Rhymes with Orange . . .

Well, nothing rhymes with orange. But everything looks better in orange, I say! I love the color orange. So, this is one of my favorite times of the year -- hooray for pumpkin season!

I've never been a HUGE fan of Halloween (well, except for the candy - the rest is just details!), but I really do love decorating at this time of year. When we moved to FL three years ago from MA, where Autumn is not just a season, it's an event -- leaf peeping, apple picking, football games, putting on a sweater for chilly nights . . . . Oh, yeah, I was saying, when I moved to FL my new neighborhood was big on Halloween decorating and I had a lot of catching up to do. Thus began my (slight) obsession with buying Halloween decorations. Gotta keep up with the Joneses, right?

Funnily enough, decorating for Halloween in FL couldn't involve using real pumpkins (keep 'em outside too long, and they rot before Halloween arrives). But, craft pumpkins proved to be a nice substitute. And, all this seasonal decorating gave me an excuse to go orange! I could spread the love from the front door right into and throughout the house.

Three years later and I'm still into my orange decorations, now I'm just using them in CA. And, in CA, there are pumpkin farms! Woo hoo! How excited was I to go pumpkin picking for the first time three years ago?! All those pumpkins! AND, some of them were green. And white. And some are even called Fairytale Pumpkins! Fun stuff.

I have found, though, that in the last few years, since coming to CA, I've been weeding out my Halloween decorations and am opting for a more mature decor. Fewer ghosts and jack o'lanterns, more pumpkins, gourds and cornucopia. I hung onto a few cute ghostly candles and will probably always put my funky witch out (see below; she's so ugly, she's cute), but I've found that using my pumpkins -- real and a few ceramic -- lets me keep the orange around straight through Thanksgiving.

I really love the colors of this season and I'm always trying to capture the perfect picture of said seasonal delights. Thought I'd share a few. They make me feel cozy. Like putting on that first sweater of Autumn for that first chilly night.

My favorite little witch:

Fall favorites: