• Search for:
5Aug
Backyard Elegance

I’ve discovered that bright daylight shining through a tree can produce a beautiful image. Below is a red-leafed Japanese maple, and a flowering cherry tree (which only blossoms for a few weeks a year) — both of which are in our backyard.
31Jul
Haunted House

Here is my house decorated for Halloween. Almost all of the decorations are hand made by me, and so are arguably ‘art’. (The kids made the sign post, and some small items are store bought.) In recent years, the big spider has been hanging out in the front lawn — but I forgot how good it looks on the roof…

If I can find the photos/videos, I’ll also add my dinosaur costume and even my haunted (garage) house (which I haven’t set up in years).

[2021 Note] I set all this up this year — mostly because a family moved in next door with young kids, and it seemed the right thing to do. We even had trick-or-treaters. Some notes:

  • Ladder – My ladder broke when I was getting decorations down from the rafters in the garage. I got banged/scraped up pretty good on my left side (ribs, arm, leg) and the lack of ladder slowed me down on some of the details / finishing touches.
  • Spider – I put the spider on the roof, but was having challenges getting both eyes lit (I run a wire up to the roof and use lawn lighting, which is a big task). My wife suggested that I use battery lighting in the future — a great idea (and safer).
  • Rain – We had record rain, and the decorations got quite wet. I’ll have to judge next year how damaged they are.
17Jul
Local Giant

This is a view up one of the redwood trees in my backyard — we have seven. They are beautiful, but a pain — lots of associated maintenance. Some have dozens (scores?) of spiderwebs between the branches certain times of year. It’s possible we’re the spider breeding ground for the entire neighborhood.