A great weather day for Stein’s

Hey everyone! It's time for the yearly trip to Stein's! On the day we went, the sky kept changing. Within minutes, the sky would change from sunny and bright blue to looking like it would rain. Some of those dark clouds were very dramatic and I liked the way they looked behind the pumpkins. I also liked how the bright sunniness lit up the garden area. It was like at least two different weather days in one!

I'm not sure what these pumpkins are called, but they look like giant marshmallows to me.

This photo is the background on my phone right now. I love the look of weathered wood with pumpkins.

This is one of my favorite sky pics. It looks like I caught the sky mid-change and those ghosts look like they have a spotlight on them.

Stein's had some wonderful mums out this year. And how great do they look with the pumpkins?

This picture! I love the ombre. This one was the background on my phone until I decided to change to pumpkins. I was ready for something more Halloweeny, but it was still hard for me to change from this picture!

I don't think I've ever seen such vibrant purple mums. I've seen them in dark purply pink, but nothing like this. I didn't bump up the contrast on this picture. They were seriously this intense. 

I don't think I've seen these cute little flowers before. Do any of you know what these are?

I like when all those decorative cabbages come out in fall, usually along with some small peppers.

These containers were new this year. They look similar to those kind of straw pumpkin pots, but these were made of metal.

There was a small selection of mini pumpkins and an even smaller selection of mini gourds. I tried my best to make it look like there was a full container here, but I couldn't even attempt that with the gourds! Someone must have bought up a ton of mini gourds for a display.

Yup, this is all you're going to see of the mini gourds: a close-up of two of them.

Oh, the drama! We never were rained on, by the way.

Check out those little stripes on the corn kernels. I love cameras for the help they give in seeing details like this.

These next two were new this year. Looks like a ghost cat and a ghost balancing a pumpkin on its head.

Here's one of those straw-like containers you probably remember. 

I'm sharing two photos of this next decoration because I like both pics so much. I'm not sure if they've displayed these ceramics in with flowers before, but I like it. This gives an idea of what could be done with these pumpkin towers. They're cool, but I usually look at them and wonder where they could go.

So here's a bit of the front of the store, with those dramatic clouds reflected in the windows. 

A closer look at the window displays... 

Yes, this one is also a window display. It might look like something else in this photo. How cool is that backdrop? And I love that crow. I'd like to have one of those crows! It looks like it's probably made from cardboard.

This guy greets you by the front door. He's actually pretty menacing. I've seen a lot of large props by now, so it takes something special for me to say that. There's something about the way he looms over you and slowly moves around.

He has those led light-up eyes like some of the giant skeletons you may have seen. His eyes move around and blink as he growls. This prop would be so effective in the woods at night! I'm creeping myself out just thinking about it.

Stein's has a nice gift section and a pretty sizable floral section.

Little monsters with air plants for brains. Have any of you tried growing air plants? I guess you don't really "grow" them although they have to start from somewhere. They seem easy to care for.

This cat yard decoration is made of metal. She's so adorable!

I like that garland. It's kind of Christmasy and vintage looking. This picture reminds me that I want to decorate a Halloween tree, but I haven't seen one I like yet. I'd like to find one that is bright orange.

I think this vintage cuteness was on a dishtowel. 

I like this new material the ghosts are made of. I saw some cool reindeer made from this iridescent plastic at Menards. I'm sure those reindeer would look pretty shimmering in the snow.

Of course you can't tell from this still picture, but this tree waved its limbs around like it was alive.

So there we have this year's trip to Stein's! Looking these pictures over, I'm seeing some things to be on the lookout for after Halloween. My favorite is probably that witchy black cat yard decoration. 😸

Leftover Pumpkins

After sharing all these photos recently, I realized that I had some Halloween leftovers for you guys. I have a number of pumpkin photos as well as a few autumn plants. I thought their colors would look pretty in with the pumpkins.

I love pumpkins sitting on wood fence posts. I don't know what it is, I just always have. I really like the look of an old wood fence too, especially those split wood types. This is a funny memory to share, but I remember I had a class in high school that would sometimes get pretty boring. There was a window in the room and I would stare out of it. Part of my view was a split rail fence and for some reason I was really focused on it. 

How do you think these pumpkins have stayed on the tops of this fence all this time? Maybe they're nailed in. It seems like at the very least a squirrel should have knocked a few over.

Before I share more pumpkins, I just remembered another split wood fence pic I took! The fence in this is more split rail. The woods to the left of the street have been amazing to walk through this autumn.

Here's an example of what you'd see across the street.

And above your head:

OK, back to the pumpkins. This big one was grown in the "children's garden" where people tend to veggies through the summer. The last few years they've grown giant pumpkins and it has been fun to watch their progress.

He's a jolly one. 

See the little ants someone drew on there for the spider? And how about that crazy bat in the back?

My personal pumpkin that didn't get carved:

I like this shot of the pumpkins we had a choice of to carve. I realize I've been saying this about nearly every photo, but this one is now my computer's wallpaper. 

This big one was near the carving station too. 

Blending in:

I've found that I have a massive collection of colorful leaf and forest photos, so those will probably be next. They may even need to be split into two blog posts. The trees were beautiful at the end of October this year. 🍁