Happy Halloween!

Halloween Charm Swap

I recently participated in a Charm Swap hosted by Vintiquities Workshop. 

I received 15 wonderful charms which I made into a bracelet. Isn't it marvelous?
Thank you to everyone who made these lovely gems!

Be sure to check out Vintiquities Workshop Blog for links to the other participants blogs and for links to some cool Halloween printables!

Cat Tales ~ Halloween Decorations

Purz and Catnip Dreams ....... Gomez

Flower Skeletons and Insect Fairies

The Art of Cedric Laquieze

Idaho Springs Cemetery

After the first cemetery was washed out by a flood, the citizens of Idaho Springs (another Colorado mining town) located the new cemetery on a steep hillside along Chicago Creek, just to the south of town.

The hillsides here are so steep that many of the burial plots have been shored up with stonework or concrete. I can only imagine how rough it was to dig a grave....

Hubby and I didn't do much exploring the day we were at the Idaho Springs Cemetery. It was late in the day, we were tired from exploring the Georgetown Cemetery and the sun was at the wrong angle to get good photos. 

We did find several interesting tombstones close to the cemetery roads. But we plan on going back soon to hike the hills and see what 'stories' the tombstones have to tell us.

Weird Wednesday ~ Tinfoil Hats

A group of MIT students did a study to see if tinfoil hats actually block radio waves. The results showed that tinfoil hats actually amplify radio signals! Perhaps the tinfoil hat theory is just a clever ploy !

Read More Here!

Cat Tales ~ Searching for the Great Pumpkin

Recently, Mommy and the Little, Sticky, Noisy People in the House went looking for The Great Pumpkin. Mommy said She thought She had seen Him on the roof of a building when they first set out on their journey. 

But it ended up being just a big, giant FAKE Pumpkin.

So they traveled further. And came upon a sign that pointed them towards what seemed to be a very sincere Pumpkin Patch.

There were many Pumpkins all lined up waiting to be taken to their new homes. 

Mommy said that after much looking and looking the Little People finally found the Pumpkins they wanted to come home with!

Wickedly Wonderful Wallpaper

Don't forget to decorate your computer for Hallowe'en!

Here are a few links for some wickedly wonderful wallpaper ~

Smashing Magazine

Halloween Wallpaper HD

How to Geek

Georgetown Cemetery

Many early pioneer cemeteries were located on lands which had been donated to the towns they served while others were located in areas of beauty. The Alvarado Georgetown Cemetery is one such cemetery.

The original Georgetown, Colorado (another early mining town located in the mountains west of Denver) cemetery was located on the south shore of Georgetown Lake just outside of town. In the early 1970's it was combined with the Alvarado Masonic cemetery located five miles to the east. The Alvarado Cemetery is on the crest of a hill with an expansive view of the Continental Divide towards the west.

The Alvarado cemetery was established in 1865. Most of the tombstones are the old originals. While others are new ones which were replacements for originals lost when the town cemetery was moved to this location.

This cemetery offered quite a variety of tombstones, from the very plain to some that were quite large and elaborate. And like so many other cemeteries we have visited, there were a great number of children's graves.

There are over 1,000 graves in the cemetery and it is still in use. It encompasses many acres, most of which are covered in native grasses. Aspen and Evergreens have begun to reclaim much of the southern portion of the cemetery. And many tombstones are obscured by the brush.

But the graves located in the Aspen Groves have a certain sense of peace and grace about them. I can only imagine how picturesque the area is when the Aspen are in their Autumn glory. The day we were there, the wind was blowing down the canyon causing the trees to whisper and murmur, almost as if the souls of the departed were speaking to us. Trying to tell us their story. 

Weird Wednesday~Microbial Alchemy

Scientists have developed a bug which produces pure gold. The process has been named microbial alchemy - and that's exactly what it appears to be.
The team at Michigan State University say that they found the bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans is able to take so-called liquid gold (gold chloride, a toxic chemical found in nature) and turn it into 24-karat gold.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to reproduce the experiment on a larger scale because it isn't cost effective.

                                     Click Here to read more!