I painted up these tiny paper mache Jack O’Lanterns to make a spooky fall focus for our mantel! I finished these little cuties the other day and got them displayed this evening. Aren’t they adorable??

They sit just right on top of some battery-powered LED tealights (which you can find just about anywhere nowadays), giving them a flickering, realistic glow.

Ready for the how-to? Here we go!!

It’s no secret — I LOVE Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday, and not just because of the candy. It’s a holiday that reminds us of the cycle of life and death. It reminds us that we’re more than biology and that life is more than the everyday things we can quantify and qualify.

For instance, there’s CANDY.

*ahem*

As always, I like to decorate our place to suit the season. This year, I’m really proud of  the wreath I made for the front door! It came together really well, and here’s how I did it.

OK, this is a long and rambling story, but it does have a happy ending, so please read it through until the end!

Lately I’ve had a case of puppy fever. Seeing new babies at the dog park and imagining what an awesome big sister Lola would be had me itching to get a second dog. Peter told me one of two things would have to happen for us to bring another dog into our household:

I would have to take up half of Lola’s feeding schedule and take her on long walks in addition to our 6-days-a-week dog park visits.

OR

The universe would plop a dog into our lives with a series of events that would be impossible to ignore.

Well, on Wednesday, it happened.

Our three Guinea Goddess are together again. First we lost Isis, then Mona earlier this year, and Mimi last month. I miss all three of them terribly.

Peter or I have fetched their fresh veggies every night since I first got Isis in January 2005. It still feels so weird to finish cleaning the kitchen after dinner and NOT reach for the fridge to grab lettuce, carrots, or red bell peppers. I have to keep reminding myself that our routine has just…ended.

Here are their three completed urns.

I used Egyptian imagery for Isis (of course):

Mona, born in November, got a Greek cornucopia, since she is named after Pomona, goddess of the harvest:

Mimi was named for Artemis, Roman goddess of the hunt, because the orange on her head looks like an arrowhead when viewed from above (I threatened to name her “Insert Food Here,” but Peter argued against it):

They’re probably together somewhere giving each other hell. Isis is running laps and bouncing around, Mimi has climbed head-first into a pile of hay, and Mona is popcorning so hard she flips herself over…repeatedly.

Our poor Mimi left us today. She was the last of our three Guinea Goddesses.

We knew it was coming, but it was still a surprise…it’s so weird how that happens. We had someone from Carolina Pet Services pick her up earlier. They did such a wonderful job with Mona in January that we’ll never consider using anyone else.

We’ll miss you, Meemers! :'( I’m sure Isis and Mona will be so happy to see you again.