Continue reading »]]> I pulled out the Halloween decorations yesterday. Last year I didn’t decorate the house interior at all so I’m doing much better this time around.

I also finished my DIY Halloween wreath. I wasn’t able to find black feathers so I used red instead. I like it – but at the same time I don’t. It’s hard to explain.

I do like my DIY spider, though. Just painted a couple of differently sized Styrofoam balls black and then covered that with glitter glue, joined them with a wooden dowel, stuck in eight black pipe cleaners (cut in half) and voila! Sparkly Spider.

I was going to dye the gauze black but found that it works the way it came. Looks like bloody spider webs, bwa ha ha ha!

We have started our Halloween horror movie viewing. Last week my husband received a review copy of Scream 4 and while we didn’t think it was the best of the franchise we thought it was still a lot of fun. So, we picked up the first three (real cheap) on blu-ray and watched all of them on Friday night.

That third one was pretty weak but they were all enjoyable. And man, were they ever so careful with continuity. I was really impressed. I especially liked the fact that Sidney was wearing her boyfriend’s fraternity letters from the second film throughout the entire third film and it wasn’t even commented upon. It was a nice detail for all the fans of the series.

Last night we watched the Amicus film The House That Dripped Blood, starring three of my famous brits – Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Jon Pertwee. The first time I saw it years ago I only vaguely knew who Jon Pertwee was. I enjoyed watching the film  much  more this time because Pertwee happens to be my favorite Doctor Who.

Jon Pertwee and Ingrid Pitt

I am beginning to wonder if I’ll ever see a performance by Jon Pertwee in which he does not wear a ruffled shirt and a cloak.

Continue reading »]]> When I was a kid a Jack O’ Lantern had to be carved every year. I believe I helped as soon as I was old enough, but my memory’s a bit fuzzy about that.

However, once I got to high school age that tradition kind of took a back seat. God, teenagers are such drags, aren’t they? I know they were when I was one and I’m sure they’re just the same now. Just with more gadgets.

I’ve been much better about it since meeting my fellow Halloween-o-phile husband (hey – is there a ‘real’ word for that affliction? Let’s find out. Almighty Google – is there a technical term for those who adore Halloween? Nope, doesn’t look like it. Closest I could find was Halloween Enthusiast) but I have a missed a year here or there.

After watching the movie Trick ‘r Treat (great flick, by the way, HIGHLY recommended) we will never be without one again on Halloween night – and that thing will not be blown out until after midnight.

Here are some of our Jack O’ Lanterns from the past 7 years:

2004 - Design by Nate Piekos

2004′s design was based on one of the zombie’s from Nate Piekos’ online choose-your-own-adventure zombie story – which he sadly never finished.

2005 - Back off, ya lousy mugs

2005′s lantern was designed by my husband. He was the one that convinced me that simple was the best for cut gourds and he was absolutely right. This is still my favorite lantern.

2006 - Way too Cute for Halloween

In 2006 I carved up a couple of pumpkins I had grown myself. As you can see, I went for ‘cute’ that year, drawing our pets’ faces on the pumpkins. I did later carve these and light them up on Halloween but I never took a picture. I liked how these turned out, but I doubt I’ll go the ‘cute and adorable’ route ever again.

2008 - No Carving, but Plenty of Pumpkins

In 2007 I didn’t carve any pumpkins. We were vacationing during Halloween that year and weren’t home to do anything.

In 2008 I didn’t grow any jack o’ lantern pumpkins – just the pictured Cinderella pumpkins – so I didn’t do any carving that year either. It’s amazing that Burlap Boy didn’t visit and kill us all. Maybe he figured the terror that is our Halloween cat was enough punishment.

2009 - Simple is still best

In 2009 I picked up a couple of nice sized gourds at the store and stuck with simple patterns once again. Not my best work, but passable. The bottom was based on that great monster Mike Wazowski.

2010 - All in a Row

In 2010 I got three pumpkins for carving – I only grew pie pumpkins that year, no jack-o-lanterns – and once again went with simple designs. For a couple of weeks they sat on the kitchen steps, grinning at passersby during the day time.

But on Halloween night…

2010 Graveyard

…they lit up our garden graveyard from dusk until after midnight. Unfortunately, this location was a little too far away from the road and you couldn’t really get the full effect from driving by. I still enjoyed building it, though.

This year’s is going to be even better. We’re doing the graveyard again, but next to the road so our hard work can be appreciated by those fool enough to traverse our haunted road on the evilest of evil nights.

And you can be sure that there will be plenty of grinning, grimacing Jacks to protect us from Sammy boy…

Continue reading »]]> October is only a few days away and you know what that means, right?

