Lots of Lights

Lots of Lights

Brad and I have always overdone lights and decorations…at Halloween, Christmas, and just in general. Here's this year's outdoor and window Halloween lights, for example.



Over the years, we’ve collected, used, abused, misused, and tossed A LOT of Lights. We collected a number of “paper star” lights, covering the top edge of two six to eight-foot mirrors. Though we’re in a larger house, we haven’t yet put all those up. Here's a shot of me and my cousin Gene with some of the stars behind us. 


When we lived in Seattle, we had a gigantic willow tree that Brad climbed to put lights in. People stopped as they drove by to look at that and the lights on the house. Brad stopped doing that when he started getting shocks from the cords as he climbed so high. 

Snow has always encouraged us to rush out and put out lights and decorations all over the yard. But here's a Japanese Snowdrop tree that was too nicely decorated with snow to add anything (except, of course, the lights on the fence).

 
One year, we did a Chevy Chase house lighting. Brad put nails in rows across the whole house front to hold rows and rows of lights. He also put lights on the roof. Here's an example. 



Our friends and neighbors often are encouraged to put up more lights and decorations...or just to take more photos. Here's one by Michael Speers of his porch. 


Michael still works at Woodland Park Zoo, where Brad used to work. He was always part of carving the Halloween pumpkins and putting up the thousands of lights for the winter holidays at the park.

Here's a photo of wolves in the snow.
 

But back to our house: We also loved our back porch firepit and lit that yard too, though no one else could see it but us.


And here's an "under the snow" set of lights in our backyard.


We had yearlong lights around and in and on our covered back deck.
These were lovely lanterns made of a silky material. They lasted longer than we'd ever thought they would.


And more lights...


And more lights...


And more lights... 


And a sparkly star



And here are some deer in the snow at our current house. We often get
a fawn or two in the spring.
 

The Happiest of Holidays, the Merriest of Christmases, and the Loveliest of Season's greetings to you all!

Ariele Huff collects stories and poems for Sharing Stories and Poetry Corner. She creates Writing Corner and many amazon.com books. Ariele leads writing groups as well as lifestyle ones like Ancient Healing Tools for Modern Stress and Processing Loss Workshops.

SHARING STORIES is a weekly column for and about the 50 plus crowd living in the Puget Sound region. Send your stories and photos to ariele@comcast.net. Tell local or personal stories; discuss concerns around aging and other issues; share solutions, good luck, and reasons to celebrate; poems are fine too. Pieces may be edited or excerpted. We reserve the right to select among pieces. Photos are always a plus and a one-sentence bio is requested (where you live, maybe age or career, retired status, etc.).
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