October Festive, Falling Leaves and a Bowl of Saki

I love seasonal decorating and fall is no different. I am not so into the scary decorations but a little spookiness is OK and I love crows! My friend Evelyn had one on her porch and I have been on a hunt for one ever since. Even my neighbor got one last year! 

I bought this twig wreath and added a couple of fall touches including pretty wire ribbon. I love ribbon and have since I was a little girl. I freaked out when I walked into a store in LA that has a WALL of ribbon. I was beside myself! Anyway, I digress ...

Ahhhh ribbon ...

I couldn't resist the Martha Stewart crow silhouettes! 

My neighbor and I sort of coordinate but like to keep it simple. Or at least I'd call it simple. I guess that is up for debate.

I finally found a crow! A three dimensional one, that is. He's small but very cute on his fairy tale pumpkin. :)

My neighbor's crow. By the way, he has his place for sale and I can't imagine anyone else living here now! Will my next neighbor decorate with me and have pasta nights and watch Dancing With the Stars with me? Hmm...

Out our beautiful window. The building was built in 1940, in case anyone is curious. ;)

My Japanese tea saucer is perfect for a fall candle, no?

My new fall "back to school" shoes! OK, not really "back to school" but aren't they fun? I love leopard print and in my opinion, it goes with everything ... except maybe zebra.

I took a million pictures last weekend, hanging out with my nephew (who is 7 and has me making a scary movie with him on my dad's video camera - more on that later) picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, and going to a ceremony for his new taekwondo belt. I also managed to go on the Ojai Artists' Studio tour Saturday and hit up 9 artist studios! 

Many posts on the way ... finally!

Love this youtube video of Yves Montand! Enjoy!

Every day I get a "bowl of Saki." 

Do you? 

It's an actually an email with a beautiful Sufi teaching, 

that you can subscribe to by email.

This is an edited version of what what is in my inbox yesterday...

Love itself is the healing power and the remedy for all pain.
                        Bowl of Saki, October 15, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:
There is no greater power than love. All strength comes with the awakening of love in the heart. ... If there is any protecting influence in the world, it is no other than love. In all aspects of life, wherever we find protection, its motive is always love, and no one can have trust in any protection, however great, except the protection that love offers. If a giant were to frighten a child, the child would say, 'I will tell my mother.' The strength and power of any man is too small in comparison with love's protection which the mother affords her child. Love can heal better than anything in the world.   from  http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/V/V_19.htm


Behind all this world of various names and forms there is one life, there is one spirit. This spirit which is the soul of all beings is attracted towards unity, and it is the absence of this spirit which keeps the world unhappy. To a person who has just had some unpleasantness with his brother or sister, his food is tasteless, the night without sleep, the heart restless, the soul under a cloud. This shows that we do not necessarily live on food; our soul lives on love, the love that we receive and the love that we give. The absence of this is our unhappiness, and the presence of it is all we need.   from  http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/X/X_5_7.htm

If you want a bowl of Saki too, just click this link here, scroll down and type in your email. :)

Blessings and light!