love the Mexican BOP, too! The wild ones, well I admire anything that can grow in the desert without additional water, but the Mexican BOP has such prettier flowers!

      Delete
  4. I just went out and looked at the beautiful moon this morning before it totally sinks into the horizon. I did capture a few pictures, but they don't do it justice. I don't have a camera that is good at capturing moonshots. But just looking at it gave me peace. I love your mantle...so golden and glowing and autumnish!! Beautiful! I am sorry your doggy was so sick, but am thankful with you that he is better now. Yikes about the vet bill. I am so sorry for that. Praying still for you to find a good job soon. God knows when and where, so keep trusting in Him and He will guide the way. And those chili peppers are amazing! So colorful! I don't eat them, but they certainly do make a lovely decoration! Thank you for sharing your lovelies with us today. A wonderful way to start the day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am beyond touched by your prayers. Thank you so much. I've been so stressed but that is just extremely heartening to hear.

      Delete
  5. I saw the harvest moon but have not started on thing of fall in the house yet! Maybe today's the day. I love that string of peppers such a pretty red. I am glad your little pup is better and home. That is one of the reasons we have no had a pet in awhile it has become so expensive and we get so attached we just spend the world to save them.
    have a wonderful day
    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're so right, Cathy. I have been shaking since the bill, and it was just IVs and meds. I am so attached to the pets. My "fur babies" as they say. I am glad you got to see the harvest moon, too!

      Delete
  6. I saw a glimpse of the moon between clouds before it clouded totally. I'm pretty sure most of those love moon photos are taken with some really good telephoto lenses (or telescopes) and tripods. My fall/Halloween decorating hasn't happened yet. Until this week, it's been too hot to put me in fall mood or to venture to the attic to get things out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I bet you are right! It must be tripods and those good lenses, not just a cellphone camera that catches the moon so well! Sorry about the clouds! I know what you mean about it being so hot, despite the calendar now saying it's fall!

      Delete
  7. The moon was huge and pumpkin orange when it rose here last night-probably due to wildfire smoke from the west coast drifting in. Your ristra is beautiful-that is a sight that I miss! Love the Bird of Paradise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jan, I think Ristramnn Chile Co. will ship ristras? I love them so much!

      Delete
  8. Your mantle is beautiful...just perfect. I LOVE candle light too, the warm glow just does something to my heart. Also love the red peppers. Wonder if all the red chili peppers I've strung up will bring good luck? Would be nice. :) I don't even try to take pictures of the moon. They always turn out like yours do. Hope your little sweetie is well again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, your strung peppers will bring luck! I guess it IS lucky to have peppers on hand! Thank you for your kind thoughts about Champie the Chiweenie!

      Delete
  9. I didn't see the Harvest moon. Your mantel is charming, Holly. Love all the goodies on there, and the candlelight!
    That makes it so special. I have another blog friend who collects amber glass, and she puts it out every Fall. The hanging Ristras are an eye-catcher. It's nice that you can use some of them for cooking. So sorry to hear about your little doggy. I hope he is feeling better. That is truly dear of you to light a candle for him, along with the other pets. You're right, these are strange times and the pace is too fast as we get older. I was just thinking of that the other day.

    Have a splendid week, Holly.

    ~Sheri

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is that funny "curse" on someone? "May you live in interesting times." Well, we sure do! Never in my wildest dreams did I think a pandemic would happen.

      Delete
  10. Your posts often make me think of one of my favorite books, Cather's "Death Comes for the Archbishop." "The casa grande was long and low, with glass windows and bright blue doors, a portale running its full length, supported by blue posts. Under this portale the adobe wall was hung with bridles, saddles, great boots and spurs, guns and saddle blankets, strings of red peppers, fox skins, and the skins of two great rattlesnakes."

    There were always red peppers. Cather must have loved them as much as you (and as I) do. I also love your mantle. One of my greatest joys is arranging things into something pleasing just as you have done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do have some friends of my husband who live in such an adobe, with all the things mentioned! I especially love their saddles all on saddle horses, along the porch and inside, too.

      Delete
  11. Your mantel (and room) look so cozy and inviting!! To me, nothing warms a room quite like the colors of fall (ok....Christmas lights...maybe... ;-) ) I don't (didn't?) intend on decorating this fall...it saddens me as it is my very favorite season to decorate for, but it is sadder still to put all the effort into taking things out (and, worse yet, putting them back) when it is only me who sees them. But I HAVE pulled a few things out...and there's a Halloween piece on my hoop. LOVE ristras...they were one of the things I always looked for when we made our sojourns to Arizona. I brought one back with me one year (not fun to travel with! LOL). Hope Chiweenie recovers soon...so sad when they are not well...I know so very well, unfortunately. And, yes, it seems the vets know how readily we will pay almost any ransom to help those fur kids. ~Robin~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robin, I hope you see this! Please decorate or please maybe take a pic of what you have pulled out - I would LOVE to see them! I do decorate for myself -- really, there is no one in my life who cares or knows, so I do it for me! The strings of lights I put up help most of all. Wishing you peace!

      Delete
  12. I am most happy you looked after your Chiweenie, though it almost did you in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Joanne! Talking about almost doing someone in -- you have worked like a Turk!

      Delete
  13. I forgot to go out and look for the full moon last night but I intend to go tonight. I love the gourds and greens on your mantel. You have an eye for arranging thing just so.
    I used to have a fake Ristra; we never see the real ones around here. My son's Habeneros have done so well this year. I wonder if he'd let me make a Ristra out of them. Probably not.
    We had the most perfect day today. Sunny and pleasantly warm. Just the right kind of day to say good-bye to official summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wear plastic gloves if you handle those Habeneros! Boy those are HOT! Wow!

      Delete
  14. St Angelo Texas is near 400 Mike's from Corpus Christi. I had to check this morning. And I read that the lilies really suffered from the freeze.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, how sad! It was so beautiful and so strange a sight in that desert city!

      Delete
  15. My dear friend,
    I love learning about the area you live. So many different things and ways that you celebrate. I just love it.
    Thank you for sharing.
    I agree with your last words, very strange times we are in.
    I continue to pray for our nation and world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our nation and world surely do need everyone praying!

      Delete
  16. Hope your little baby is doing better. We spent lots of money on out Tundra baby last year trying to figure out what was causes his seizures, but then he out grew them. So glad. Wonderful mantel and you reminded me I need to get my candles out now. Janice

    ReplyDelete

Have a comment to share? I hope you do! I love hearing what others have to say.