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September 4, 2008

Try a Fall Gourd With LED Lamp

Fall is definitely in the air here in Illinois and I am thinking of decor for the house.Perhaps you may want to try to make one of these lamps for yourself.
I have been experimenting, trying to find a way to make a cordless lamp from a gourd, to be used as part of a Fall Gathering. I purchased these wonderful gourds from artist, Helen Eyers. They are a nice shape and large enough to make a gathering of fall leaves, gourds, corn, and pumpkin inside. I was able to easily cut away an opening with a band saw . After emptying the seeds and dried inners, I started my arrangement. Aren't these candles realistic looking? The are LED candles , purchased from Windy City Novelties www.wcnovelties.com. I plan to grubby and scent them also. These have replaceable batteries.
Fall Blessings !










When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,

And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,

And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,

And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;

O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,

With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,

As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.



They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here--

Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;

But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock--

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.



The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,

And the raspin' of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;

The stubble in the furries--kindo' lonesome-like, but still

A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;

The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;

The hosses in theyr stalls below--the clover over-head!--

O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!



Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps

Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;

And your cider-makin' 's over, and your wimmern-folks is through

With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ...

I don't know how to tell it--but ef sich a thing could be

As the Angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me--

I'd want to 'commodate 'em--all the whole-indurin' flock--

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!



James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)






Every year , as Fall approaches, I can't help but reflect of years gone by,how we welcomed the approaching seasons..Fall was always my favorite time of year, and it still is.

With it, comes memories of a wonderful life at the Wellman Home. I was the youngest of five children..and though my brothers and sisters could add a multitude of memories to this..but i will attempt writing about a few of my favorite memories .

With Fall came work , as all seasons do. Mom had several maple and elm trees in the yard as they provided needed shade in hot summers. They also had a lot of leaves that would fall in autumn! We would rake them all up in piles to burn on calm days , only to have to repeat the process a week later when more leaves fell. I would like to have a nickle for every leaf I removed from that yard! Of course..the fun part, was getting to take a running jump into the piles of leaves. Mom taught me a craft project of taking the prettiest leaves and placing them between waxed paper, then ironing them & trimming to make place mats for the table. Dad usually saw to cleaning up the garden and would burn the dried foliage of the asparagus field. Before he would do this each each...we would run down to the field and make mazes to run and hide in., usually scaring a few pheasants up. By Thanksgiving week, Dad and my brothers would go hunting for pheasants in the fields in back..all corn fed , they were nice and plump. We had a English Springer Spaniel named Pal...that would go along to hunt..but instead of retrieving the pheasants, retrieved the gun shell casings instead...but he loved going and came home all full of "cockle burrs" from the weeds, which sis and I had the fun of removing from his fur. I remember mom saying to my brothers, , " The skillet is ready, what did you bring home ?" Sometimes it would be pheasant..other times squirrel or rabbit. We never went hungry.

By Halloween, we would be baking cookies, making candies, or home made doughnuts for trick or treaters. Mom had a long dining room table, on which she place Halloween treats and a centerpiece that usually had some late blooming mums , pumpkins and such. her treats had cards next to them with the name of the Halloween treat..Graveyard Crunch, Monster mush, ghosties,Bat Bait , mummy eyes, Vampire's teeth , wormy spider apple cider and more...Mmmmm! Can you guess what they really were? People today still talk about Grandma Wellman's treats on Halloween...one of the last places I knew that still offered the real thing for treats! She would ask them to sign her guest book and would usually have around 100 tick or treaters and their parents too. ( many whom visited grandma at Halloween when they were kids themselves. we would wit up until about 9 pm then shut off the lights and play some skipbo and invite her dear friend, Rosemary ,down for some goodies .
Times changed though and safety was an important factor in that change. Halloween isn't done this way anymore, I am sad to say.

Mom bought this at ShaKers Woods Festival, also the year she met Bev. Carole, Sue M and others from the forum. It stood in her yard for years during Halloween, to greet friends and neighbors.
Come and get it! Divinity, pop corn balls, apples,
doughnuts( home made) brownies,
cookies , candy and fudge!
Fed the gobblins and then some Skip Bo!
My fall Garland
Fall Gourd Garland with Bittersweet Sprays
Made easily by using brown shoe polish in predrilled dried gourds, I strung them on cording and added artificial bittersweet from Walmarts and natural raffia tied on to the string garland as well. The gourds were sprayed with clear acrylic . I added the mini lights for some additional interest at night.



