Creepy Santas 2013

It's Christmastime again at Wellington and you know what that means.  Creepy Santas.  My Creepy Santa collection has a special place in my heart and in my storage cupboard.  It's the thing I look forward to unwrapping and displaying every year.  I love getting my new Creepy.  This year was a great year for the Creepy Santas.  First of all I was very excited to get them out because I got a super special Creepy Santa last year from my beloved brother and sister-in-law from New York.  They came to visit and surprised me with a little old Santa with eyes that open and shut.  He's so cute I hate to call him creepy.  

Here is the whole collection:

 I've had this little guy above for a couple of years now.  His eyeballs are lopsided and no one knows why.

This one with the string of lights is almost too cute to call creepy.  In fact he's not technically creepy at all.  But he is old and has a little rust on him which makes him precious so he fits in.  He came as a surprise gift from the same beloved brother and sister-in-law who last year gave me THIS:

The googly-eyed Santa above.  Is he great?  I admired him for weeks in the little downtown antique shop and was thrilled and surprised when he showed up in front of me at the table during lunchtime last Christmas.  He qualifies as creepy, that's for sure.  But he's also really old and special.  Next to him is the little German elf who was among the trio who began my collection.  Why he needs to have that look on his face is anyone's guess.  Plus he cost about 12 cents because I got him and his brothers in a $1 bag of Christmas picks about five years ago.

These are the other two that helped start the collection.  The guy on the left is really good.  He's holding a little Christmas tree and a metal spike. I would assume the spike used to have something Christmassy attached to it except look at his face.  He's positively evil.  I have a feeling he came with this old rusty spike.

This fellow came from a shop in Danville.  He would be pretty creepy anyway, but the fact that he's footless really helps.  The guy lurking behind him is more tacky than creepy.  He cost $1.  Cheap and tacky equates to creepy in this Creepy Santa collection.  He's plastic and hollow and has a hole in the bottom.  I think you're supposed to jam a light bulb up there.

 This one is from my brother-in-law, plucked right off his tree while he watched and didn't object.  He barely has a face which definitely qualifies as creepy.  Here's a close-up.

 I bought this guy below from a shop in Benicia.  His nose is peeling.  He wasn't too good-looking before that either.

Here's my other new addition this year and I can't express how perfect he is.  But I'll try.  He's about 10 inches tall.  He's very old.  He has one black eye.  He is sitting on a toy tin rooftop.  If you put a quarter in his chimney he's supposed to move or something.  He doesn't have batteries yet but I'm told by my most special friend, Cindy, who gave him to me last week, that he may need repairs.  I don't care.  He's fabulous just the way he is.

The entire collection of Creepies with their little Christmas tree that has four little Santas playing instruments.  They don't qualify as creepy because they're not.  But I bought them for 25 cents each last spring at the Peddler's Faire, so they can sit in the tree and keep the collection company.

Wellington's (Almost) Famous!

We had a bit of excitement here at Wellington today.  We were relaxing.  Minding our own business when suddenly there was a ding-dong at the door.  She wasn't really a ding-dong in the sense that she was a nut case.  But there she was, standing on the threshold with a flack jacket, camo pants, a nose ring and with a piece of paper in her hand.  She said she worked for an advertising company that was scouting locations for a photo shoot and asked if we'd be willing to have them shoot Wellington.  Outside for sure, but possibly inside.  She handed me the paper which outlined the details.  Specifically it would be an advertisement for a bank.  And they would pay us.

 

We decided no.  It was an honor just to be asked.  But Wellington is shy.

 

Here is a link to the photographer's site.  I know all of Wellington's fans will be interested in checking it out.



Autumn Scene

 

This is the view from my office.  It's lovely this time of year.

West H Cuties

Another couple of cutie pies in Benicia.  The first is a bungalow that is adorable on the outside.  It's probably teeny tiny and old on the inside.  But you never know.  Look at Wellington?  He looks like he might be teeny tiny and old on the inside but he ISN'T.  And they say it's what on the inside that matters.

 

Don't tell that to this little cutie pie.

The yellow door on this lovely older home always intrigues me.  And I have a feeling that this house is even cuter on the inside, but no one has ever invited me in.  I have hope that if I lurk outside often enough, someone might come out and start chatting with me and who knows what will happen?

But for now I will have to be satisfied with snapping a quick clandestine photo and then hurrying to catch up with The Hub.

Autumn at Wellington 2013

I finally have persimmons!  I don't much like persimmons.  But I love my persimmon tree and I love baking.  So I'm sure I will find something to do with these lovely, pulpy fruits.  And how autumny is this?
 

 

I can't really take credit for how lovely everything is.  The Hub does most of the work.  I just stand around and get compliments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everybody loves autumn, especially Wellington.

Trial and Error

We at Wellington often receive compliments from passers by regarding Wellington in general, and his garden in particular.  The Hub has even received offers of landscape jobs based on Wellington's garden.  We chuckle, because really we don't know what we're doing.  All of Wellington's gardens are based on what we like to call "trial and error."  Which means we end up pulling out a large percentage of the plants we put in.  Usually it's because they turn out to be the wrong size for the area.  Sometimes the plants don't make it for one reason or another.  Besides, we had 21 years in our previous house to hone our gardening skills.

But Wellington's garden does look lovely.  And it's because we love tending it.  The Hub does most of the work.  I just piddle around, really.  Take today, for instance.  I went out after lunch and hacked at something that had gotten too large for its spot.  I clipped back other plants.  Put some more baby plants into spots that are probably wrong.  The Hub came out and yanked out an old plant that was really too large to be in the front of the bed.  Then I replanted it farther back.  Eventually he grabbed some clippers and went to town pruning back something I had been hacking at.  After an hour or so, we stood back and admired our handiwork.  It's not perfect, but it looks pretty good.  Especially if you take in the whole effect - Wellington with his green lawns, stone wall, big baby oak tree and moundy flower beds.  And if you squint your eyes just a little.

Afterwards we sat in our backyard and watched the puffy clouds peak over the rooftop.  Wellington makes us happy.

High Tide

Just another nice shot of the water.  There's a seagull perched on one of the pilings.  There were kayaks and jet skis in the water.  Walked to the water and back.  Took an hour.  Gorgeous. 

Cute Little Bee

Found this cute little bee buzzing around the flowers.  Soon it will be autumn.  Then the frost comes.  And then all of the mean biting insects will die.  Then they can't bite me anymore like a horsefly did today while I was grooming the horses.

 

But not this one.  It's a carpenter bee.

I'm Walking on Sunshine

When the weather is nice I like to walk home from the gym.  In Benicia the weather is nice more often than it isn't.  The gym is one mile from my house and the walk is always enjoyable.  I almost always choose the same because it has the most sidewalks.  Today I snapped some pics as I walked along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Almost home!

 Ah, Wellington.

 Look who was waiting for me!

 She knows where we're going.

 Time for kitty cat lunch.  And yogurt for me!