Fall Recollections

There's a chill in the air, and it's getting dark earlier. Must be fall.

Back in the spring I decorated the master bedroom with light-colored linens and accessories. All of a sudden they don't seem appropriate anymore. It's time for the duskier colors of the "winter" bed coverings and their coordinating decorations.

Most of the knick knacks and artwork  I use at this time of the year are a motley collection of things I've picked up from clearance tables, thrift stores, and garage sales.  However, there are a couple of special items that remind me of people or places:

• The drawing on the left is me as envisioned by a Jamaican street artist in 2000. (Montego Bay was one of the ports on a family cruise vacation.)  The artist did a good job, but he took a long time, and the boys were very antsy by time he finished!

• The streaks-of-watercolor picture was done by Son Brian back when he was in kindergarten or early elementary school.  I think it's nicely composed, considering how old he was.  The Guadalupe card stuck in the corner came from a bi-lingual Mass (and awesome luncheon) we attended a couple of years ago.

• The green silk pillow cover is one of a pair we got on our trip to China in 2005.  I actually bought several sets of the covers, and gave them as souvenirs, because they were inexpensive and easy to carry in our luggage.  

• The off-white pillow was a Christmas present from my sister-in-law.  I think it was almost two decades ago--how did the time pass so quickly?  She embroidered it herself, which amazed me because she had several small children at the time. 

• The small figurine was a birthday present (I think from my friend Sydney).  Because my birthday's in January, there's a garnet-colored crystal at the top of it, and the angel has garnet-colored wings.