Lighthouse Weekend and October Round Up

We were blessed with another wonderful weekend this month.  It happened to be the weekend of the Lighthouse Challenge.  HWNSNBP and I set out early that Saturday morning to begin our 483 mile door-to-door road trip.  These clouds caught my eye, and I know it's a stretch but they reminded me of the gray streaks in the hair of Elsa Lanchester when she played the bride of Frankenstein in the movie of the same name.  A little apropo for the month of October.

Further down the road, I was able to get HWNSNBP to stop briefly so I could get this picture through the car window of the sun illuminating the feathery grass in this field.

I've posted many pictures of the lighthouses before and I won't do it this time, but I will share the picture of one of our favorites - East Point.  Our tokens that we collected along the way this year were postcards featuring information on one of the lighthouse keeper and one with a picture of the lighthouse and information on it.  At our first stop of the day we paid the small fee of $4 each for a little 4x6 photo album that had just enough pockets in it to contain all the postcards collected.

Having done this a number of years, we usually plan our bathroom stops along the way - Wawa (a chain of convenience stores/gas stations in NJ) usually have well kept facilities and we can also pick up snacks there.  I don't remember ever seeing this info on the door handle or even the handle itself before, but I wish that there were more of them in other public places and not just bathrooms.  We are still pretty diligent with using the hand sanitizing spray in the car whenever we get back in after an outing but not having to touch the door handle is a plus to me.

Coming out of Cape May we were in a bit of traffic because it was such a beautiful day.  I thought this looked like the cat was whispering into the horse's ear.  I wonder what he could be telling him?

Hereford Inlet is not on the scheduled stops but it is on the way from one point to the other and just a few minutes there usually allow us to get our obligatory gazing ball picture in the front garden.

We overnighted in Barnegat and got a somewhat early start on Sunday to complete the route.  Our last stop was at the Twin Lights in Atlantic Highlands.  This is the lens that they have housed in an outbuilding next to the north tower of the lighthouse.  This venue is also a museum inside which we have visited before.  It was a bit hazy and I knew that the view from the front wouldn't be much so we just collected our tokens and were on our way home.

Later that afternoon, the crisp air was clear and we were treated with this balloon flying overhead.  More autumn color.

Here is HWNSNBP auditioning for float driver in the Rose Bowl Parade - not really, but we pulled out all the scraggly cleome and he took it in the tractor up the hill to spread out where he dumps the yard waste.  Some of it also went across the street stratigically scattered in the open area in the hope that it might seed itself there.

Our backdoor and it's alliterative display for October - Ghost, Gomphrena (globe flower), and Gourds.

And our scare Crow on the front steps.  

We've had a threat of an overnight freeze, but we have been lucky to have avoided it so far.  However, I've just been informed by the resident master gardener that all the planters will be cleaned out next week regardless.  It's always a bit of a disappointment, but it has to be done.  I'd just rather see them die from the frost than get pulled out when they're still blooming.  This doesn't include the winter pansies we picked up and whatever mums the deer have not ravished.   And I'll keep those gourds for a while until it's time to take them to a local farm to give to the cows and other animals to eat.  (Have you seen the new trend to give a pumpkin to your chickens, if you have them, and let them peck out the face?  It's pretty cool although I never was a fan of what the squirrels and racoons have done to ours in the past.)