My Fall Halloween Tree.
Trick or treat!! This tree will greet lots of little gobblins at our home this year in the front foyer. All ornaments were made by hand by various artist of Sisters at Heart at www.delphiforums.com , and the witches shoes were made by folk art designer, Hazelruth a couple years ago. The lovely young lady in the background is my mother in 1926, Junietta Wellman, taken the year she was married.

22 comments:

  1. That is beautiful! I love it, now excuse me while I run out and get me a gourd. I have one of those candles but it's only a votive, think I'll have to get a bigger one.

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  2. the voltive is smaller, but may just work with putting on top of something...the larger ones are 2 1/2 inches and 3 1/2 inches...these are pretty large gourds. (14 inches) I had room for a larger candle. Thanks for stopping by..I would love to see yours when you get finished!

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  3. You are so creative! The lamp is lovely!

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  4. Well I have the gourds but not the candles, grin. this is such a good idea, just be sure to use masks when cutting them, never know about that stuff inside. LOL
    Always enjoy your imaginative works.

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  5. Fall already! Just went into the attic and pulled out my fall boxes of stuff. I love fall!!!!!!Your gourd is beautiful.

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  6. What a neat idea! Thanks for sharing! Karen

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  7. These are wonderful pictures! Happy night!

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  8. I love it..such lovely Autumn items..smiles, Deena

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  9. Hi Cindy!
    Thanks for stopping by my blog. I too thought I wouldn't be very busy after retirement. Surprise!
    Those lamps are so neat and much safer than regular votive candles.
    You do a wonderful job with them.
    Oh, I live in Florida, a small town called Arcadia.
    I have a daughter,her blog is Garden Goose and lives up in the panhandle. Her twin sisters live down here. The years sure do fly by fast. I too am a grandmother.
    My husband died in 2005 and my mother just 7 months before that. God's strength and grace saw us through it all. I enjoyed your blog and your music too. Very nice! :o) Hope to chat with you more later on.

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  10. thanks Clara...good to chat with you...I have your blog tagged as a feed, so when you post something new I will see it. ( the RSS feed is on the tool bar..an orange symbol) sorry to hear you lost your husband and mom so close together..that is really a hardship to get through...gardening is good( and blogging too..I find blogging helps heal the soul when we can write our memories down. I miss my parents a lot but was bless to have mom with us until she was 99 yrs.

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  11. These are so beautiful Cindy! I can't wait for fall to get here...my favorite season of all!

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  12. Cindy, thank you for your nice commment about my roses. I too love them and all the pictures of them aven the header are from my garden. I especially like the eden rose it is the one on my header. And of couse pink is my favorite color.TTFN Rosesinwinter.blogspot.com

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  13. Cindy, I have tried many times today to thank you for your lovely comment on my roses. Rosesinwinter.blogspot.com I am new at this so I hope I havn't made a mess of it. thanks again.TTFN

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  14. I love them both!!!! I love decorating this time of year! Thanks for sharing these!
    HUGS~Judy

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  15. Cindy,
    Somehow I messed up and started getting all the comments from your post on my email address. When your identity below said "use another identity" I put in my email address. I thought it meant clara's cottage was not acceptable. I unsubscribed to recieving the comments from your post since they are comments meant for you, not me. I hope I didn't mess anyone up.
    Have a good day. Clara

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  16. Love your gourd lamp!!! What a great idea! Thanks for your post on my blog, and for the compliment! The magazine usually wants simple to make items, and that's what I give them!

    Jan

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  17. Thanks All. BY the Way...Jan ( coffeyhouse collections) has some neat patterns out in the latest issue of a well know craft magazine.. Create and Decorate...her blog is in her post here ...and is called CoffeyHouse Collection.

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  18. You are so making me want to get my Halloween decorations out! Love the gourd garland.

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  19. I love that gourd. I wanna make one. I am going to a Fall festival next week I'm getting some gourds so I can.

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  20. Now I have to have one of those gourd lights too! Just love what you've done with yours Cindy! Beautiful!
    Love your blog!

    Neenee

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  21. Oh, My... I absolutely love the garland... I will have to try this, very clever. I have enjoyed your blog while visiting. Hope to return soon.

    Blessings 2 you during this AuTuMn ThYmE, Pamela

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