 

No, what October means is HALLOWEEN!

Since before I could remember I have always loved Halloween. My favorite costume was in 1984. My dad made it. It was a white sheet with the Ghostbusters logo drawn on the front with ‘Ghostbuster in Disguise‘ written underneath. It was nifty.

Nobody got it.

No one would take the time to read it so everyone just thought I was a ghost with the Ghostbusters logo. *sigh* Brilliance is so often unappreciated.

Happy Jack

Halloween happens to occur during my favorite season of the year.

Autumn Field...with Dog (Photo by me)

Fall is the perfect season for me. Cooler temperatures, low humidity, beautiful foliage – and assuming it’s not debris, buildings or humans, I like it when things fall to the ground. Leaves fluttering in the wind are one of my favorite sights and I get to see this in abundance during the month of October.

Future Jacks

So, this weekend I will be pulling out the Halloween boxes and choosing what decorations to hang. I hope to finish up my door wreath and maybe make a second for the kitchen door. I normally hang our Pirate Skeleton there but it may be time for a change.

Ah! For the love of FSM! Not that! Anything but that!

What have you got planned for the month of October?

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Continue reading »]]> It’s the first day of Fall, which happens to be my favorite season. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve already started working on Halloween decorations and -

Wait a second! I’m blogging two days in a row? OMG! It’s the apocalypse! Run! Oh, wait, never mind. It’s just a falling space station. Either way, be sure to duck.

Anyway, since this is my favorite time of the year and I’ve been in a funk lately, I’m trying to cheer myself up by celebrating the season.

I started last night by picking up a bag of Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin Spice ground coffee.

I would have preferred whole bean, but my grocery store stopped carrying whole beans, the bastards.

I had my first cup this morning and it was a yummy cup of Autumn.

Continue reading »]]> October is almost here and I’m already getting ready for Halloween. (Yes! Really! It’s not like last year when I didn’t do anything until three days before. Booyah!)

I haven’t finished yet – I’ll post pictures when I do – but my first project is inspired by this awesome Halloween wreath from The Art of Doing Stuff. I love her work and this was one of the first things I saw on her blog.

I have yet to find any black feathers so I bought some red feathers and black Halloween garland. Mine won’t really look much like hers at all (except for the skulls – I was able to find sparkly skulls) but this is my inspiration.

Continue reading »]]> This past year was a pretty routine year – nothing terribly exciting happened, but nothing terribly, well, terrible happened either (unless you count the elections). We did close a few doors behind us that had needed shutting for a while so it was good in that respect, but so many more things are waiting to be done.

Here are some visual aids to show you how this past year toddled along for me and mine.

January and February

Waiting for Spring

January and February were pretty much the same as every January and February. We stayed inside and hoped for an early Spring.

March

Early Spring Shadows

And we actually got it. It was a bit of a tease – it would be warm and then cold and then warm again – but Spring did come early in 2010. All the plants and flowers were about 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule.

Early Buds

April

Spring Cleanup

As soon as the weather was warm for a few days in a row, the first thing I did was clean up the yard. All the outside winter insulation (ugly bags of leaves) were removed, all the sticks were raked and composted and any trash in the yard was gathered and thrown out. Ah, a clean slate.

But, like I said, Spring was a tease is 2010…

Emo flower is sad

May

Tidy Garden

In May the garden work began. This year I ‘cleaned up’ the existing garage-side garden by adding a border, some mulch and a rock path. This was my favorite project of the year.

In addition to my own gardens, I made a point to enjoy the wild ‘gardens’ all around me. Seen below is a field Buttercup, worshiping the sun.

Reaching for the Sun

In 2009 I created raised beds for my vegetable garden, but they looked horrible. In 2010, I took the time to make sure they were straight and level. I was quite proud of this garden.

Straight Lines

June

WHAT DOES IT...oh, it's only one. Meh.

We didn’t have nearly as much rain in the summer of 2010 as we did in 2009, but we had a LOT of rainbows – and even double rainbows (all the way).

I made a few new flower discoveries last summer including Dianthus and Lobelia (seen below).

New Discoveries

And, as mentioned above, I kept my eye out for the flowers that nature had to offer – all for free.

Black-Eyed Susans

July

How the Garden Grew

The raised beds did make quite a difference and the included birth bath helped attract birds that ate the bad bugs from my vegetable leaves. 2010′s vegetable garden was my most successful so far.

Perfect Summer Day

The summer was rather hot in 2010, especially compared to 2009, but as you can see in the above picture, we had several ‘perfect’ days even in the middle of July and through August.

We made sure to take advantage of these days and spent a lot of time outdoors.

Summer Cuisine

August

Flower Buttons

August was pretty much a repeat of July, although we got a couple of weeks of really nasty heat.

The upside to that heat was that the tomatoes finally started to ripen…and there were no signs of tomato bugs (hookworms).

Almost ready...

September

Perfection

In 2009 what tomatoes that did ripen (there wasn’t enough sun and the excessive rain caused a lot of them to split) were wiped out overnight by tomato bugs. I only got about a dozen. In 2010 I didn’t have that problem at all. I actually gave dozens away. Woo hoo!

And before I knew it, my favorite season was already upon us. The heat lingered longer than we liked, but it eventually did give way to the cool, crisp air of Autumn.

Oncoming Autumn

October

Ghastly Trio

While not the most colorful Fall we’ve seen since moving here, 2010′s Fall season was still beautiful.

November

Skies of Gold

November was, as always, a time of packing up the house for winter. Out came the black bags of leaves, away went the garden decorations. The starkness of winter had begun. Election day made it even starker.

Snowy Bales

December

Bath, Maine on Christmas Eve

December was a little different for us this year. My mother and step-father visited for Christmas and we got out a bit more and saw some of the state. Even in winter Maine towns are very picturesque.

We didn’t have a lot of snow until the very end of the month, a few days after Christmas. It gave us a beautiful end to the decade.

Winter Wonderland

Continue reading »]]> No resolutions this year. I know what needs to be done, I know what I want to do and making a list won’t help me accomplish anything other than making yet another list to add to the plethora of lists I’ve made every year for decades.

Plethora. I’ve always liked that word, although I have never personally had a plethora of piñatas.

Anyway, so instead of a resolution list, I’m going to make a list of things I’ve learned over the past year. Yes, I will still be adding to my abundance of lists but at least this one is different. Some items will make sense only to me, some will be depressing and I have no doubt that most of them will be pop-culture related.

So, let’s get on with it.

1. I have learned that the following are cool: Bow-ties, Fezzes and Stetson hats
2. I have learned that people will believe any lie put before them if it affirms their fears
3. I have learned that the only Tea Party worth paying attention to occurs in Wonderland
4. I have learned that gold is not a good skin tone for Peter Cushing
5. I have learned that Star Trek: Enterprise got a lot better after it’s first season
6. I have learned that Pecan Pie is good for the soul
7. I have learned that the Harry Potter books stay good, no matter how many times I read them
8. I have learned that putting your faith in others’ intelligence and reasoning will only lead to great disappointment
9. I have learned that Wil Wheaton is a very funny individual and that his pets are freakin’ hilarious
10. I have learned that none of my family reads my blog
11. I have learned that the first Doctor was awesome and that Ian and Barbara are now in my top five favorite companions, third to Donna Noble and Ace
12. I have learned that Amy Pond is my least favorite companion and I sincerely hope she’s gone before Matt Smith finishes his run as the Doctor
13. I have learned that despite it’s rather weak last episode, Lost was still one of the best shows ever produced
14. I have learned that Danny Kaye was a pain in the ass to work with but that I still love watching and listening to him
15. I have learned that when it comes to growing flowers, my gardening skills are sorely lacking
16. I have learned that I like Hydrangeas quite a bit
17. I have learned that putting a bird bath in the middle of your garden will cut down on the number of nasty bugs on your plants
18. I have learned that Craig Ferguson is the coolest late night talk show host ever
19. I have learned that Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants equals true genius
20. I have learned that Spider and Scorpion does not update often enough
21. I have learned that watching a meteor shower with my husband is now one of my favorite things to do
22. I have learned that I still do not like Jonah Hill and don’t understand why Apatow (or anyone else, for that matter) continues to cast him in movies
23. I have learned that I can lose hours of a day playing Roller Coaster Tycoon
24. I have learned that J.J. Abrams relies on lens flares WAY too much
25. I have learned that you apparently never stop missing your favorite Kitty
26. I have learned that no one but my husband gets my Eurotrip references
27. I have learned that no one but my husband gets me, which is why I love him so much
28. I have learned that my tolerance for people is at an all-time low
29. I have learned that I find physics difficult to learn
30. I have learned that my grasp of World Geography is shaky at best
31. I have learned that some movies/mini-series are MUCH better than the books upon which they’re based (North and South trilogy)

I’m sure there are things missing from this list – I certainly hope so, anyway – but that’s all I could think of for now. My memory isn’t what it used to be…which is another thing I learned this year.