mstrust #5- Mad Monster Party- Autumn & Halloween

This is my 6th annual Autumn & Halloween thread. It's different this year, mainly because this year has been pure crap. You've probably noticed. Fairs, parties, film festivals, they've mostly been cancelled, so Autumn fun may be thin on the ground this year.
Not here though. I'm having Autumn, dammit, and I'm dragging you with me.


If you've joined me in previous years, you'll notice some big differences this year. The first change is in the tone. I've always done a bloody free-for-all late in the season, but with things already being a combination of The Stand and The Purge, I figure people are terrified without my help, so I'm keeping blood and violence to a minimum. Ok, there will probably be zombies. And sharks, gotta have sharks. But I'm going to focus on nostalgic fun. We'll have bowls of candy, pumpkins, glasses of maple syrup (don't judge), books, recipes, music and movies.
As we get closer to Halloween things will get spookier and weirder and I'll get all creepy and make everyone uncomfortable just like any other year, but with less gore this time.
The second big change is that this year is going to be super interactive. This is a party and you need to hold up your end of the conversation.


Here's a whole list of ways you can get your Halloween on:

1. September's ScaredyKit- I'm hosting this and it's happening right now. The theme is "International Horror & Thrillers". Come tell us about your reads.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/323278

2. Want some company with a spooky read?- Scream if you'd like to join me in October to read either Fun Home or I'll Be Gone in the Dark. I'm going to read both and these are choices that should be easy to get hold of from a library. If there's any interest we can pick a date.

3. Sign up for my yearly Halloween card exchange.- This is fun. In past years I've limited it to just U.S. residents but this year I'm opening it to Canada also because they love pumpkins too. I promise I won't throw a spider in and lick the envelope.

4. Tell us about an Autumn product you recommend or have spotted.- If pumpkin spice dryer sheets exist, I want to know about it.

5. Read a seasonal book or watch a movie and tell us about it.- It doesn't have to be scary, just seasonal. I love children's Halloween specials and books about growing giant pumpkins, and I watch all the Halloween cooking shows. If you do go scary, you can use my Scare Scale, which is scientifically accurate and medically verified.

Scare Scale (TM)


1 Jack O' Lantern- not scary and may not be intended to scare. Like a carved pumpkin, it can be appreciated without being scary. Or the writing just sucks.
2 Zombies- Sure they want to eat you but a toddler could outrun them. Moderate chills.
3 Frankensteins- He's been stitched together from corpses and he's having nicotine withdrawals. Pretty frightening.
4 Draculas- Able to hypnotize his prey and disappear in a puff of smoke. Also, seems to have a dangerous amount of money. He's the scariest.

If you read a level 4 Draculas book, you get a prize because you'll have earned it.
I promise this year to be weird as ever, politics-free and covered in chocolate. Grab a cocktail and let's have fun.

Books Read

81. Recipes from a Maple Queen- 5 stars
82. Pumpkin Spice Peril 3 stars
83. Reconciliation Day- 4 stars
84. Deadly Beautiful- 4 stars
85. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires- 5 stars
86. Killer Maple Cookies- 3 stars
87. Dr. Maniac vs Robby Schwartz- 3 stars
88. Station Eleven- 5 stars
89. Lonely Planet: New England Fall Foliage Road Trips- 4 stars
90. Goosebumps: The Beast from the East- 3 stars
91. Spontaneous Human Combustion- 3 stars
92. The Boy Who Ate Fear Street- 3.5 stars
93. Help for the Haunted- 4.5 stars
94. Fun Home- 4.5 stars
95. The Nightmare Room: Locker 13- 3 stars
96. The New England Grimpendium- 4.5 stars
97. Skeleton Man- 4 stars
98. Colors of Fall -4 stars
99. I'll Be Gone in the Dark- 5 stars
100. Vampire Breath- 3.5 stars
101. The Dead Celebrity Cookbook- 5 stars
102. Cursed Objects- 4.5 stars

Happy new one!

Good to see you! You're prize for being first:

Apple spice cupcake!

Do I get anything for being second, Jennifer?

Happy new thread.

Maybe this will be the year I finally read The Haunting of Hill House...

Happy new thread!

I got so excited for this thread I put on my reading glasses!

Happy Mad Monster Party!

Happy new thread!

Happy new Halloween thread. I'm looking forward to plenty of scary stuff and goodies.

Happy new thread, Jennifer!
I am very much looking forward to new recommendations for a topic I love.

Happy new thread, Jennifer!

>6 PaulCranswick: Hi, Paul, good to see you!
Do I get anything for being second, Jennifer?
Of course. You get to stand next to figs and bask in her glory!

>7 rabbitprincess: Hi, Rabbit! I would definitely recommend The Haunting of Hill House. It's creepy done right.

>8 PaperbackPirate: Ha, glad to get you all atwitter! Good to see you, Nicole!

>9 quondame: Thanks, Susan!

>10 VivienneR: Thanks, Viv! We won't be shy of scares and good things to eat around here.

>11 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas! I hope I can point you towards some BBs. Good to see another Halloween fan.

>12 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry!

What's your favorite only-in-Fall treat?
I have a whole list of them.
Both pumpkin spice and maple coffee, though I think maple will carry on through the cold months.
Le Mars apple spice cake doughnuts that we have have customized with maple frosting. That's right, I have an in with a doughnut maker and it's awesome.
I wait for the Sprout's "Apple-lanche" event each year and pounce like a starving dog, buying around twenty pounds of apples each year.
Oh, and I eat a lot of Smarties at Halloween. Yeah, the little discs that are basically filler. I like the chalky texture.

Happy new thread! I also starred your Scary September thread - that’ll be fun.

Only-in-Fall? Absolutely nothing pumpkin spice, but I do usually break out the darker beers. Plus fire put in the back yard as the evenings get cooler!

Favorite fall event for me is the National Storytelling Festival,
1st weekend in October in historic town of Jonesborough in the mountains of Tennessee.
This year it's all virtual. I'll be there!

https://www.storytellingcenter.net/festival/

I always make this recipe in the fall. My whole family loves it!

Old-Fashioned Wooden Spoon Apple Cake

https://www.thespruceeats.com/old-fashioned-wooden-spoon-apple-cake-3050736

>15 drneutron: Thanks, Jim! And I'm very glad you'll be joining us for the ScaredyKit.
Absolutely nothing pumpkin spice... I know, lots of people are burned out on pumpkin spice, or just never liked it in the first place. Which means there's more for me!
And Mike and I hit Total Wine yesterday and I bought lots of individual bottles and cans of pumpkin beers. Mike sticks to Guinness. I was looking for maple beer or wine as I've just found out they exist, but so far no luck. I had to buy a few bottles of regular red wine instead. Mike picked a Syrah.
A fire pit on a chilly Autumn night sounds wonderful!

>16 nrmay: Very cool! Thanks for the link!
>17 nrmay: That looks like a really good recipe, and easy! Thanks, I'm always on the lookout for apple recipes!

I’ve had a maple beer and thought it was pretty good. I hope you come across some!

Recipes from a Maple Queen by Doreen Lyon. Lyon was really crowned Maple Queen as a teenager in her Vermont town. This book gives a little bit of Vermont maple history and many recipes. There are the recipes you'd expect, like candied maple bacon and "sugar in the snow", but there are so many more unusual ones and savory foods, such as "Maple Caramelized Onion Bruschetta"and "Refrigerator Pickles". There are plenty of sweets and breads too. I've tried the Maple Oatmeal Cookies and was pleased with the light cakey texture.
5 stars
S.S.: 1 Jack O' Lantern

Mom's Maple Fudge
From the book, this is a blue ribbon winner

2 c. maple syrup
1 tbs light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
1/4 c cream
1/2 c chopped walnuts

In a medium saucepan, combine syrups, milk, cream and salt. Attach a candy thermometer and cook without stirring to 236F. Remove from heat and cool to 110F, without stirring. Remove the thermometer. Beat with a mixer or by hand until the fudge loses its gloss. Add the nuts and pour into a buttered pan. Makes about one pound.

>19 drneutron: I'm going to keep looking. It's too hot to mail order it so I may have to wait until winter if Total Wine doesn't get it in. Good to hear you liked it.

Thank, God. Now I have your Halloween thread to look forward to!! Hurray!!

Well if that isn't a big thumbs up, I don't know what is! Glad you've arrived!

Halloween card exchange!- If you'll be taking part, PM me your address by Oct. 1st.

Seeing the comment about maple beer upthread reminded me that I have an oak-smoked maple ale to try! It is made by Strange Brew Studio in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

That is intriguing. I love bourbon barrel aged maple syrup, and maple whiskey is one of the few whiskeys I've done shots of as I don't usually do shots at all. Make sure you let us know what you think of it when you try it.

Happy Halloween thread, Jennifer!

Thanks, Anita!

Here's a few important tv schedules for the coming weeks:
The Food Network's Halloween shows- https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/shows/2020/food-network-halloween-2020
TCM's October horror line-up- https://www.halloweenmoviesontv.com/turner-classic-movies-october-horror/
AMC's FearFest: https://www.halloweenmoviesontv.com/amc-fear-fest-schedule/
Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween- https://www.halloweenmoviesontv.com/abc-family-13-nights-of-halloween-schedule/

Start making your plans!

Hi Jennifer, happy new thread!

>14 mstrust: - All things pumpkin, from pumpkin pie to pumpkin spice scones. I even had a pumpkin beer last year that was quite tasty (of course, I cannot remember which craft brewery produced it).

Book suggestion!


A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

One bright spark in this year's hallowe'en festivities is that you can scare the stuffing out of pretty much anyone just by sneezing on them!

Holding out on the annual purchase of the bag of Mellowcreme Pumpkins until October (maybe). How do they make a vegetable taste so delicious?

>29 lkernagh: Hiya, Lori! Yea, another pumpkin spice fan! I happen to be taste testing pumpkin beers at a rate of one a night. I'll be posting my findings later.
But right now I have a mug of pumpkin spice cappuccino.

>30 nrmay: I agree, I read that one last year and second your suggestion! Though it's full of monsters, I found it to be a well-crafted, weird story more than scary, so good for a less intense read.

>31 RidgewayGirl: Ha, there's always a silver lining! I believe those pumpkins are grown on the same secret farm in Mexico that grows the candy corn. They water them with delicious corn syrup so it's basically a vegetarian diet.

I bought a little pie pumpkin at the store today. Just about four pounds with an extra long stem and some withered vine still attached. I may roast it eventually but I just like looking at it.

Ladies, care for some maple candy?

Yummmm maple candy!

We were flipping channels this past weekend and landed on AMC during a Walking Dead episode. Neither I nor my other half had any idea who the characters were. Is it still running?!

Yummmm is right. Maple candy is so fantastic! On a sad note, I just opened my last bottle of maple syrup from our trip to Canada last year. I believe I went through six bottles in less than a year.
Re: TWD- It isn't half the show it used to be and I'm not surprised you didn't recognize the characters. Though Daryl, Carol, Eugene, Father Gabriel, Aaron and Rosita are still there, the show killed off the heart, Rick, Glenn and Carl, Maggie left, and they flooded the place with so many new characters that each has very little screen time and almost no character development. I just don't care about the new characters and the old characters we know are broken into groups that hardly ever overlap.
It's 11th season was suppose to start next month but I think it hasn't even been filmed yet.

>32 mstrust:

I love those small sugar pumpkins.
I cut the tops off and fill them with bread stuffing, adding any of the following: celery, onion, cooked country sausage, mushrooms, dried fruit, nuts, apple. Put the top back on and bake. Delicious!

>32 mstrust: Though I can't agree about A Night in Lonesome October I do love maple sugar candies! My grandparents brought them from Wisconsin when they came to California for the winters.

>35 nrmay: That sounds excellent!
I've scooped one out and roasted it while making 10 bean soup on the stove. After the pumpkin was roasted I filled it with the soup and scraped the insides as I ate. It was superb.

>36 quondame: Maple sugar candy, brought as a gift, was my first taste of maple as a kid. And I was in California too. I really can't remember who brought it to us as my family is Southern and I can't recall someone being back East. But the candy was shaped as boy and girl pilgrims, that I remember.

Ok, here's something that I like and can't explain why. This guy has a whole lot of videos of store merch. No talking, he isn't trying to be a personality, it's just Halloween and Fall stuff and his grubby hand turning everything over to show the price, which is somehow satisfying. He adds soothing music and the whole thing is weirdly relaxing. Jump around to whatever store you want to see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJvvNR34Vt4

82. Pumpkin Spice Peril by Jenn McKinlay. Cupcake shop owner Mel knows all the other business owners in her Old Town Scottsdale location, but glass artist Rene and her husband Peter are different. The three have known each other for years and are some of Mel's best customers, as Peter brings his wife pumpkin spice cupcakes every week. But on the eve of Rene's biggest art installation, one that will be placed over a public footbridge, she's found dead in her gallery of an apparent heart attack. Mel can't let that go without her own investigation and the Scottsdale Police Chief notices that Mel has been around a lot of murders in just a few years.

A cozy full of friends who all eat cupcakes and are willing to go along with Mel's investigations. I didn't realize there was a series set in Old Town, which is local to me. Of course there are cupcake recipes in the back of the book.
3 stars
S.S.: 1

>28 mstrust: Yes! Thanks for the links! Now just hoping some of the TCM movies will be on demand with Verizon...

Happy spooky new thread, Jennifer! I’m reading Sue Grafton’s novels so that’s about as spooky as I’m getting this year. It’s probably a negative 1 on your scare index but I’ll enjoy watching what scariness you pull out of your pumpkin this year.

I always associated maple sugar candy with New England and the far north but here in the South I discovered Southern Pecan Pralines. They're fantastic! Instant sugar shock but delicious.

by the way, this thread is really fun. I'm so getting into the Halloween spirit!

>39 drneutron: Happy to help! I know I'm going to watch "Curse of the Cat People" because it's on in a day or two and I've never seen it before. For October, it may be time for a re-watch of "Carnival of Souls". I need to study those schedules.

>40 Carmenere: Hi, Lynda! I'm glad you've found me. Don't worry if you aren't reading spooky, you can always walk around here with a pumpkin under your arm and fit right in.

>41 nrmay: Oh yes, pecan pralines! My mom and sister pounce on those and I send pecan candies to my mom often enough. She also loves fiddlesticks and pecan logs. Anything rolled in pecans really. She's from Texas and my grandparents had a small pecan grove.
I'm glad you like what I've done with the place! What a little pumpkin spice and flickering lights can do for a home.

Oh yeah, I made the pumpkin spice cupcakes from the recipe in the back of Pumpkin Spice Peril, but switching out the flour to make it low carb. It's a tasty little cake.

October Sisterhood, a site of beautifully curated Autumn photos: https://octobersisterhood.tumblr.com/

I'm loving the autumn vibe and look forward to your pumpkin beer findings!

83. Reconciliation Day by Christopher Fowler. Carter is a penniless academic who is also one of just two recognized experts of Dracula. When rumors of a rare "blue edition" of the book existing in a mountain village, one that contains scenes that were later deleted by Stoker's editor, Carter decides it's time for him to ensure his legacy by being the one to find this edition. The biggest problem is that the other expert already lives in the Carpathian Mountains and speaks the language. Carter determines that he's the more unethical of the two, so he will win.
So much story in a little book! It includes the expunged entries in Jonathan Harker's diary that have him locked in Dracula's castle as an imprisoned librarian. I really liked this one, and I'd say if you seek out the Bibliomysteries, make sure you get this one.
4 stars
S.S.: 2

>43 curioussquared: Hi Natalie! Just wait, I have a whole buncha beers to get through and review. Just as a courtesy to my visitors, of course.

Most horrifying book I ever read -

A Portrait of Barbara by Robin Squire British, hard to find.
Did see a couple used copies on Amazon.

>45 mstrust: Such a sacrifice for the sake of your visitors!

>42 mstrust: I'll be interested in seeing your take on The Curse of the Cat People, and your mention of it is a good reminder to me that it has been too long since I've watched the Val Lewton movies, so I may add them to the mix soon.

I just found this thread. How come I'm just NOW finding this thread??? How the bleepity blanking bloop did I miss this?!?! I LOVE fall and Halloween!!!

I've seen "Mad Monster Party". The fact that Phyllis Diller sang is scary enough. But along the Pumpkin lines, you should check out this trippy gem, "Witch's Night Out":



From the same people who made the even lower-budget "Gift of Winter", where all the sound effects were spoken words (I love how you hear a person say "creeeaakk" when a door opens and "slam!" when it closes), "Witch's Night Out" is a simple plot with Gilda Radner and Catherine O'Hara as the shining voice artist stars, and it has proper sound effects and smoother animation, suggesting it had at least a slightly bigger budget. The plot is about a pair of children, Small and Tender (yes, those are their names) who wish they could really scare the townspeople for Halloween. An bored and irritated witch looking to add some excitement into her life grants the children and their babysitter their wish to turn into the real versions of their Halloween costumes, and it adds a bit more excitement to the town than the children had imagined. But it's all G-rated fun with a happy ending--except that it can be hard to tell whether certain characters are wearing clothes (take Malicious, the green character, above) and while the women's breasts aren't exactly anatomically detailed, I'll leave it up to individual parents to decide whether this is suitable for their children to watch. As far as violence and the scare factor, it's about as scary as "Mad Monster Party" if you take out Phyllis Diller's song. :)

Hi Jennifer, so happy to see your Halloween thread is alive and kicking! I am so ready for fall - but right now we are having the most summer-like weather that we have had all year. I am yearning for a rainy, cool fall day. I am a fan of pumpkin spice and I love the pumpkin spice donuts that Tim Horton's puts out in the autumn. A donut and a cup of coffee hits the spot after a trudge through some wet, soggy leaves. :)

I am not very enthusiastic about The Walking Dead's Season 11, I will watch it of course, but it is not the show it used to be. These days I am getting more zombie enjoyment from the books that I read.

>46 nrmay: You are in a very exclusive club as there are just two owners of that book on LT. I've never heard of it. What makes it so horrifying?

>47 curioussquared: I'm a giver! *hic*

>48 harrygbutler: It's been four or five years since I saw the original "Cat People" and liked that. There are so many old horror movies I want to see this year. I want to see the original "Invisible Man" too as I read the book recently.

>49 CassieBash: Hi Cassie! You aren't too late, as I opened up my creaking haunted house just a few days ago. I'm glad you found your way! I'm was thinking that I might post links to my past Halloween threads for anyone who wants a trip down nightmare lane.
I have a special love for "Mad Monster Party" as when I was a kid the local tv station out of L.A. played it. A lot. My sister and I knew the songs by heart.
And I saw "Witch's Night Out" maybe two years ago when it was played on some deep cable channel. I watched because Gilda Radner was a big star when she did the voice, BUT, I too couldn't believe they had that naked lady front and center. "What am I looking at? This is for kids?" I put it down to being made in the 70's. I think everyone making children's tv was trippin' back then.

>50 DeltaQueen50: Hi, Judy!
And somehow we're having a cool spell, with temps around 90F. Brrrr! We're suppose to be up to 107 again though.
Another pumpkin spice fan! I knew this thread would make them gather like moths to a flame. I've just returned from a pumpkin haul.
I know, season 11, show it, don't show it, I'm fine either way. Everyone jumped on the old showrunner's back after he killed Carl, then the new showrunner just ran the whole thing into the ground and kicked dirt on top. How do you tank something that was that popular?

O.k., I've had an Autumny day so far. As Autumny as you can get at 90. The bookstore finally got in Autumn mags, so I bought a couple of baking/pumpkin and the Autumn issue of Yankee, which I never miss. Bought fall baking supplies at Hobby Lobby, then hit Trader Joe's. Ha!
Another pie pumpkin
Fall Harvest Salsa
Bourbon Barrel maple syrup- (awesome stuff, try it and get hooked)
a loaf of pumpkin bread
pumpkin ice cream
Delicata squash
Halloween Joe-Joe's
pumpkin spice coffee
pumpkin body butter (even Mike uses this)

Mike's comment was "You're really going for it."

>53 mstrust: The pumpkin body butter is fantastic. I need to remember to buy extra since it's not a year-round product, which my dry skin would like it to be.

>53 mstrust:

Halloween Joe-Joes! Yum.
I'm dying to go to Trader Joe's. I haven't been in over 6 months, since before the pandemic & local shut-down. . .

>54 RidgewayGirl: The body butter is great, especially for dry weather. I think they change the scent to pomegranate during the winter but the pumpkin spice smells so good.

>55 nrmay: Oh, wow! Sorry, I need to keep in mind that some places are still in a tight shutdown. Ours was relatively brief.

The Food Network is starting their Halloween competitions on Sunday night. "The Road to Halloween Wars", "Halloween Wars" and "Outrageous Pumpkins" that night. Monday night will premiere "The Halloween Baking Championship" and "Haunted Housewarming".

Head over to Spooky Little Halloween, a site that isn't that scary at all, instead dedicated to the fun side: https://spookylittlehalloween.com/

I have a few pumpkin beer reviews:

Southern Tier Cold Brew Pumpking Imperial Pumpkin- I didn't misspell it, they call it "Pumking". This is a coffee/beer combo that I didn't really expect to like but then I did. It truly tastes of roasted coffee beans and spice and isn't sweet at all. It's made in Lakewood, NY. Most beers average an alcohol content of 5%, but this one has a whopping 8.6%, so if you want to be a cheap date, a single bottle of this might do ya.

Wasatch Brewery Black O' Lantern Pumpkin Stout- I got this in a can and didn't see it offered in a bottle, but maybe. It has three key words in big letters on the back, Chocolate, Pumpkin, Velvety. I would add lush. this is a rich yet smooth flavor and you really do taste chocolate notes and spice. They call it a "frankenbrew". From Salt Lake City, 6.66% alcohol. Oh, har-har.

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale- made from pumpkin, roasted and raw pumpkin seeds, ginger and all the other spices. This has a spicier taste than the others, like pumpkin bread with an extra kick, but not sweet. From Seattle, alcohol 6.7%.

>56 mstrust: That is brilliant/disgusting, and I can't decide which!

Ha, I think so too! And it's enough of a trend that I had a choice of which puking pumpkin to pick.

We were out last night and stopped by local store, A.J.'s, just because we were nearby. And I found a bag of Caribou's Pumpkin Love ground coffee and a new-to-me apple variety called Sweet Crisp.

84. Deadly Beautiful: The World's Most Poisonous Animals and Plants by Laurence Gadd. A coffee table book that covers deadly mushrooms, vipers and other snakes, garden plants, scorpions, stingrays and the most horrible of all, spiders. My Scare Scale ratings comes from flipping over the page and there, pages 94-95 in full color, are several big photos of spiders, which are made in hell by Satan himself.
It's an informative book that even has charts in the back by country and region to show what deadly species can be found there.
4 stars
S.S.: 2.5 Zombies
And I've had this on my shelf for somewhere around 15 years, so it's a ROOT!

>37 mstrust: I only watched a little of the YouTube shopper video, but it inspired me to order the Halloween Countdown sign from Michael's online! Lol.

>56 mstrust: Thank you for the reminder about the Halloween baking competition shows coming on! I didn't realize they would start so early.
Also, that is some good looking guacamole!

So you're just as susceptible to Halloween marketing as I am :-D
You're welcome for the reminder. I love all the baking and pumpkin competitions. I watch them all.
I love guacamole but the barf guac gives me pause, ha!

Tried the ale I mentioned in >25 rabbitprincess:. I could taste the maple somewhat when I had the beer on its own, but I am not sure it paired that well with the pizza I had with it. A beer to enjoy with snacks rather than a full meal, perhaps.

I decided to try out a pumpkin cake recipe today and my local grocery store is sold out of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling.

Am going to make a praline bundt cake instead. At least pecans are vaguely autumnal.

>63 rabbitprincess: Thanks for getting back with your impressions of that. Maybe it would have been good with a bowl of nuts instead of the strong flavors of pizza, but you never know til you try, right? A few night ago I was having a glass of red wine and nibbling on the white chocolate Kit-Kat and it was a really interesting combo. The white chocolate made the wine jammier.

>64 RidgewayGirl: Sounds like all the bakers in your area had the same pumpkin urge. How annoying! Yes, a pecan cake does sound Autumnal and delicious. You're welcome to post a pic here if you can keep it to 400x400 or smaller.

De-lurking to say how much I enjoy your thread. My favorite fall read is Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. It's a very slow-build kind of book, but it's filled to the brim with references to the season. I try to only read it in October because it perfectly encapsulates autumn for me.

>65 mstrust: A red wine and white-chocolate Kit Kat combo sounds yummy!

OK here are mine books so far - Stephen King had four past midnight, I have four before Halloween:
A Graveyard for Lunatics by Ray Bradbury - 2 Zombies
Hallowe‘en Party by Agatha Christie - 1 Jack O' Lantern
The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan - 3 Frankensteins
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury - 1 Jack O' Lantern

>66 LibraryLover23: I'm happy you decided to knock on the door, welcome!
I have yet to read Harvest Home, so thanks for the rec. I read The Other from him years ago and it was supremely creepy. The movie of The Other was another that our local L.A. station played an awful lot. He was a good writer.

>67 rabbitprincess: :-D I wouldn't have thought of putting those things together intentionally but it just worked. I don't usually eat sweets with wine.

>68 SirThomas: Fantastic! Hey everybody, look at Thomas getting all creepy! And I'm taking a rec for both "Graveyard" and The Night Country because I've never heard of them. Now let me stick my hand in the prize box for you because you read through some good ones.

A sugar high just for you:


Autumn Cozy has a fabulous Autumn and Halloween curated photo site which you should check out, and you'll also find plenty of Autumn Cozy ambiance videos on YouTube. Ambiance videos are something calming to play as you read, sleep, or just to enjoy the sound of a thunderstorm while you clean up the frosting and blood. Here's a good one, but you can click around and find them in library settings, Victorian streets, coffee shops and outdoor patios, all with whatever sound effect and lighting you prefer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbaEn7phVKM&t=42s

The praline cake looks nice and the bit I sliced off of the bottom to make it sit properly on the plate was delicious, although sweet.

That looks beautiful! Well done!

Seasonal viewing- last night we watched "Curse of the Cat People" from 1944, starring Ann Carter and Simone Simon. I saw "Cat People" a few years ago, which is a strange fantasy that had Simon as the star. It was a good movie and is a good choice for anyone who wants horror without blood, but it's just a good classic too. "Curse..." has a fantasy element, in that a lonely little girl imagines a friend who is kind to her, and it's set in Sleepy Hollow, NY. But spooky elements are kept to one single minute of the movie when an old actress tells the story of The Headless Horseman. Half a Jack O' Lantern on the Scare Scale.
On Amazon there's the dark comedy horror "Come To Daddy" starring Elijah Wood as a millennial who hasn't seen his father since he was little and suddenly receives an invitation to visit the father's remote beach house. 4 Draculas.



But if you want tension and blood and deception and evil doctors galore (yep, more than one), then the tv series Hannibal delivers. We never caught it on it's tv run but it's on Netflix and we're halfway through Season 2. The actor who plays Lecter is so good. 4 Draculas.

>72 mstrust: Aside from the lack of spookiness, did you enjoy Curse of the Cat People? All of the Lewton horror pictures from RKO are worth a look, but they're mostly not "typical" horror.

ETA: Today's "horror" movie was 1980's The Alien Dead, an absolutely awful movie with swamp zombies, so poorly done that I'd hesitate to give it even a quarter of a Jack O' Lantern, although it was good to see Buster Crabbe in his 70s.

I did. The little girl, Ann Carter, was a really good actress. It was disappointing only because I expected it to relate to the previous movie. In fact, I don't recall there being even a house cat in Curse. But the acting was good and Simon was ethereal.
Oh, so sad that Crabbe was in something that awful. And perhaps you know that there is a movie called "Swamp Zombies" and it starred a couple of WWE wrestlers and a porn star and their acting is what saves it?

85. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. Patricia joins a newly formed book club for women, one dedicated to reading the great works of Western literature, but that group doesn't last long as the majority of the members aren't interested in the books so much as getting away from their families for a little while. So a smaller group of members break off and form a new book club dedicated to reading lurid true crime books. Patricia wasn't interested at first when Kitty and Maryellen invited her.

This was one of those trashy true crime books. But clearly Kitty was reading it and you couldn't call someone else's taste in books trashy, even if it was.
"I'm not sure that's my kind of book," Patricia said.
"These two women were best friends and they chopped each other up with axes," Kitty said. "Don't pretend you don't want to know what happened."
"Jude is obscure for a reason," Maryellen growled.

One night after their meeting, Patricia goes to put her trash cans at the curb and discovers an elderly neighbor feasting. Patricia is attacked, the neighbor dies in the hospital, and in an effort to put their lives back to the safe place it was, the people in this Charleston community don't ask themselves enough questions about the neighbor's grandnephew who moved into the neighborhood and ingratiated himself so thoroughly with all the husbands, then took over the women's book club. Only Patricia suspects the newcomer isn't what he seems but when she hears of a rash of children dying in the poor side of town, she begins to connect dots and knows she can't do anything about it on her own.

There's something to freak out everybody here. A vampire, ghost, murder and more. But there's also the lives of Patricia and her friends, which sometimes has a Stepford Wives feel, in that their families disregard these women, and as strong as some of them seem in each other's company, when the husbands are there the women are diminished. Highly recommended because it's so engaging.
5 stars
S.S.: 3.5 Frankensteins

>69 mstrust: mmmhh yummy!



Thanks a lot!

>57 mstrust: Yay, beer reviews. I'm honestly more of a wine than beer person -- beer is mostly social for me since we have lots of fun breweries here -- but pumpkin beer is an exception, and I make sure to get some Night Owl every year.

>75 mstrust: This is the first review I've seen of this book that made me want to read it!

>51 mstrust:: Good to know; I wouldn't want to be unfashionably late, lol!

>56 mstrust:: Must remember that; it's perfect for any sort of dip. Probably really gruesome with salsa, especially if you add in a few plastic creepy crawlies (well-washed, of course) around the edges, hee hee....

>60 mstrust: Nice! Must make a note of that book. I have one that might interest you as well:



Gory, scary--has all the elements of nightmares come true, even if some of these aren't human parasites. (Warning: some of the nasty ones are, though!) I would rate it a 4.5 for a read: well-written and researched, but not so technical that the average layman would get lost or bogged down. Different people have different tolerances for fear and gore with nonfiction books, and what scares one person (spiders, for instance) doesn't even cause another (like me) to bat an eye (I think they're fascinating and many are beautiful), but parts of this book were giving me the squirms--and that's hard to do. For the New Guinea worm alone, this book is probably somewhere between Frankenstein and Dracula, though considering how some parasites make "zombies" of their hosts, such as Toxoplasma gondii in rodents, maybe the zombie rating would be more fitting. Regardless, if you don't want to think about what may be living on, in, and around you, you probably don't want to read this.

>74 mstrust: I hadn't heard of the movie Swamp Zombies, but I guess I'm not surprised that a movie was made with that title. It doesn't sound like something I need to go hunting for, though. :-)

Last night we watched a movie with a ghost, but no scariness: the musical comedy Wonder Man, with Danny Kaye in a dual role as a murdered nightclub performer and his bookish brother.

>76 SirThomas: Clearly I picked a flavor you like! You're welcome!

>77 curioussquared: I drink wine more often too. I'll have a lager maybe twice a year, but when pumpkin beers come out I'm all over them. And I would buy any of the beers I reviewed again.
Glad I could intrigue you with that review, which reminded me to post it with the book page. I was in a hurry this morning.

>78 CassieBash: Oh sure, you could have a pumpkin realistically barfing up any kind of creamy condiment or dip. Imagine the gasps of surprise as your guests find chunks of broccoli or baby tomatoes mixed in. Make it your own!
The cover made me think it was sci-fi, but to find that it's non-fiction make it so much worse, ha! It's one of those things that would take me weeks to recover from while it also compels me to keep reading. I really don't like insects and parasites are internal insects. I don't know if that's medically true but in my head it is.
Thanks for letting us know about this book, and for something that terrifying, you do get a prize:

Eat them before they eat you.

Much of this morning was spent in the waiting room of Mike's endocrinologist. They don't let a second person in with the patient any more. So his gallbladder has to come out.
We had lunch and stopped at the baking supply store, where I stocked up on flavorings, cake rounds and bakery boxes, along with Halloween cake picks. I'll be making a cake for a fire station. We stopped by last week for Mike to talk with one of the firefighters who's a customer, and the guys were so friendly and gave me a tour and even put one of there jacket on me, then topped it with the Chief's helmet and an oxygen tank. That equipment is so heavy, the jacket is probably 20 lbs and the oxygen tank is 40. I have a pic I need to download.

>79 harrygbutler: :-D No, I'd guess that it isn't a must-see.
I've always like Danny Kaye. I have had a book for years that I took from my mom, a travel book written by Kaye's daughter. She also had a good sense of humor.
I have some Halloween baking shows to get to this afternoon, but I also have "Plan 9 from Outer Space" recorded. I haven't seen that in maybe 15 years.

>79 harrygbutler: Rates a pumpkin, eh? I'll have to look for that; I also like Danny Kaye.

>80 mstrust: Thank you, I'm honored, but they're ladybugs (or ladybird beetles, if you prefer), and they taste nasty. They have their own poison, you know, even if it's so mild it didn't make it into your poisonous plants and animals book, lol! On the other hand, trying to poison me is a very Halloween thing to do! :D Not all parasites are insects; many scientists consider bacteria and viruses as parasites by definition, since they use our bodies for their own nefarious purposes and viruses can't even replicate without getting into another organism's living cells. Let's not forget that malaria is a protozoan (it's only spread by insects). And mites are technically arachnids--related more closely to your dreaded spiders than to insects. Yes, it's not just insects that want to use us as a home....

Bummer about the gall bladder; I hope things go well for him. He will be in my thoughts.

The cake sounds cool, though; that is awesome!

Poor Mike. On the bright side, it's not too bad as far as surgeries go. A couple of tiny holes and it's all fine again. Bonus: a chance to wear those gowns that allow one's backside to be properly aired. I'm wishing him a speedy recovery.

>80 mstrust: Sorry to hear about the issue for Mike. All good wishes to him for the surgery!

Tonight is likely to be a mystery movie, but I'm thinking of watching The Pit and the Pendulum very soon, as it showed up on Amazon Prime to remind me.

>82 CassieBash: All four of Kaye's Goldwyn pictures co-starring Virginia Mayo are available streaming via Amazon Prime right now: Wonder Man, The Kid from Brooklyn, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (my favorite, I think), and A Song Is Born. A few others are available as well.

>80 mstrust: Hope Mike's surgery goes well!

>84 harrygbutler: Oooh, nice! I'd have to watch during my lunch because streaming doesn't work well on 4G at home (I'm in a tech dry spot in a state where rural Internet access is a bit sketchy) but I do have Prime, so that's good to know. Thanks for the heads-up!

>82 CassieBash: Thanks Cassie!
...and they taste nasty :-D Ok, now I want to know how many bites it took before you made your assessment. No need to be embarrassed.
I didn't know ladybugs were toxic. Good thing we stuck to eating sourgrass when I was a kid.

>83 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, and that's good to hear. I don't want to jinx it, but between the two of us this is the first surgery aside from each of us having dental surgery. We've had broken bones but not a real surgery.

>84 harrygbutler: Thanks Harry! Mike isn't worried so far, just surprised. But I guess it helps that the endocrinologist had just had her gall bladder removed last week and she'd been back to work very quickly and said it was a quick surgery.
I haven't seen The Pit and the Pendulum since I was a kid. I might get to that right around Halloween. Prime has added "The Lords of Salem" which I'd been wanting to see because it's set in Salem and stars Patricia Quinn and Dee Wallace.

>85 rabbitprincess: Thanks so much!

>86 CassieBash: My sister lives in a real patchy area too so we have to talk when she's driving to work.

I got a really late start this morning.

What do ya say we shop for maple syrup? Yes? Yes!
Bragg Farm, located in Vermont, won the 2019 Best in Show ribbon at the Vermont Maple Festival: https://braggfarm.com/
Sprink Break in Maine won the Best in Show at MapleMania: https://mainemapleandhoney.com/
Runamok is fast becoming a major producer due to the number of awards they've won. And they make "sparkle" syrup, which would thrill any five year old: https://runamokmaple.com/

The new book by one of my favorite authors, J.W. Ocker, Cursed Objects, is out today. I pre-ordered so just waiting for The Poisoned Pen Bookstore to let me know when I can pick it up.
I saw not one but two Halloween commercials last night, both for candy.
And I'm watching the 2 hour season premiere of "Halloween Baking Championship". They've changing the rules, the setting, which is now a haunted house, and the number of judges. No Lorraine Pascal.

86. Killer Maple Cookies by Patti Benning. Lilah has been a disappointment to her father. After quitting his corporation and throwing away a good future, she's spent the last few years going from one menial job to another, always looking for something she's passionate about. Now she plans on opening a cookie shop with the financial backing of her friend Margie, which some say looks like she's taking advantage of an elderly neighbor. Lilah finds the perfect storefront but plans come to a halt when the property owner suddenly dies. Was it murder or suicide?
There are several chapters with cooking scenes, even the preparation of a Thanksgiving meal, but no recipes included. This is a quick, cozy read, the third in a series and seems to be self-published. It's as good as any other of this genre.
3 stars
S.S: 1.5 jack o' lanterns

I'm surprised at how quickly reviews of Cursed Objects have come out, including The NY Times. Here's a fun YT review by Library Macabre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6KuKFL_ZI4&feature=emb_logo

It's Elvira birthday!
She's 69 years old today, a toddler for someone who is clearly a vampire and will "live" to be five hundred.
Cassandra Peterson has told the story of being hired as an L.A. horror show host and being paid about $300 an episode while the producers, who owned the rights to the character, were raking in money off her image. She still worked a day job for the first few years "Elvira" was on the air. So when her contract came up and the producers still didn't want to give her a raise, she asked for the right to form a fan club and they signed that over. Next contract, no raise, she asked for the rights to appear in character for other roles and they gave it to her. Over the next years the producers signed away the character rights piece by piece until it was entirely hers.

Here she is with one of her pandemic tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK68nQ5_zIE
And Demeter fragrances has their line of Elvira colognes. "Zombie" sounds particularly scrumptious: https://demeterfragrance.com/elvira.html

Jennifer, have you watched What We Do In the Shadows? Movie and TV show about olden-timey vampires existing in the modern day from Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. Your Elvira gif reminded me of it :) I was a big fan of the original movie and skeptical of the TV show, but it's turned out to be my favorite thing I've watched this year. It's on FX, available to stream on Hulu.

Yes, I'm a fan of both the movie and show! I knew that both Clement and Waititi were behind the creation and writing of the show so I jumped right in and it's great. And if you like Matt Berry (Lazslo) you might like his other sitcoms "Toast of London" and "Year of the Rabbit".

And I should mention the cool Halloweenie thing I did just a little while ago. I struck a wooden match to light my pumpkin candle on the hope chest in the living room. As the match struck it snapped in half and the lit end went flying to the other end of the hope chest and fell between the chest and the under the sofa, which is back to back to the chest. I could see the flame still burning. I ran around and got down and slapped it out but in maybe 10 seconds it had caramelized a little spot in the carpet. Ha! Oh well, it's totally hidden from view and it's not as bad as the year I broke two fingers around Halloween.

>92 mstrust: Oh good, I thought you would like it! I'm not sure why I wasn't convinced about the TV show at first since I knew they were involved, but I'm glad I got past it! I've taken to saying "Demn it!" in Nadja's accent a lot. I'll have to check out Matt Berry's other stuff!

Oh no!! I'm glad the damage wasn't worse!

I've taken a quote from the show too, which I say to Mike. It's from Nandor, when he says, "I've dragged my cape through a street doo-doo again." It cracks both of us up.

Hi Jennifer. Sorry to hear that Mike has to have an operation, but it sounds like a fairly uncomplicated one. Hopefully he will be back on his feet in no time. I saw somewhere that this is going to be the last season of TWD, s I guess we're not the only ones who feel the show has gone too far downhill.

I love that puking pumpkin in >56 mstrust: - it's inspired me to copy it and invite the grandkids over for snacks - they will appreciate the yuckiness!

>90 mstrust: OK, her tips made me laugh! Not to be a wet blanket, but be careful with a couple of those fragrances; tobacco and belladonna are nightshades; the nicotine in tobacco leaves can be absorbed through the skin, as can the poisons in belladonna. If it really contains these products, you could get more than you bargained for.

Which brings me to a fascinating book recommendation for you nonfiction readers:



It's amazing how many nightshades we eat. Sometimes cooking breaks down the poisons, sometimes not. The nightshade family has a whole arsenal of poisons, some more dangerous than others, and some of them have multiple poisons. From peppers to eggplants, belladonna to mandrake, this book gives a non-technical explanation of the plants and their poisons. This is pumpkin reading as the content really isn't scary and unlike previously mentioned books on this thread, no serious gore (some of the poisons have some serious consequences but there isn't a lot of detail) and no pictures of scary spiders, but for those who like natural history, it's a solid 4 at least.

Last year due to illness (family), we didn't have our annual Halloween party. This year because of illness (of a more general sort), we are having it outside. We're going to go back through Halloweens past and pay homage to all 13 themes we've used (some were re-used, like pirates and Harry Potter; we've been doing the parties annually for almost 20 years). This is from the 2016 "Dia de los Muertos" theme; may I introduce you to Daredevil:



Fans of classic horror should know where I got the name. :) A year or two later, and we adapted him to be a thestral for a re-do of our HP theme. We love versatility, lol!

My beverage highlight for fall is
Bold Rock hard cider, their Carolina Draft Amber Apple.
Produced and bottled in the Blue Ridge Mtns.

>95 DeltaQueen50: The operation doesn't sound so bad as far as operations go. It will be a little more difficult because we live in a tri-level and I'm guessing that isn't ideal for a post-op patient. We're waiting for the surgeon's office to call to make an appointment.
Oh, have they called it on TWD? That's too bad. All they had to do was bring back all the "dead" actors they've killed off in the last four seasons, change the scripts and get rid of the showrunner. Easy fix.
Ha, I hope your grandkids love your puking pumpkin centerpiece.

>96 CassieBash: Hi Cassie!
Holy crap that book cover is huge :-D! Can you switch it out for the LT version?
It looks pretty interesting, thanks for the review. This sounds like it would be a good book for anyone interested in cooking too. Thanks for the spider-free thumbs up.
I can promise you that the Elvira perfumes are using synthetic version of these plant notes, so no danger at all. There are still a few perfumers who still use real florals in their production, but for the most part, the industry works with synthetics. It's cheaper, easier and more consistent. (I use to run a fragrance dept. in a store so I'm an annoying know-it-all.)

Wow, how great that your family goes all out for Halloween! Your parties sound amazing. If you want to share some pics later that's be great!



I'm reprinting the recipe I posted earlier this year for the best Irish Soda Bread I've ever had. It's from The Apple Lover's Cookbook by Amy Traverso, who is a co-host of the Travels with Yankee show on PBS. Really, this bread is delicious, easy and perfect for Fall. Try it.

Irish Soda Bread with Apples and Currants

2 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c sugar, plus another two tsp, divided
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
4 tbs melted butter
1 c buttermilk
1 large firm apple, such as Honeycrisp or Jazz, finely diced
1/2 c currants ( I used raisins)
1 tsp caraway seeds (optional, I didn't use)

Preheat oven to 375 and set rack to the middle position. Grease an 8 inch cake pan or a bread pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, 1/4 sugar, powder, soda and salt. Add the butter and stir until the flour is mostly coated. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk. Gently stir until moistened. The dough should look shaggy.
Add the apples, currants and seeds and stir just until combined.
Place the dough into the prepared pan and flatten slightly. The dough will not reach the edges. Sprinkle with the remaining teaspoons of sugar.
Bake until the top of the loaf is golden brown and a tester comes out clean, 45-50 min. (Mine took 47 minutes)
Cool on a rack.

87. Dr. Maniac vs Robby Schwartz by R.L. Stine. Robby is an aspiring comic book artist who creates weird villains like Dr. Maniac and the Scarlet Starlet. When his villains somehow come to life and are just as dangerous as he'd intended them to be, Robby has to find a way to get his creations back on the computer.
3 stars
S.S.: 1 pumpkin
Yep, I've got another stack of Goosebumps for this season.

>98 mstrust:

thanks for the recipe! I'll try that one.

>97 nrmay: Sorry, Nancy, didn't see you up there until now. Thanks for the cider review. I like cider but my mom really likes it. I'll look for this one.

I had a can of Wasatch Pumpkin Ale from Salt Lake City. 5% alcohol, the company calls this one "Spice-Caramel- Smooth". To me, it tastes like the closest to a regular beer out of the pumpkin beers I've tried so far. Just an ale plus a little spice, so not unusual enough to try again but it would be good for someone who thinks pumpkin beers are a weird concept.
>101 mstrust: Ha! We're on the same schedule! I hope you enjoy the bread.

And here's an extra recipe, one that you may have seen on the internet. I've made this and it really is good. I was skeptical because I had never heard of espresso turning into a fluffy texture, but it really does.

Dalgona Coffee

.
I used espresso powder but most recipes call for coffee crystals.
So it's 2 tbs each of powder, sugar and boiling coffee. Beat with a hand mixer or standing mixer in the small bowl. Takes 3-5 minutes. Fill a glass with cold milk and ice, and scoop the coffee mixture on top. It's almost a meringue texture and melts into the milk a little to create a thick milkshake.

>98 mstrust: Switched out. Smaller but blurrier; for those with eyes that can't read the subtitle, the full title of the book is The Fascinating World of the Nightshades: Tobacco, Mandrake, Potato, Tomato, Pepper, Eggplant, Etc. by Charles B. Heiser.

That recipe for soda bread looks really good, though my specialty with baking is sweet breads and cookies. I have an awesome recipe for pumpkin bread that I'll have to dig out and share before the season ends.

I'll share pics throughout, promise! Dia de los Muertos was a theme I picked out; my older sister wasn't sure about it but in the end she really loved the look.

Outside ofrenda, with flash:



Outside ofrenda, without flash:



The "cemetery" at night; pity you can't see the tombstones, but the candle effect outlining the path through it shows up nicely:



Inside ofrenda, with electric candles (outside candles were flame):



Even though we didn't have a party last year, I took advantage of my crazy lady reputation at work and dressed up as a new character every day for the week of Halloween, culminating with Dia de los Muertos on Nov. 1. Plan to do the same this year only I'm thinking of having the students vote on what they would like to see me dress as; sort of a pick your favorite 5. Since we're digging out all 13 themes' worth of decor and costuming at home, that should give the students plenty of choices, from mad scientist to carnival sideshow to my personal favorite, the dragon lady.

Thanks for the switch!
My baking has always been almost entirely sweets, and though this bread has just over a quarter cup of sugar, the apples and raisins make it sweeter. It's great as a replacement for breakfast pastries or as a dessert.
You and your family put a lot of work into your party ambiance. Looks creepy! Are you having your party on the 31st this year?

I'll just mention that I now have a couch pillow that looks like a haunted house ticket. It's about sixteen inches long and the fabric is a thick canvas.


The bartender at The Edison in Florida shows how to make The Basic Witch cocktail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKhlI7dSpwU

The best wishes for Mike, Jennifer.
I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Thank you very much, Thomas, and I hope you have a good weekend too!
I've just made a golden pumpkin spice cake.

More fragrances, but most of these are unisex. There's this seller on Etsy, Obscura Hortus, who specializes in turning creepy books into scents. Especially Ray Bradbury (we'll be hearing more from Mr. Bradbury soon). With notes of ginger and candy corn and other unusual stuff, check out the selection in the bubbles:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/645766809/the-autumn-people-autumn-perfume-ray?ref=...

88. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. On a snowy night in Toronto, international star Arthur Leander has a heart attack onstage while performing King Lear. Medic-in-training Jeevan jumps from the audience and performs CPR but Arthur is dead. By coincidence that same night is the beginning of a pandemic brought by a Russian flight that spreads death within hours across North America.
We follow a handful of survivors through the next days or years, all separately yet connected by having known Arthur. Between these survivor stories is the life story of Arthur, who came from a small island off the Canadian coast and left to find such amazing success as an actor yet never found a way to be personally happy, and his first wife, Miranda, the creator of Station Eleven.
Even though this is probably the worst time to read a book about a pandemic wiping out the population, it's still one I'd recommend because it's hard to put down once the survivors are determined, and Arthur and Miranda were so interesting. There are also a couple of little mysteries to solve.
5 stars
S.S.: 4 Draculas

I read this for the International Horror ScaredyKit, and it's been on my shelf for two years so it's a ROOT!

>105 mstrust: We haven't quite decided. Since we're in northwest Indiana and because of the virus, we're doing an all-outdoors, kid-friendly party (ours usually is kid-friendly to start with and then when all the families are gone, we break out the horror movies), and waiting until Halloween itself may not be the best, weather-wise. Last year it actually snowed on Halloween and we even had a thin layer of accumulation. Plus, if there's actually trick-or-treating this Halloween (many places up here are still in the "wait and see" mode), my sisters and I help our dad give out candy. So we might do it the weekend before. If there is trick-or-treating, I suggested we do this to my dad's railing at his front door steps.

We have begun setting up the little scenes for each theme; bet you can guess this theme pretty easily:







This is a close-up of one of the gargoyle pairs sitting in the back, behind the reserved headstone:



This is the first of at least 2 graveyards; we can't do Dia de los Muertos without a cemetery, after all. The activity at this station will be using the Nerf crossbows to hit the vampire target we'll set up. Each theme will have its own section of the yard and decor, and its own activity and prizes to give out.

We also took a trip to a local pumpkin seller yesterday; here's the haul:



These are the ones I specifically chose:



>108 mstrust: Forget Elvira--get me some Autumn People perfume--I'm always up for Bradbury!

Today is both H.G. Wells' and Stephen King's birthday. That's like having official permission to scare the bejeezus out of someone today.

>110 CassieBash: It's nice to see a whole family getting together to frighten their friends. And you have lots of props to work with too. I'll have some ideas for yard hauntings later on. And I love those knobbly gourds and unusual shapes, they look great.
I happen to have a big gargoyle in my bedroom. It just ended up there when it had to be moved from downstairs, so it's been sitting in the corner for a couple of years now.

***
I picked up a box of pumpkin pie Twinkies yesterday but haven't tried it yet. We also hit a used bookstore and I brought home a stack:
More Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark
The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Unification- to take to Mom
Skeleton Man
Goosebumps: Vampire Breath
IQ
West of Sunset

Here's a fun site that follows the pop culture side of Halloween: https://www.allhallowsgeek.com/

>111 mstrust: Hi, Jennifer! That's a fair-sized haul.

Last night, we watched Vincent Price in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine — not exactly scary fare, but it did include a sequence parodying the climax of The Pit and the Pendulum (and which even used some footage from that movie).

Hi, Harry!
I think I did enough damage in the 30 minutes or so that Mike could stand. And I was there at the bookstore for the first face mask argument I've seen, when a mean old man with a ponytail screamed and swore at an employee because he didn't want to put a mask on.
I remember Dr. Goldfoot...from when I was a kid. It was in among the Beach Blanket movies the local station played all summer. I haven't see it since but I loved all of them.

Some of the Halloweenie things I've seen in the past two weeks or so:
Session 9- starring David Caruso and filmed at the real abandoned Danvers State Hospital. Atmospheric and tense, though the end seemed to unravel.
Lords of Salem- written and directed by Rob Zombie, starring Shari Moon Zombie, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, Judy Geeson, Bruce Davidson, Richard Fancy. Filmed in Salem with many street shots. About a skanky morning deejay who is sent an anonymous record that controls many of the women who hear it when she plays it over the radio. All the actors are very good and you'll recognize actors in even the small parts. I don't think you'll find this much nudity outside of something from Europe in the 70's.
The Eleven- an A&E limited series documentary from 2017 that has a journalist and former detective working around the Galveston area trying to find enough evidence to prove that a creepy man named Ed Bell, already in prison for one murder, was responsible for another eleven murdered teenage girls in the late 70's.
Scary Stories: The Story of the Books that Frightened a Generation- documentary about the books and life of Alvin Schwartz.
And I'm about halfway through Plan 9 from Outer Space. Even better than I remember.

Finally, it's Fall!



I just have to wait for the temperatures to drop below 105. But I have a candy bowl full of little chocolate bars, so that's nice.


"Wait til it's under 100! Greedy!"

89. Lonely Planet: New England Fall Foliage Road Trips. One of the New England books I bought in preparation for our family Autumn trip, which would have taken place in a few weeks.
Anyway, broken up by state and routes, this covers the best roads and hikes to see the fall foliage. It includes restaurants, places to stay and sites such as wineries and apple mills. Because I read this on my Kindle, there are websites embedded so you can go right to the quaint general store's website or to the winery's to look at their selection of maple wine.
4 stars
S.S.: 1

Saw this article on my lunch break and immediately thought of your thread, Jennifer!

Move over lattes: Kraft Dinner is launching limited-edition pumpkin spice flavour

I will come back later to see what all has been happening over here.

>116 lkernagh: I am torn between "haha" and "eww" as reactions!

We've been dropping down to single-digit (in Celsius!) temperatures at night, but it might get up to 25 degrees on Saturday. Some friends want to grab the chance for a socially distanced outdoor picnic; it will probably be our last really warm day of the year. I think everyone ELSE is going to have the same idea, though, so I'm not thrilled about the concept.

>116 lkernagh: Ha, thanks for that, Lori! To be honest, I was hoping I could buy it in the store. Yes, I'd try that, as some of the spices used are the same as in a cheese fondue. I don't know if I'd like it, but I'd take a chance. I do like that the contest winners also get a latte cup with their name misspelled.

>117 rabbitprincess: It could go either way, for sure. You lucky thing, getting some cool weather. We're still at a ridiculous level of heat through the month.
I say, go on and picnic- it'll be too cold soon and I would guess that your friends just want to sit on an enormous blanket and yell out that they miss you. This would be a good occasion for homing pigeons.

Now back after getting caught up (after taking down notes for baking sugar pumpkins!) Loving your pumpkin beer reviews. Sorry to learn about Mike's medical procedure. I hope it goes well and he has a speedy recovery. I did not know that Elvira has pandemic tips!

>98 mstrust: - Snagging a copy of the soda bread recipe! Thanks for posting it here!

>117 rabbitprincess: - Exactly!

>118 mstrust: - As much as I would probably hate the taste, I would be tempted to try it.

Thanks, Lori! Mike has a consultation with the surgeon at the end of this week. I'm still hoping he says an operation is unnecessary.
I know, Elvira giving pandemic tips! It's the undead trying to keep the rest of us alive. I was surprised by how cheery her home is.
I hope you enjoy the soda bread- it's very good. And it just occurred to me that I do add in a couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin puree to my marinara sauce, along with cheese, to make it creamy and cut the acid. We also had Trader Joe's butternut squash man & cheese a few nights ago. Hmmm, this Kraft becomes less strange the more I think about it.

Here's another pumpkin beer- Shipyard Pumpkinhead. In small print it says "Ale with natural flavor added", which I take to mean that it went through the regular brewing and then they added a bit of pumpkin and spice flavor before bottling. That's what it tastes like. Out of all the pumpkin beers I've been trying, I like this one the least as it tastes like a bitter beer with some nutmeg waved over it. Cool label though. 4.5 % alcohol, made in Rochester, NY.



Time to change out Summer for an Autumn wardrobe:
https://www.amazon.com/Amityville-Horror-T-Shirt-XX-Large-Color/dp/B07RYG1D2K/re...

https://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Sanderson-Sisters-Breakfast-Graphic/dp/B07WD4XK...

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Monsters-Creature-Portrait-T-Shirt/dp/B07YT873G...

https://www.etsy.com/listing/832677511/halloweentown-shirt-halloweentown-tshirt?...

https://www.amazon.com/California-Costumes-Ripper-Black-X-Large/dp/B004WPHQ7Y/re...

>120 mstrust: Not into the alcohol scene; aside from medical reasons, everything I've ever sampled has a medicinal taste to it; it's just the way my tastebuds and brain work. Give me the sweetest wine and I'll tell you it tastes like nasty Robitussin at best. More for the rest of you, though, lol! BUT I love the label artwork of the various brands and their individual concoctions, and that nod to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is so cool!

Our internet and cable have been out since just after nine last night. Someone torched the power pole that was the supply to a large part of the valley. They said last night that it would be working this morning but now they're shooting for tonight. I'm on my phone right now but I'll be back when I can do my thing.
🎃👻👿

>121 CassieBash: Sure, you have lots of company in that. I'm the opposite in that I don't like sweet wines or champagne at all, and in fact I drink unsweetened seltzer water all day. If we were roommates we wouldn't have to write our names on our liquor!

90. Goosebumps: The Beast from the East by R.L. Stine. This is number 43 in the series. Older sister Ginger and her twin brothers Nat and Pat are out camping with their parents when the kids get behind on the trail. They find that deep in the woods the flora looks very different and a community of weird, talking animals want to play a game with the children. Losers get eaten.
3 stars
S.S.: 2 Zombies

>123 mstrust: Yeah, it would be all yours, lol! We'd probably have to write our names on the fizzy water, though. That stuff I like, and when I realized it's the carbonation that I crave most of the time with sodas, it's helped me cut down on drinking sodas a lot.

>125 CassieBash: That's what I discovered too, that it's the carbonation. I'm fine without the sweetness, though it took a week or two to get over my can of Coke a day habit.

***
I'm 90 minutes into the 1994 miniseries The Stand (it's over 5 hours long). A new version is about to be released.

*If you have a Kindle you can get Revolting Rhymers: Competition Winners for free. The BBC sponsored a competition of children's poetry about Roald Dahl's books and characters. The winners are pretty funny, often "poo" filled, but most of us wouldn't be able to read the ones written in Welsh. Not counting this as it's so quick.


We'd like to be in New England right now, but since most of us can't, here are the foliage live cams. Click around to see how things are looking in different states. *Spoiler: Vermont already has some beautiful colors.
https://www.tripsavvy.com/fall-foliage-web-cams-1598728

Just a reminder that there are just a few days left to PM me your address if you'd like to join in the Halloween card exchange or if you want to join me for either Fun Home or I'll Be Gone in the Dark in October. September is wrapping up.
I went out to the salon for a haircut this morning and managed to come home with Halloween candy.

We attempted to do a Fall thing last night. Because our state fair was cancelled, organizers came up with a drive-thru event of about ten popular food vendors, where cars would drive through a loop in the fairgrounds and be able to buy things like corn dogs, turkey legs, caramel apples, funnel cakes and cotton candy. It's a good idea to keep the circuit vendors in business and fair goers in funnel cake. We drove down and the line of cars waiting to enter was in the hundreds. The traffic went down the entrance side, around the corner and down the block and around another corner. We went to Lenny's for corn dogs instead, but I'm glad the event was a success. It'll run next weekend too.


Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter- The bottle bears the words "Autumnal, pumpkin pie, gourdgeous". Made locally in Tempe with 5.1% alcohol. I liked this a lot. It has almost a molasses and spice flavor yet is smooth.

Did you know that Ray Bradbury had a tv show? Ray Bradbury Theater was an Emmy nominated series of his short stories that ran for six seasons, from 1985-92. I have no memory at all of it but caught some on a deep cable channel a while ago and really liked it. Here's "The Crowd" starring Nick Mancuso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4qV3y2cDhQ&list=PL-lQA4qvcfcn0h2O9sNdrWbLud...

91. Spontaneous Human Combustion by Jenny Randles and Peter Hough. A study of the various cases of people found on fire without explanation and the remains of people who burnt to death, often at such a high heat that they were reduced to ashes, without any heat source nearby that could have produced such intense results.
There are many photos of the scenes that have been published and they have much in common. The victims are usually elderly and living alone, often overweight or alcoholic, and the victim is often a pile of ash until the ankles, with the feet and shoes remaining and looking normal, if being attached to nothing but ashes can be called normal. It's called "the wick effect" burning from the head down like a candle. They are grisly photos.
The authors are determined to find whether or not these and many others, are because of SHC and they track down fire chiefs and hidden files of information. I have to assume that this is author Randles as she's listed as the main author and has a handful of books about UFOs and aliens to her credit too, so I think the overall belligerent tone of the book was hers. Reading things like, "Apparently we had upset someone on the production team (of an upcoming television show) by the decision, which we had carefully and fairly tried to explain. When one of us later arranged with the Radio Times to write a feature to tie in with the programme, the offer was mysteriously rescinded. We were told that someone from the series had advised the Radio Times against including our work and they felt they had to agree as the magazine relied upon Q.E.D.'s cooperation." Well, it was on. The book turned into a series of complaints about officials and librarians who tried to thwart her research, there was a whole chapter devoted to how wrong the mentioned tv show was, and this tone of "me against the world" went on and was something I looked forward to a lot. As far as concrete information, well, I'd say there's as much here as you'd find, as they did interview many first responders who had no explanation for what they saw.
3 stars
S.S.: 1

>128 mstrust: Very aware; I own the whole run on DVD. As an uber-Bradbury fan, I have most of his printed and video works.

Get your children started on Ray Bradbury early; have them watch The Halloween Tree. The scare rating is at worst a 2, and once they're done watching it, read them the book. :)

Happy Fall y'all! I love the autumness of your thread.

>128 mstrust: Drive through fair sounds neat!

>130 CassieBash: Oh, you must have a great collection!
I haven't read enough Bradbury, just Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Halloween Tree and a few short stories, and should go on a binge at some point.
I really liked the Bradbury show, it's just that I don't remember its first run at all. I watched three recently and I'll see if I come across more.

>131 Carmenere: Morning, Pumpkin! Thank you for noticing my Autumness!

>133 figsfromthistle: It's a good idea, and it has worked very well. We drove down again yesterday around noon as we were out doing our Sunday thing and were nearby. The line was there already but if we'd wanted to wait 30-40 to get in, it would have been doable. We went to Pepe's Taco Villa instead, were I feasted on a machaca burrito covered in mole sauce.

We also went over to The Poisoned Pen Bookstore to pick up my special order of Cursed Objects. And stopped by Total Wine for more pumpkin beers and a bottle of Witching Hour Red Blend. It's cheap, around $7-8, but a good wine and a seasonal, spooky label.
We're visiting with the surgeon this morning.

Sing along with Amy Sedaris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBWmEC2amZk

Hooray! We had the appointment with the surgeon this morning and he says Mike doesn't need his gallbladder out.

Yay!!
Therese are good News.

>135 mstrust: He should definitely leave it there then. That's good news!

I rewarded myself for leaving the house and running necessary errands by buying myself chocolate:

https://www.purdys.com/pumpkin-spiced-latte-6-pc

I will report back on how it tastes!

Recommended Ray Bradbury autumn/Halloween reads (aside from the aforementioned "Halloween Tree":





And of course:



Each one is a gem of short stories collections, though From the Dust Returned has an overarching plot, much like Martian Chronicles but a little more so. If you are familiar with his "Family" stories, this book expands the concept from the original ones he wrote.

>135 mstrust: That's great news!

>136 SirThomas: Thanks, Thomas, and I agree!

>137 RidgewayGirl: I think so too- If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Eventually it will have to come out but since he has no pain or problems, the doctor says it's best to wait until he does.

>138 rabbitprincess: Yum! Of course you deserved it!
I looked around and spotted the "Zombie Survival Kit" and while I don't think it would help a living person in a zombie attack, I do think it would make a person who ate all that chocolate taste delicious for the zombies. Mmmm, chocolate flavored people...

>139 CassieBash: I haven't read any of these- can you believe it? The October Country has been on my WL for a few years but it just hasn't happened. But that book cover is horrifying.

>140 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! It was exactly the recommendation I was hoping for- that he'd look at the charts and numbers and poke around and determine that it could be put off.

I should mention a cookie we got from a bakery yesterday near the bookstore. Called "The Cowpuncher", it was a crispy, very dark chocolate and jalapeno cookie with a roasted slice of jalapeno on top. I like chocolate and cinnamon or black pepper, but I normally don't like jalapeno anything. We both agreed that it was very good, so I might try that at home.

Another reminder that tomorrow is the last day to get in on the card exchange, and the September "International Horror" ScaredyKit.

My stylist was recommended Netflix's new Ratchet series to me, saying "It's crazy!" which is a thumbs up to me. She knows I was a big TWD fan. And a new version of The Stand, still a miniseries, will be on CBS in December. James Marsden as Stu, Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flagg.
Though I'm very happy that the new season of The Great British Baking Show has started.

Here is Shivers of Delight, a website with the legend "Spine-tingling stuff that'll make you gasp with glee". It's devoted to the arts & crafts of Halloween, mostly very professional looking stuff that leans towards the look of generations ago. https://shiversofdelight.blogspot.com/

>141 mstrust: Had a piece of the pumpkin spiced latte chocolate today. Smells and tastes like pumpkin pie first, then the chocolate and mocha flavours kick in. I really like pumpkin pie so I consider this a win!

Good news about Mike not needing an operation. I am very happy that we are about to enter my favorite month of October - not only my birthday month, but usually a sure sign that summer is over and autumn has arrived. Sounds like the The Walking Dead isn't quite ready to let go of their audience as they are planning a number of specials and spin-offs - including one featuring Carol and Daryl!

>143 rabbitprincess: Oh, yummy! Pumpkin pie candy sounds delish. Thanks for the review, and it's the perfect day for it.
Trader Joe's used to make a box of pumpkin spice caramel chocolates with sea salt that I think they stopped making. I've never been into the salted caramel kick but these were great.
>144 DeltaQueen50: Very good news!
I was thinking the same thing, that they're diversifying TWD to see what can get them back on track. But I would love to see a spin-off of Carol and Daryl!

Autumn Foods & Stuff- Just a few things I've tried.

KITU Super Creamer- maple pumpkin flavor. I found this at Sprout's. It's sweetened with monkfruit and has 2G of protein per serving. Tasting it out of the carton, it's good, but when I added it to coffee, and I tried it with several different varieties, the monkfruit produced such a sharp taste, almost bitter. I ended up throwing the mugs of coffee down the sink.
Smash Mallow Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows- These have a much spicier flavor than you'd expect. I liked.
Starbuck's Maple Pecan ground coffee- The pecan flavoring is a little too strong, making me take a few sips to get used to it. I wouldn't buy this again because there's another maple coffee I like much better. Which is...
EOC Vermont Maple Bourbon ground coffee- rich and mapley, I've gone through a few bags of this.
Reko Maple Italian Pizzelle Cookies- This brand has become easy to find in their vanilla and chocolate flavors, but we've found the maple only at an international store in Vegas, and they are so mapley that a cloud of maple drifts out when the package is opened. Which is awesome.

Kit Kat Witche's Brew- these are regular wafer cookies sandwiched with a marshmallow filling and covered in green tinted white chocolate. I'm not a white chocolate fan, who does it think it's fooling, but these are good and the packaging is very Halloweenie.
Perfect Harvest Maple Pecan Candle- I'm not sure where I bought this as I start snatching up Autumn candles in August, but this smells fantastic. Of course, people will be looking for something freshly baked if you light this.
And I had a maple apple iced latte the other day. Apple and coffee are not a good combination but sometimes I have to learn the hard way.

It's here!

We're starting out the official Halloween season by asking that eternal question: the devil, is he all bad?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWa3LyvFOdc

92. The Boy Who Ate Fear Street by R.L. Stine. Sam has always been a remarkably picky eater, but that changes drastically after he's introduced to his best friend's mysterious Aunt Sylvie. After just a bite of her cooking Sam develops a craving for anything and everything, the more disgusting and dangerous, the more he shoves handfuls of it into his mouth. Sam believes that Aunt Sylvie cast some kind of spell on him with that one secret ingredient.
3.5 stars
S.S.: 2

>135 mstrust: - That is wonderful news!

It is! The crazy thing is that Mike has reconciled himself to having surgery to such an extent that when the doctor was telling him he didn't need the operation right now, Mike started making a case for doing it anyway. I turned to Mike and said, "The doctor says you don't need it." I'm willing to accept good news more readily than he is, ha.

>149 mstrust: So did the doctor say what was wrong and what could fix it? I'm all for the non-surgery option too, if at all possible!

>150 CassieBash: He will still need the surgery at some point in the future, but not yet. The doctor was saying that it can be put off safely until Mike has some symptoms. It's just deferring it but because he doesn't have an pain the gallbladder isn't ripe for the picking.
(Now just try to stop picturing that. You're welcome.)

***
The first batch of Halloween cards went out yesterday, the second batch today, so if you joined you should get yours in just a few days!
***
So we're in October and things are gonna get creepy around here. Are you ready?

Now here's the Halloween question for October:
Name your top three Halloween movies. They don't have to be horror, just Halloweenie.
Mine are Trick 'r Treat, Shaun of the Dead and The Shining. Three movies I never tire of seeing each year.

Here's Caitlin of Ask A Mortician explaining those symbols on very old headstones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxbsutBFmsE

<152 Well, I can better understand his perspective, then. When I needed surgery, they said I could wait since it wasn't life-threatening and my discomfort was minimal but once I psychologically accepted I would need the surgery sooner or later, I did opt for sooner because I knew it would be easy to ignore until the problem got so bad that it was causing a lot of pain, so I went ahead. But it wasn't an organ I was or planned on using (it was a large ovarian cyst) and I understand that removing the gallbladder can cause its own problems so I would certainly wait on that one. But I do get that "I want to do it now while I'm mentally prepared" feeling.

Top 3: Hmmm....so many to choose from...maybe Addams Family, Sleepy Hollow, and Dark Night of the Scarecrow. There are many I would never tire of seeing but these three are a nice, broad selection between dark humor and horror and provide a nice balance to the list.

Thanks for sharing; I'll have to check out Caitlin when I have more time, but I do own this book:



and I have my eye on this one:



I have a pretty extensive collection of funeral and death customs books but am always looking for more. I keep telling myself I need to take my guide and go investigate some of the local cemeteries (by day and respectfully, of course--not to play ghost hunter at midnight). Tombstone art is wonderful.

>152 mstrust: Here's my list: The Mummy (Universal, 1932), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Universal, 1948), and The Raven (American International, 1963). Of course, if you ask again tomorrow, the list might be somewhat different, but I do like The Mummy best among the early Universal horrors.

>152 mstrust: I am a total horror movie wimp, but I LOVE The Shining. My best friend and I have fond memories of scarring our entire sorority when we brought the movie to watch on our retreat weekend at a remote lodge in northern Wisconsin with an industrial kitchen.

>153 CassieBash: Oh, I love Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow! I really dig that creepy Colonial atmosphere. I've never seen Dark Night... but of course The Addams Family is great. I know I've seen Addams Family Values more than the original.
Is there an LT version of your first book that would be smaller and clearer to replace that big, blurry one? I believe I've come across that one on Amazon.
Apparently Mike's grandmother was big on creeping around the old graveyards of Grand Rapids and doing headstones rubbings. She had an antiques business but did Halloween in a major way.
I really like the old cemeteries that have actual headstones and trees, like Sleepy Hollow, NY. Out west they're all flat plaques so the lawnmower can ride over them.

>154 harrygbutler: Classics! And The Raven is one I also stop on when I come across it. Of those monster movies I'd say The Bride of Frankenstein ranks very high for me, then Dracula, then maybe The Blob. Steve McQueen.

***
The Tiki Oasis that was re-scheduled for the end of this month from six months ago has been cancelled. Our seminar tickets will still be good for the new dates in April 2021. If that happens. And the VNSA book sale that has happened in February for 65 years, yep, cancelled.

***
Check your Walgreen's for stocking up on Halloween candy. I don't know if this is nation-wide, but they seem to be doing a $1.99 sale on a different candy each week. This week it's bags of Halloween Kit Kats, last week it was Hershey's.

>154 harrygbutler: But I do love those Universal monsters, and Mummy is one of my favorites as well, as I've always been drawn to the ancient Egyptian mythology and embalming processes. And just about anything with Vincent Price or Boris Karloff are always good options.

>156 mstrust: I fixed the images as best I could. Even the high def ones listed seem to blur, and when they're that small, the subtitle is rather difficult to read for some. I don't think there's a perfect for this one.

We have some great cemeteries, some with crypts, in Indiana. There are even some tucked into the middle of fields; obviously private ones that survived and that the farmers just work around. I suppose some might be family ones still owned by descendants.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow was a made for TV movie. You can buy a DVD copy for the reasonable price of $9.99 from Amazon. It's about a wrongful accusation and murder, and revenge from beyond the grave. It actually is at least a Frankenstein if not a Dracula; it's got the psychological stuff down pretty well, it's not super-gory (not to say there isn't some, but it's very tame by today's standards). Frank De Felitta directed. I won't do any more plot because of the risk of spoilers, but it's definitely worth the $10 in my opinion.

Thanks for the heads up on Dark Night..., and for changing the book cover. I'll just add the touchstone so it's easy to get the info- Stories in Stone.
There are great cemeteries back east. I've spent an afternoon in the one in L.A. that has Douglas Fairbanks, Mel Blanc, Peter Finch and lots of stars. Used to called Forest Hills but it's corporate owned now.

>152 mstrust: My top 3 Halloween movies would probably be somewheres about Night of the Living Dead (1968), It (TV mini-series, 1990), and Child's Play (1988).

>152 mstrust: As >154 harrygbutler: also said, my list differs from day to day and it depends on the mood.
But here is my actual list:
- Shaun of the dead
- Scouts vs Zombies
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
I love a little humor in horror, but there are great Stephen King adaptions too - as The Shining, IT, and The Stand!

I would probably pick The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Ghostbusters as my favourite Halloween-ish movies. Honourable mention to Hocus Pocus, which my friends and I made a habit of getting together to watch on Halloweens past. We'd have to do that virtually this year, and I don't think it would be the same.

Who's hungry?

>159 Majel-Susan: Oh, yeah, Night of the Living Dead is a big one! I liked the IT miniseries a lot too. I'm actually not sure if I've seen all of Child's Play but since it spawned a whole buncha sequels, I have to catch it.

>160 SirThomas: Yes, yes, and yes! My Halloween thread topper last year was a nod to TRHPS. It's one of my favorite movies of all.

>161 rabbitprincess: Gotta get Hocus Pocus in there! I've never seen Were-Rabbit though, and someone should slap my hand for admitting that I'd never seen Ghostbusters until this time last year. The stars had never aligned for it to happen until then.
I don't think virtual would be the same at all. For one thing, I think people would be paying more attention to all the candy everyone else is eating in their little square.

The Scottsdale farmer's market re-opened today so that's where we've been. Lemonade cucumbers, Sweetie apples, sweet peppers, jalapenos, heirloom tomatoes, pears, squash, so much more... and prickly pear lemonade and five packages of homemade peanut butter bones for spoiled Coral.

Here are some handy recipes from The Homicidal Homemaker.
First, a savory pull-apart brain bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb_4qmbyFbY
And for your monster baby, make some Cujo Dog Cookies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb_4qmbyFbY

93. Help for the Haunted by John Searles. The Masons are an unusual family, a fact that their community realizes once newspaper articles and then a book about them appear. Sylvester and Rose Mason are paranormal investigators and faith healers, but as this story takes place in the late 80's- early 90's, that's a bizarre occupation, and making things worse, they really believe in possession and spirits and have filled their basement with evil objects removed from clients.
Their teenage daughter, also named Rose, is old enough to be enraged that her parents are so weird and cause the family to be the target of pranks and ridicule. But this story is told by the youngest of the family, Sylvie, who gets the brunt of the mess because she's timid and her sister's horrible behavior obligates Sylvie to always be accommodating even when it's unfair.
From the very beginning the reader knows that Sylvie's parents have been murdered and that Sylvie witnessed some of what happened, but since the Masons took on the burden of several sick strangers, mostly because Sylvester was interested in the fame "curing" these people brought, there were several different scenarios that might have happened in that dark church.
This has a scary doll and some other pretty creepy stuff, plus a twist ending.
4.5 stars
S.S.: 2.5 zombies (yes, zombies can be halved)

Here's the trailer for Hubie Halloween, starring Adam Sandler. It's on Netflix this Wednesday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY3SuNvqQPw

Ok., today you get a story, and it's the craziest story you'll ever hear. So crazy that I don't know why it isn't up there with The Amityville house, yet it's actually hard to find a video of just this complete story (that isn't made by someone wanting to be a Youtube star) so I'm giving you the first telling I'd ever hear of it, from the My Favorite Murders podcast. This is Georgia telling Karen the story of The Andrews Family Haunting. You'll have to bear with the swearing and "like"s, but it's a good story. Skip ahead to about 23:30, because it's the second story of the podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHUArbR0Uuc&t=1425s

Or if you find you can't stand their telling, you can skip to this brief article: https://www.pajiba.com/horror/how-has-this-insane-true-crime-not-become-a-horror...

94. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel. An autobiographical graphic novel about the author's family in rural Pennsylvania. Her parents were each highly creative, her father in interior decorating and home renovating, her mother in acting, but they each lacked the ability to show affection to their children, with the author saying her father "treated the furniture like his children and his children like furniture." And while her father had a teaching job, he also inherited the family business, a funeral home, where he showed his children dead bodies in such a way that it left his daughter wondering if he was trying to get a reaction of horror from them.
But it's the secrets that Bechdel discovers later that reveal just how messed up her parent's marriage was and maybe the reason her father was so miserable with his own family.
An amazing book about Bechdel's parents as deeply, deeply flawed parents and her upbringing, and her own coming-out.
4.5 stars
S.S.: 1
Edit | More

In D.C. this week. Walked through Rock Creek Cemetery today. Dates back to 1719.

Have seen some great over-the-top Halloween decorations.
Will get pictures!

Well, I got through my birthday and I am slowly accepting my advanced years. Some of my favorite scary (or not) movies include Candyman (1992), 28 Days Later (2002), Shaun of the Dead (2004), and Zombieland (2009).

>166 mstrust: I loved Fun Home. It was added to my college's mandatory freshman course the year after I was a freshman, but I was a peer writing tutor as a sophomore and decided to read it, ostensibly to be a better tutor but mostly because it looked really good :)

>167 nrmay: Very Halloweenie! Those old Eastern cemeteries really deliver on atmosphere.
We've started walking our neighborhood at night again, something it's been too hot to do for months. A few houses have lots of good Halloween decorations out, with the giant blow-ups and the projectors on the house. It's too hot here to put out pumpkins this early.
>168 DeltaQueen50: Would you believe that I watched 28 Days Later for the first time just a few days ago? Very good, and with the scariest zombies! I saw 28 Weeks Later maybe two years ago.

Here's what I've been watching:
"28 Days Later"- see above
"#Alive"- Korean zombie flick available on Netflix. The zombies can run, open doors, etc. Between this and "Train to Busan", there are some great zombie movies coming out of Korea.
"Outrageous Pumpkins, Halloween Wars, Halloween Baking Championship"- all Food Network. I love these.
"Blair Witch Project"- I'd seen this one maybe 15-17 years ago (it's 21 years old now, able to drink) and wanted to see if it held up. The frustration of being lost in the woods does, but the ending was just as anti-climatic as I remembered.
"Hannibal" tv series- we're nearly to the series finale. This show is so surprising and beautifully shot, and also so twisted and often incredibly gory that I find myself saying, "no, no, no, no,".
I'm just over halfway through "Orphan", and that's a good, creepy one that I'd never seen before. I believe we'll watch "Hubie Halloween" tomorrow night. Mike doesn't do horror so this should be okay for him.


I highly recommend you check out "Creeped Out" on Netflix. It's a kid's horror anthology made in the U.K./USA/Australia and is very well done, covering all kinds of spooky topics. And this story involving an elderly neighbor and her enormous deliveries of cat food is one of the best. This actress really nails cheerful creepiness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db22ehNoqeg

>169 curioussquared: Bechdel is remarkably good at getting into all the dark corners of her and her family's psyche. Fun Home is an amazing accomplishment.

I received High Tech and Hot Pot: Encounters and Escapades Inside China from LT a few days ago.
I finished the movie "Orphan" and would give it a solid 3 Frankensteins.
And though the family trip to New England that should have been taking place right about now was cancelled, we're all meeting in Vegas very soon.

Remember my promise of sharks way back there at >1 mstrust:? How 'bout a sharktopus instead? Here's a bright sunny beach and Conan O' Brien getting what he deserves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBVn_pPjCV4

95. The Nightmare Room: Locker 13 by R.L. Stine. Luke is the most superstitious kid in the school, and it doesn't help that his best friend Hannah is the luckiest. When the new year starts Luke is horrified to be given locker 13, just because it's an unlucky number. But things change drastically one day with the appearance of a toy skull, and he and Hannah's luck are reversed.
This one contains some surprisingly gruesome events, like a twelve year old with blood gushing from his ear canals.
3 stars
S.S.: 2

>172 mstrust: The hazards of trying to swim in water inside the Chernobyl hot zone.

>172 mstrust: Oh good, this is new here - at first I thought I'd missed it yesterday or earlier, and was aghast that I'd forgotten or skipped it. I don't think I, personally, require shartopuses, but I realize that these times almost require them.

>174 CassieBash: I would avoid a beach that features a sharktopus, but as a fair skinned red-head, like O'Brien, I avoid the sunny spots in general. He should have known better. I'd probably sit near the window in the bar and say, "Well, that's what you get," when someone is inevitably eaten.

>175 quondame: Glad to see someone properly horrified by the thought of missing a Halloween post, Susan!
On the bright side, think of all the calamari you'd get out of just one sharktopus. I hate to think what you get from "shartopuses", as you call it. No, don't make me picture it! :-D

This is a real pumpkin carving!

Here's a trip down nightmare lane for anyone who wants to peruse Halloweens past. Expect to find broken pics all along the way.
My 2019 Autumn & Halloween thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/311019
My 2018 thread was a two-parter: https://www.librarything.com/topic/295888 . https://www.librarything.com/topic/296872
2017: https://www.librarything.com/topic/268819
2016: https://www.librarything.com/topic/231498
2015: https://www.librarything.com/topic/195376
2014: https://www.librarything.com/topic/179905

>177 mstrust: Impressive. It looks like Glenn Strange as the monster.

It looks like someone other than Karloff, definitely. Maybe someone with hayfever about to sneeze.

Halloweenie stuff so far this weekend: I made a batch of dark chocolate jalapeno cookies yesterday that turned out very chocolatey, like devil's food cake. I cut the regular flour with some peanut flour, added very strong coffee and a tbs of finely diced jalapeno. I'm going to tinker with the recipe a bit because the pepper was pretty much lost in the chocolate. Maybe I'll roast it first before dicing or add in another tbs of it. Very good cookies though.
I finished watching the 1960 William Castle movie "13 Ghosts", which I liked a lot. Very cheap ghosts and one of the "Adam 12" guys was in it. I also caught the last half hour of Boris Karloff's "The Ghoul' and a few minutes of "Night of the Living Dead". Did you know that Romero didn't make any money off that movie because he didn't know he had to copyright it and by the time he realized his mistake it had already been pirated and was a hit?
And last night we turned off the lights, lit all the LED flickering candles and watched "Hubie Halloween". Pretty lame humor-wise, but it would be hard to find a more Halloweenie movie. It was filmed in Salem and has pumpkins, candy, costumes, an escaped lunatic, and a Halloween night.
I also slashed my index finger yesterday morning and it bleed a surprising amount throughout the day until Mike sealed it with Super Glue. As I tend to hurt myself around this time every year, I put it down as a Halloween tradition.
And this morning Mike brought me a maple iced coffee from Black Rock Coffee and it was so good. I'll keep ordering it until they take it off the menu.

Halloween is less than three weeks away. Time to start drinking.
Here are 15 Halloween cocktails striking enough that you'll impress everyone even from six feet away. The Black Widow looks dangerous.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/haunting-halloween-cocktails-759881

>180 mstrust: Maple iced coffee sounds amazing! Our local coffee chain Bridgehead would do a maple latte in spring, but I don't know if they're doing that for fall. I loved it! The maple cut the bitterness of the coffee perfectly.

Will probably have my last pumpkin spice latte chocolate today. There were seven pieces in the package and I've been very stern about having only one per day. Also they have so much flavour that you don't really need more than one.

It is our Thanksgiving weekend this weekend, so greetings of the season to you :)

>172 mstrust: Where did you find that shirt? It's amazing and I want one.

^^^ What >183 RidgewayGirl: said!

>182 rabbitprincess: It's sooo good, a perfect balance of maple and coffee and milk. I first had a maple latte about three years ago, from a coffee shop that was so small that the customer area held just two people and it was a tight squeeze. But an excellent coffee. We just don't have as many maple options here as you have there. I can get hold of prickly pear popcorn, licorice or tea if I need to though.
You have such self-discipline to make that box of chocolates last! I can always talk myself into one more.
Happy Thanksgiving to you!

>183 RidgewayGirl: >184 lkernagh: Right here! https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000201998555.html
And you can google "black cat Halloween t-shirt" for similar designs by different sites. Pretty sweet, huh?

For the second day in a row, Mike came home with a maple iced coffee for me, which proves what a good trainer I am.
After taking Coral to the park, we went to drop off a pumpkin spice cake with maple butter glaze at the fire station Mike's friend works in because I was given such encouragement that they love getting desserts, and as Mike can't eat my sugary baking like he used to, I need an outlet. ;-).
We went to Scottsdale and picked up jalapeno popcorn for my sister and one of Mom's Christmas presents (I know, yes, I've started on Christmas) from the Poisoned Pen Bookstore, which is the latest Longmire, an autographed copy of Next to Last Stand, and a handmade leather belt for Mike. We dropped in Fry's because they're having an apple-fest, which draws me like a magnet. I have a great big bowl of Sweet Tango, Gala, Smitten, Honeycrisp and Envy on the table now.

Many thanks for the link to the shirt and lovely about the maple iced coffee! Intrigued - but not tempted - by the jalapeno popcorn. I like spice/zip but not sure about that combination for me.

>185 mstrust: I've also started my Christmas shopping. Stocking stuffers from the Flatiron Pepper Company and a Monty Python t-shirt for my son. The cat with a knife shirt has been ordered, but for my daughter's birthday package (her birthday is right before Hallowe'en).

>186 lkernagh: You're welcome, glad to help you find your Halloween wardrobe!
I'm not tempted by jalapeno popcorn either but I think Julie will like it. She likes spicy stuff, her favorite candy is Hot Tamales. I've decided to leave the jalapenos out of the latest chocolate cookies as they were so good without being able to taste the peppers.
>187 RidgewayGirl: Well that's a few gifts taken care of!

We drove out to the Sweetie's Candy Warehouse in Chandler last week because I wanted to bring Mom some pecan rolls and it's too hot here to trust they would do well in delivery. They had Stuckey's pecan rolls and divinity! If you took a road trip across America decades ago, you know what that name. I also found lots of stocking stuffers for everyone else. Candy daisies, taffy ropes, Zots, margarita lollipops, even a bottle of pb&j soda for Wade.

Any movie starring Moira Rose would be really scary yet impossible to look away: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaLrxt8db-M

96. The New England Grimpendium by J.W. Ocker. This non-fiction is a travelogue of spooky or just unusual stops all over New England. The author tells you about how much Stephen King related stuff to expect in Bangor, Maine, and visits a grave that supposedly glows in Portsmouth, NH. He visits the shooting locations for many horror movies all over New England, the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, ME and hunts down the few reminders of Poe around Boston.
Though Ocker is serious about hunting down oddities, he isn't the "ghost hunters" type at all. Humor lightens the entries and often, when it seems so obvious that he can't help but say something, he debunks the myths that have grown around a "haunted" object.
4.5 stars
S.S.: 1

>189 mstrust: This one sounds like fun!

It is! Ocker is one of my favorites, a just like his not-too-serious tone, besides the fact that he often ropes his family into going to search for something weird, like a little known plaque, dedicated by Bette Davis to her late husband, in the woods of NH.

>188 mstrust: - I love how Catherine O'Hara and how she is equally suited to playing comedy and horror. Not many actors can pull that combination off! ;-)

She's fantastic, and her pronunciation of "beh-bay" is permanently stuck in my head. Which got me thinking about a show she did years ago...
Yes, found it! This is O'Hara's starring episode of "The Outer Limits" that was so good. It's an extra, just 'cause:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfAbI8Sqj9Q

***
I've started I'll Be Gone in the Dark, the book on my Halloween stack that I was most nervous about since the documentary series was so scary.
Hmmm, I sent out a whole stack of Halloween cards for the exchange, but LT-wise, I'm coming up empty-handed. You know who you are.


Did you love "Horrible Histories" so much and wish the cast could get back together as ghosts from throughout history, all stuck in haunting a house to drive the new owners out? I thought so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5lDIHDOFeo

Jennifer, I felt this tweet belonged on your thread: https://mobile.twitter.com/pjayevans/status/1315790282810564608

Happy Tuesday!

Since you are a big fan of the scary and spooky, what do you normally do for Halloween?

>194 curioussquared: Ha! Well, I suppose if you bought that house, you probably know it's history and love Halloween.

>195 figsfromthistle: It depends on the year. Some years we're in Vegas on Halloween, so I help decorate Mom's driveway that morning, give out candy that night, then we get dressed up and go to the very crowded downtown, then to our tiki bar. That downtown party ain't happening this year. We're going to Vegas in just a few days though and will still get to hit the tiki bar.
We've been able to go on fantastic Autumn vacations to chilly locations like Vancouver or NYC for a few years, but that got cancelled this year too.
So this year will be quiet. I'll decorate our yard and porch Halloween morning, but who knows if we'll get any trick or treaters. We're often the only house on our street with a pumpkin and lights on.
Also, I love the smell of a lit jack o'lantern so a few years ago I started carving two pumpkins so I can have an indoor one on my coffee table for the night. I always watch G-rated Halloween movies on Halloween just in case I have to open the door, while Mike sits on the couch eating the candy we're suppose to hand out. And I make a dinner that involves squash. We were invited to a party for this weekend but we'll be gone.
So that's why I go so hard-core Halloweenie on my thread, because I can create the most pumpkinish, spooky, fantastic holiday here.

Just dropping by to say hello and wish you the Spookiest Halloween!

Thanks, Viv, and I wish you a scary good Halloween!

I'm a big fan of audiobooks while making my 1 hour round-trip daily commute, and I just finished this one a few days ago:



Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone reading Edgar Allan Poe? What horror enthusiast could resist?

Now I've moved on to Famous Modern Ghost Stories which can be found free on Librivox, an audiobook equivalent of Project Gutenberg. This collection features one of my favorite stories by Algernon Blackwood, The Willows, and while "modern" is of course no longer the case--the book was published in 1921 and is the reason Librivox can provide it free because all contents are in the public domain--some of the stories hold up pretty well and can still cause a few chills.

>199 CassieBash: That is very great! I know I posted Price reading "The Conqueror Worm" on my Halloween thread a few years ago, as it's my favorite Poe poem. Both Price and Rathbone had perfect voices for Poe.
Thanks for the recommendations- I see the second book includes Ambrose Bierce, one of my very favorite short story authors.

Make Me A Sandwich, a short horror film that hits the creepy spot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfGEdmZyVyY

97. Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac. Young Molly's family consists of just her and her parents, as she's an only child and neither of her parents have family anymore. They're a happy family and her father is able to pass on the stories he learned growing up on the Mohawk Reservation, including the legend of Skeleton Man, who had cooked and eaten himself, then lured each of his relatives into the lodge, where he killed and ate them one by one until he came to his little niece, who was the only one to survive.
One morning Molly wakes to find her parents never came home from their night out. She's taken by Social Services and is immediately handed over to a great uncle she's never met or heard of, and despite her protests, she has to go live with this terrifying man who locks her in her room every night and has drugged her food. Molly quickly begins to see how much of her predicament mirrors the Mohawk legend.
A slim book that packs in a whole lot of scary story. Recommended.
4 stars
S.S.: 2 Zombies

We were up at 6:30 this morning and went to the mountain preserve for my first hike in six months. It was great, aside from climbing up the mountain, which was brutal. But it was 68F, a family of quail ran across the trail in front of us, and I was rewarded with a maple iced coffee afterwards.
I made this recipe from The Kitchen for pumpkin barbecued pork chops last night and it was very easy and had some kick: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/katie-lee/grilled-pumpkin-bbq-glazed-pork-ch...
(I'll watch any cooking show that has the words pumpkin, squash or maple in the description.)

And I've made up another cocktail recipe. The title comes from the spiciness, but I do think it would work just as well warm in a mug.

The Hot Apple Cocktail

In a chilled highball glass or Moscow Mule mug, add in:
2 oz cinnamon whiskey
1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
squeeze of fresh lemon
Stir well and add in 1 cup of fresh apple cider and stir.
Add ice and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Halloween at our house just isn't complete until we watch certain Halloween short specials, and I would suggest these three be added to the list (with the iconic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown) as must-see seasonal classics for anyone:



Rating: sub-par Zombie--might be a bit scary for young kids but adults will appreciate some of the humor as much as, if not more than in some places, their young 'uns. Just enough scare to be a little more than a pumpkin.



Rating: basic Zombie; again, might frighten the timid kids but older kids who know basic plot structure will know that no harm will befall Odie and Garfield will know that everything will turn out just fine.



Rating: upgraded Zombie; the chase scene where our poor Who hero, Euchariah, is risking his life to distract the Grinch from his home town, was downright scary to me as a child.

Each of these has actually got some (from a child's perspective) chilling scenes: the Claymation creeps are well-designed and while a little goofy at times, they certainly menace well (with the exception of Famine, who's on sabbatical), Garfield's pirate ghosts are effective at conveying ruthless spirits who are intent on harming anyone who finds out their secret, and probably the most disturbing is the Grinch's assortment of sinister oddities straight from Dr. Seuss's nightmares, with abstract creatures that are disturbing in a sometimes visceral way (the creatures that remind me of microscopes and that shine lights on Euchariah never fail to give me a vague dread), even at my age. You can see this chase scene, albeit a bit on the grainy side, here on YouTube. I recommend viewing it by yourself in as dark a room as you can get for maximum effect.

Thought you might enjoy a pic of my latest baking endeavor. Decorated by me, my sister, my daughter and my nephew--so much fun!!

>203 CassieBash: Thanks for the reviews! I remember the Garfield Halloween special from when I was a kid. And just to name drop, not long before he died Lou Rawls came into my work and stood by for a really long time as his very young, very beautiful girlfriend bought a bunch of expensive cosmetics. By the time I got Mike on the phone to see if he wanted an autograph (Mike was a musician when we met), Rawls was gone. You snooze, you lose.
I know I've seen the Grinch but it was years ago. One of my very favorites, besides "It's the Great Pumpkin", are the two "Scary Godmother" movies. They rarely get played now but they're great. And "Dear Dracula", which has Ray Liotta as Dracula and Betty White as Grandma.

>204 Berly: Those are fantastic! So Halloweenie and scary, I love it!

Have you checked out the Full Body Chills podcast? Just about every day there is a new story. They are short, scary and simply well-done, like a campfire story that stays with you to freak you out days later.
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ashley-flowers/full-body-chills

I know I promised some Halloween music a long time ago. It's Friday, so of course you'll be dancing around with a pumpkin shaped bucket of candy in one hand and sloshing around a cocktail in the other anyway. Why not do it to music?

Season of the Witch- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF61fUCmz5U
The Lurch (if he can dance, so can you)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfaRI4aFAVM
The Misfits meet The Nutley Brass- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyp_r7FWDCQ
Sabrina and her friends sing "Straight to Hell"-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JYiMZtIkCo
What We Do in the Shadows- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtEVkjWx_3U
Spellbound- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjvvK-Rj0WI
My beloved Ramones turned into a fantastic Halloween animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9R0j0pLf_M
The Misfits attended The Mad Monster Party- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2yhDObW4gU

>204 Berly: Those are awesome! Such talent and imagination!

>205 mstrust: I only remember the Grinch Halloween from one year on TV but it made such an impression on me that I was thrilled to find it as an extra on the "Green Eggs and Ham" DVD, I bought the disc just for that. Haven't watched the others but am particularly intrigued by "Dear Dracula".

>206 mstrust: Yep, time to dig out my cassette compilation of Halloween songs played on Dr. Demento. I'm particularly fond of "Carmen Miranda's Ghost" and "Horror Movie" by the Skyhooks.

Oh yeah, I'm sure Dr. Demento has plenty of good Halloween songs. I know he released a CD a year or two ago because The Misfits were on it.

Movies
This past week or two I've seen "The Witches" starring Angelica Huston. First time seeing it and really liked it. She was perfect for the role.
I re-watched "Plan 9 From Outer Space" after maybe twenty years and enjoyed it more. The trees and gravestones that shake when brushed against, the space ship's control room of cheap breakfast tables and stereo equipment with the cords trailing to an outlet, the alien commander with the bitchy attitude and a pound of fabulous eye make-up... magic!
I watched the "Outrageous Pumpkins" and "Halloween Wars", which have both had their finales. Over so quickly.
And I'm re-watching "Dead Set" on Netflix, which is a very good zombie series from 2008.

I'll be back in a few days. Scare yourselves in the meantime!

We watched "Children of the Corn" and "Burnt Offerings". Scary time had by all, including my cat, who loves to watch TV and seemingly horror movies in particular. She's a little weird that way. I plan on uploading a picture at some point and will share with you all when I do.

I haven't seen the original "Children..." in years but saw the remake about a year ago. I also came across "Burnt Offerings" last year and watched some of that because Oliver Reed and Bette Davis. And Karen Black's wandering eye is a kick. Where's it looking?
I didn't see any tv over the weekend other than a little local news. It was an active weekend.

I did come home with 4 bottles of The Walking Dead wine, four packages of maple Italian pizzelle cookies and a package of Autumn Maple ground coffee. I'll list the stack of books I brought home tomorrow.
***
And Nancy, I got my mail when we came home and there was your card and want to thank you for it and the compliments. And agh! A rubber bat inside! Hahaha, that's awesome!

Woo hoo, wine and books! :D

Our first Halloween candy of the year comes courtesy of my sister-in-law. We sent over a baking dish with apple crisp in it for Thanksgiving, and she returned it with candy inside! We got mini cookies and creme bars and pumpkin-shaped Reeses peanut butter cups. I've claimed dibs on the Reeses and am relieved that they are just *shaped* like pumpkins and don't actually taste like pumpkin spice, as the label had me wondering.

Trick or treating has been very strongly discouraged here because we are a COVID hotspot (not really the greatest achievement, Ottawa), so we're wondering if that will have an effect on the price of Halloween candy.

>212 rabbitprincess: Yes, and the wine gets even better, because not only is TWD Blood Red Blend a really good wine that I buy for $16.99 at home, but I got it for $6.99 a bottle in Vegas! Clutch the pearls! There's a Vegas chain called Lee's Discount Liquors, maybe five or six locations the size of a Walgreen's. Ugly stores but great prices. Wade got a bottle of his favorite whiskey for $10 less than usual. Which reminds me that he's asked me to send him all the manly whiskey recipes I can find in my cocktail books.
The Reese's pumpkins are so good. I like them more than regular Reese's because the edges are rounded so the chocolate isn't as firm as the cups. No, not pumpkin spice at all, just delicious salty peanut butter.
So far, trick or treating hasn't been discouraged here, but we don't get many kids anyway. I had nine last year, but I think I was the only one on our street with a porch light on.

We hit two tiki bars over the weekend. The Golden Tiki in Chinatown on Saturday and our regular Frankie's on Sunday. They're both owned by the same guy. Even though The Golden Tiki is about the coolest tiki bar ever as far as decorations in the main room, Frankie's is our favorite.

In "What We Do in the Shadows", Colin is an Energy Vampire, someone who gains strength buy boring others into stupors. He can even bore his roommates to death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi5IDziDATc

Books brought home from this trip:
California Hotel and Casino- the history of this Vegas casino
The Dead Celebrity Cookbook
The Reaper
How Did It Begin?
H is for Hawk
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America

98. Colors of Fall Road Trip Guide: 25 Autumn Tours in New England by Jerry and Marcy Monkman. The Monkmans have published several coffee table books of beautiful New England Autumn photos and this book, a heavy-papered travel guide, has equally stunning photos. Broken into categories such as 'Coastal' or 'Appalachian', this book provides the route for driving tours that maximize the amount of fall foliage you'll see. Rather than listing restaurants, hotels and stores to stop in, this gives the locations of ponds, waterfalls and summits.
4 stars
S.S.: -10

As promised, here are some pics of Peppa watching TV. This was "Burnt Offerings"; she also watched "Children of the Corn" but I didn't have a camera handy that night. She's sitting on the gate on the right.





Sometimes she settles in for the long haul.



Some of our decor for this year; we're setting up tableau for each of our past Halloween party themes (conveniently, 13). They're going to be outside only (good ventilation, great chances for social distancing) and child friendly, with games and treats.

Harry Potter isn't quite done; we still have to put out Trevor the toad and Fluffy.





And then there's the "un"natural history museum; the museum boasts a good collection of mummies, skulls, and skeletons:



Daredevil the skeleton horse is the only animal skeleton not included in this scene, but only because he's going to be in Dia de los Muertos.

Peppa is beautiful, and nice that she gets in the Halloween spirit. Isn't it annoying to live with a cat who will only watch reality shows?
And nice yard work, I'm sure the trick or treaters will be happy!

Today is the birthday of the most important person in the world. Mike!
(Don't worry, he'd agree with that statement.) I think it's strange that someone born in October has so little interest in Halloween, other than the candy. He doesn't go in for the scary stuff but he enjoys a vanilla cake a whole lot, and fluffy marshmallow.


He's had three cheat days in Vegas, so he's going to open his boring present this morning and I'll make him a low sugar, low carb pumpkin dessert tonight. That sounds fabulous, doesn't it? Yes, that's sarcasm.

For a few chills, here's a very enjoyable classic one from Saki, Sredni Vashtar: https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/vashtar.html

>218 mstrust:
I love Saki - so British, so droll. "Sredni Vashtar" is wonderful!
Thanks for that link.
My favorite Saki tales are "The Open Window" and "The Storyteller."

Happy birthday, Mike! This is a popular day in my circle for birthdays: four people I know were born on this day. He is in good company :)

>219 nrmay: I like Saki alot too and I'm glad you enjoyed that link. He still has a modern feel to his writing. "The Open Window" is a really good one!
>220 rabbitprincess: I'll pass your wishes along, Princess! I changed my mind about his dessert and made a plain vanilla bundt cake instead. I cut the sugar in half and I'll serve it with fresh raspberries and whipped cream.
Mike and your friends are in very good company as it's also Dizzy Gillespie's, Alfred B. Nobel's and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's birthday. Greatness overload!

Hi Jennifer, I'm nibbling on some Reece's Pieces and getting into the Halloween spirit by scrolling through your thread. As we are also experiencing a raise in the Covid numbers, I suspect that trick or treating will be very limited this year in the Vancouver area. I will buy a small supply of candy for visiting grandchildren and my sweet-toothed husband to munch on.

"Now I have your soul. Sweet!"

>222 DeltaQueen50: Glad I could help bring some Halloween to you, Judy. It's the best time of year. And I'm super late in learning to like Reese's Pieces. I tried them for the first time just a couple of years ago.
We've been sharing a bag of Reese's Thins.
***
Today is my brother's birthday and he's celebrating by going to a winery. Hooray for wine!
And yes, my husband's birthday was yesterday and my brother's today. My MIL's was a week ago.

99. I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. This book is the result of the years of obsessive research by true crime writer McNamara, who died before being able to complete her writing and before seeing Joseph DeAngelo, the man she had re-named "The Golden State Killer", caught and tried for his ten years of horrific crimes. The reader of 2020 knows how the story ends, but we are also aware of McNamara's incredible tenacity and how she is owed so much credit for bringing DeAngelo's crime spree to the attention of the public and renewed interest in catching him. She wasn't the only one who had remained fixated on this case, as she worked along with several detectives, retired detectives, and an online community to trade clues and information, but this book brought this hard work to the public.
The spree of murders and rapes that this one man perpetrated in California from about 1976 to 1986 (the crimes that could be linked to him with certainty) are hard to believe. McNamara introduces the reader to his many victims and their families, to the mindset in that more trusting, and sometimes naive, time, and to the comparatively primitive ways of policing.
In August, DeAngelo was sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences, 15 concurrent life sentences and more time for weapons charges. He'll die in prison.
5 stars
S.S.: 3 Frankensteins

I'll Be Gone in the Dark is a fascinating book. I read it a week before they caught DeAngelo, which is how I found myself clearing my schedule to watch the announcement live.

It really is an incredible book. The years and hours she spent following up on the smallest hint. I went to Youtube and watched that sociopathic turd getting sentenced and his very feeble attempt to mimic remorse.

Sorry that I'm late with the birthday wishes; it's been crazy and I haven't had time to really check with LT since I posted last. Happy B-day to Mike and your brother, belatedly!

Peppa watches TV in general but she seems particularly interested in horror and action. I think it's because of the movements; you know how cats are with prey response. We don't pull in any TV reception downstairs so all she gets to see there are movies; usually if I'm upstairs watching TV it's the local news and that's apparently not interesting (though commercials can be). She also liked the opening credits of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and the old Star Trek cartoon series, lol!

Sadly, we live far enough out in the country that this decor doesn't get seen very widely. No trick or treaters since the neighbors' kids have gotten "too big". This is for our social-distancing, low contact, hand-sanitizer-at-every-station, limited invitees party this year. We have taken the 13 themes we've used over the past countless years (we've done some themes like pirates and Harry Potter multiple times) and have set up a little tableau for each spread out around our spacious yard, with activities, prizes, and treats at each. Best part is there's no particular order, so if a couple of different family units arrive at the same time, we can space them out so they don't interact with each other and remain socially distant. We don't have too many RSVPs so it may be that we don't even have a lot of guests show up at the same time (it's drop in as you can make it; we have set times but it's very informal). I'll make sure to take pictures of and share each theme's set up. Then maybe you can all tell us which ones were your favorites! :)

Thanks, Cassie, I think they both had good birthdays.
Some pics of the finished yard would be great! How 'bout picking out just a few that your think are the best.

***
I watched the 2013 remake of Carrie a few days ago. To me, it doesn't compare with the original, which besides being really scary, had some very beautiful, creepy shots. But I guess it needed to have viral videos and current young actors to bring the story up to date.
***
The plan for Sunday is to visit the nursery and see what they have for planting in the front yard. I hope to be ripping some dead plants out on Monday.

It's 1985, "Thriller" was such a huge hit and everybody wanted to dance like zombies. So it was obvious that there would be a Shari Belafonte/ Levar Burton song called "Get Dead", right? As an impressionable child at the time, this thing has been stuck in my head for years. Now it can be stuck in yours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty-N4AMf1-c

I discovered that Hocus Pocus is on Disney+, so my friends and I are having a virtual watch party tomorrow. I may need to go out and buy more snacks for myself.

Fun! Tonight we're going to watch either the original "Rollerball" or "Dead of Night", a spooky one from 1945. I'm putting out cucumber and bell pepper slices to make us feel like we're exerting some self-control, and then Reese's pumpkins, because I know us.

One week until Halloween.
That means one week left of eating bite sized candy with impunity.
One week left of all the scary books and movies you can handle.
One week left of spooky decorations and jack o' lanterns.
And one week left for lurkers around here to pull their rubber masks up and make themselves known. I hear you breathing.



Did you watch "The Deadly Class" on SYFY last year? Probably not, since it was cancelled after just one season and we really liked it. Based on the graphic novels, it's a school that seeks out teens who have a reason to get even with the world. You may recognize their substitute teacher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfHQuxSDvBM

Hi, Jennifer! Belated birthday wishes for both Mike and your brother.

>230 mstrust: Which movie (if either) did you end up watching? Ours last night was the last of the Hammer Frankenstein movies, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, which is leaving Amazon Prime on Halloween.

I've learned of the existence of a second Rankin-Bass Halloween show, Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (regular drawn animation), from 1972. Have you seen it?

Thanks, Harry!
We watched "Dead of Night" and it was a perfect amount of scary for Mike, who can't really handle horror. I recommend it! Plus, Michael Redgrave's performance in the last vignette was so good it actually seemed modern. Most actors in 1945 had an almost formal style, but he gave a more realistic performance that had more in common with acting styles decades later.
I don't believe I've seen that Rankin-Bass, or at least, it doesn't ring a bell. Thanks for letting us know about it. I did get to see bits of "Mad Monster Party" at the tiki bar last week as it was playing on their tv.

Over this past week I've seen "Dead of Night", "Dead Set", "30 Days of Night" (a favorite) and saw Disney's "Halloweentown" for the first time. Debbie Reynolds was very good in that.
If you were looking for the Charlie Brown Halloween special, it's been bought by Apple Streaming, so it won't play on regular network tv for the first time in something like 54 years. Apple is showing what super great guys they are (yes, that's sarcasm) by allowing free viewing of the cartoon this year until November, then you'll have to pay forever.

>233 mstrust: Thanks for the comments on Dead of Night, and for the tip about the Charlie Brown Halloween special. Erika and I have it on DVD, so we watched it several days ago; I can now be thankful we own it and won't have to worry about its disappearance from the airwaves.

Just consider me a Lurker at the Threshold...

I’m most of the way through A Cosmology of Monsters, a new scary/weird novel of a family that runs a haunted house complete with monsters, but also sees real (?) monsters.

>234 harrygbutler: Your welcome for the info, happy to pass it along. I know I have the Charlie Brown dvd up in a closet, but it annoys me that someone has bought a part of our childhoods that everyone could watch and is now charging for it. It will ensure that the next generations don't see it unless they have that particular viewing platform.

>235 drneutron: Hooray, I rooted out a lurker! Let me see what reward I can find for you.
I have A Cosmology of Monsters, it's part of my Halloween book display in the front hallway. I was hoping to get to it this season but as I'm currently juggling three books, doubt that will happen. You'll have to come back and let us know what you thought.
Found your reward!-

Just scrape some of that blood off and it's good to go.

>236 mstrust: That is a monstrous dessert!

>236 mstrust: 😀 Awesome reward! I finished it tonight - was really good. You should definitely give it a try.

>237 quondame: :-D Why bother getting a plate out for a small dessert? But I think you're a bit of a lurker too:

Boom! All yours, and something to pick your teeth with afterwards.

>238 drneutron: Tasty? Oh, how a pile of jagged glass always reminds me of mother.

Because we're getting so close, I'm dropping in an extra scare. This is the latest episode of the My Favorite Murders podcast and I actually said "Yes!" when I saw that they were finally covering The Pied Piper of Tucson. Charles Schmid was a sociopath wanna-be Elvis in Tucson in the mid-sixties. Listen to this weird story and be sure to check out his Murderpedia page (highlighted in red) to see him in all his rock 'n' roll glory.
https://myfavoritemurder.com/245-time-is-becoming-a-serious-problem/

Here's a very short film that shows how difficult dating can be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_6Q2Q0NLk

100. Vampire Breath by R.L. Stine. Friends Freddy and Cara are playing around in the basement when they knock over a cabinet, revealing a hidden door. Of course they go through, following a tunnel that leads them to an empty coffin. All they find, at first, is a blue bottle marked "Vampire Breath", which they fight over and wish they hadn't.
Better than average.
3.5 stars
S.S.: 2 Zombies

>239 mstrust: Gosh, wow, I come visit and get given the finger.... Isn't that a bit pointed?

:-D No no, nothing backhanded about my choice, and I'm not shy about saying that I spent some time picking it just for you. It looks bloody delicious.

We had lunch at a local bbq place, Little Miss BBQ, today. They do mini smoked pecan pies that Mike loves, but today they offered mini pumpkin Nutella pies. Ooooh, the Nutella on the bottom of the crust mixed with the pumpkin made it taste almost toffee-ish. Stealing that idea!
And we bought four new desert plants to put in tomorrow. Got an aloe, a red yucca, a jade and an Eve's Needle, which has dangerous spikes and I've already stuck myself on them. That will go under the front window.

Watched WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE last night. Bette Davis won awards for her creepy portrayal of a sister's descent into madness.

Now I think I'll look for HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE.

>243 nrmay: Those are both really good, particularly "Baby Jane". If you want to continue with Davis' horrors, try "The Nanny". Or I really liked the limited series "Feud" by Ryan Murphy about the making of "Baby Jane". Susan Sarandon as Davis and Jessica Lange as Crawford. So much bitchiness!
***
We've had a busy morning. We were hiking the preserve as the sun came up, came home and changed, then went to vote, then came home and dug out some plants in the front yard and trimmed up the yucca. Mike will bring home a spade tonight so we can plant the new stuff.

If you're looking for a horror comedy, check out Bloodsucking Bastards on Prime. For a very low-budget film, it's surprisingly good and stars some faces you'll recognize from A Cabin in the Woods, "Game of Thrones and Mad Men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI8VF5sUGQ0

>242 mstrust: I'm glad to hear that there is more than one bbq place in Phoenix now. For so long, the only place was Honey Bear's and it was such an exotic oddity!

And I know we are not political here, but Yay! for voting!

Oh, yeah, bbq has come to Phoenix in a big way. We also like Naked BBQ a lot but Little Miss is our favorite.
We went to Honey Bear's for years but those tightwads refuse to turn on the a/c in the summer and their dining area is like an oven. Their meat has gotten tough too. I think the grandfather died and the product has gone downhill.
Yay! And even though the polling place was busy we walked right in.

101. The Dead Celebrity Cookbook by Frank Decaro. Decaro is best known for his appearances on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", and here he's gathered recipes, and a bit of gossip, from celebrities who have passed. Whether they put out a cookbook themselves, added a home recipe to a charity cookbook or made their recipe themselves for a cooking segment on a daytime talk show, these are homey dishes that often reflect their particular personality. Most sound pretty good, but a few are included with a "it's your funeral" caveat, such as "Gloria Swanson's Potassium Broth", which is a dreadful pot of cooked string beans, celery, zucchini and Swiss chard, no seasoning. Recipes that sound very good include Katherine Hepburn's brownies, George Reeves' Super Cookies and Eartha Kitt's chicken wings. And since I have the ingredients on hand, I might be making "Robert Reed's Beef & Biscuit Casserole" tonight.
This is a pretty fun cookbook.
5 stars
S.S.: -1

>228 mstrust: I'll have to sort through what everyone took to decide on the best pictures, but definitely Daredevil the horse in his flower-covered harness, with the skeleton Ray (as in Bradbury) sitting in the driver's seat of the pony cart, wearing his sombrero. Dia de los Muertos was one of the themes that turned out looking really great!

>248 CassieBash: We look forward to seeing it!
***
I made the R.R. casserole mentioned above and it's fantastic. How could you go wrong with biscuits and cheese in the mix?

We had a high of 67 yesterday, today should be 69. Autumn weather!!! Of course we're supposed to get back up to 90 in a few days, but we left the bedroom window open and it got down to 52, which makes for a very cold house. I'm beside myself with joy!
***
I'm hoping to get the two Halloween books I'm reading done by the 31st.

Nick might be a zombie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbQRUb9G2fA

The horror short I Heard It Too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxRIWBoluzs

And an extra- The Peabody Essex Museum, which owns so much of the remaining artifacts from the Salem Witch Trials but hasn't displayed them in 30 years, has a new director who embraces the local history, so they have a new exhibit showcasing these artifacts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTDV7phYxRE

We hiked the mountain this morning, and it was 50F!!!
And what a coincidence that our Keurig finally broke down yesterday. Our anniversary is in a few days so I've ordered the Keurig K-Cafe as a present to us both. It does hot and iced coffee, lattes and cappuccinos.

>251 mstrust: Mmmmm lattes!

102. Cursed Objects by J.W. Ocker. A collection of famous and infamous items or locations that are rumored to be cursed. The Hope Diamond and King Tut are covered, of course, and some other items that have become well-known for being dangerous in more recent years. Valentino's cat's eye ring, both dolls Robert and Annabelle, the Dybbuk Box, and James Dean's Porsche are here, along with chapters on the prevalence of cursed stones and images throughout the world and cursed cemetery statuary. Even though the illustrations are spooky, I wish there were actual photos. The book is really well-made with heavy paperstock, made to last, and turning it under the light makes the images on the cover shimmer.
4.5 stars
S.S.: 2 zombies, because the story of Annabelle the Doll is pretty creepy.

The "real" Annabelle.

>252 rabbitprincess: I believe I'm going to become obsessed.
***
We're putting up outdoor decorations this morning. Nothing major, just a glow-in-the-dark skeleton sign and a rope web with a big spider across the front window.

Here's a scary couple of hours. 13 Days of Halloween is a podcast of spooky stories introduced by The Caretaker, played by Keegan-Michael Key and created by Aaron Manke of Lore.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-days-of-halloween/id1534027861

I'm reading the paranormal fantasy ninth house by Leigh Bardugo, scary and horrific! Some really terrifying ghosts.

>255 nrmay: Thanks for the rec, I'd never heard of that one. I'm working on my last scary book of the season.

Do you have enough candy? Spiderwebs in place? Jack o' lantern carved? Angry serial killer waiting in the closet by the front door?
Be sure to come back for the big day tomorrow.


The horror short "Polaroid"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck1NO9MyQsM

>256 mstrust: I feel the same way about clowns as that dog - they need to stay away from me!

Ha, that dog has such a hilarious "whaaaaaaat?" look on his face.
Clowns don't bother me, probably because I did make-up for years. But creepy dolls like >223 mstrust:? Yeah, that thing is waiting til you're asleep.

>256 mstrust: I'm with the dog on this one - except I'd be off down the street.

I'm choosing to believe that the dog loves Halloween and scary movies and after this incident sat down with a bowl of milkbones to watch an episode of "Supernatural".

It's here...
Happy Halloween!

And if you've come all this way down my spooky trail through the season, you deserve a party. I'm not going to say, "Enter if you dare", because of course you dare. You're so brave and foolish.



Every creepy party needs creepy music. I've got a legendary group performing their one hit song here all day and night.
This is the sound of Halloween: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXHPIJ2Y6B8


Something about it makes guests dance until they can't dance anymore. So romantic!

Visit the buffet and try to guess what you're eating!




.

We have booze!
Let my otherwordly bartenders make you something that will have you wondering "What am I tasting? What is that?"
This one was inspired by Saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3dxVjiHDFg
And this one is an homage to The Exorcist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvMa47FY6rw
Q: "What is it?"
A: It's too many Exorcist cocktails. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh8OYePSX6w

Even though the power has been knocked out by the storm, I encourage you to make your way through the house to the backyard. I've spent all day putting my jack o' lantern blaze together. All that carving took me hours. Buy a t-shirt while you're there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kQuk9m4VR8

That was amazing, wasn't it? You might want to take a quiet moment for yourself. Sit in a corner with a plate of meat and a jack o' lantern. I have a story about a loving family, one much like your own, to tell you: https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2016/12/ambrose-bierce-bottomless-grave.html

Most house parties have long lines at the bathroom, but I think I've found a way around that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff1VeocnRhk

The party will continue until midnight. I hope you've had a fun Autumn with me, I know I had a good time.
.

Happy Halloween, Jennifer!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, Jennifer. I have just finished The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman and it was a fun vampire tale. I also read an excellent ghost story this month, Thin Air by Michelle Paver and if you like this type of classic ghost story then I also recommend her Dark Matter - very creepy.

Have fun tonight!

Snappy Halloween! I'm in house hunting hell. I don't even ask if the places I'm looking at are haunted any more because, at my price point, I assume that they either are or where last used to grow meth. I've looked at hundreds of places and very few have books. It's sad. And I can't even say something to the owners like, "I love how you've displayed your novelty figurine collection on the built-in shelves! Look! A ceramic outhouse with a sign 'If this outhouse is rockin' don't come knockin'! Funny! Your mother must be dead!"

Oh oh oh! I want some fancy cake!

Much love- Larry

Everyone having a good time?


>264 harrygbutler: Happy Halloween, Harry!
>265 quondame: Right back atcha, Susan! Hope it's great!
>266 drneutron: Happy Halloween, Jim!
>267 DeltaQueen50: Happy Halloween, Judy! Hey, are you joining the 2021 ScaredyKit?
>268 SomeGuyInVirginia: Well here he comes walking in at the last minute...I suppose sticking a jack o' lantern on your head passes for a costume, but you really shouldn't have lit the candle.
So that house fell through? Dang it! And with so much frustration I'm surprised you haven't just asked, "What, you illiterate?"
Well, hope to see you come around more often. Kiss-kiss!
>269 Berly: Happy Halloween!

The outside decorations are up, I've carved two jack o' lanterns, the candy is in the bowl. We went to a big farmer's market this morning and bought lots of vegetables, then drove through Krispy Kreme and got a werewolf donut, which is very cute. And I'll recommend the "13 Days of Halloween" podcast again because the stories are so very interesting and I'm enjoying it.

Happy Halloween!

I had two visitors this year( a record, living in the country.) Among the candy and chips , I gave them age appropriate reading ( R.L Stein). The parents were quite happy to receive more than candy and the kids thought it was cool as well.

Hope you had a fantastic halloween!

Happy Halloween! I loved our cloudy day!

>271 figsfromthistle: I also had just two kids last night, which was disappointing. Giving out Stine books is a great idea, and one that will make your house memorable.
I hope you had a fun night!
>272 PaperbackPirate: Our weather was very appropriate, and mild for us too!

So just two trick or treaters despite signage and more houses on the street with jack o lanterns. After dinner and watching Karloff's "The Mummy", we walked the neighborhood and saw decorations and some people were setting off serious fireworks. The only trick or treaters we passed were groups of teenagers though, taller then me. I was able to unload my bowl full of Skittles, Kit Kats and Pez dispensers at the neighbors down the street. They have two little girls and lots of gossip.

Today is our anniversary. We've been together for 29 years. Yeah, we found each other when we were pretty young, and as I remind him, it was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Mike came home last night with a card, flowers and a bottle of Perrier-Jouet. We'll have it tonight. Our new coffee maker is also our present, and now he has an in-house barista because I'm making him iced lattes and cappuccinos.

>273 mstrust: We had a fair number of trick-or-treaters, but I set out a large bowl with the candy on a chair down by the street, rather than standing outside myself as usual to hand it out. All the candy eventually disappeared, but fortunately not all at once with the first few kids.

Happy anniversary to you and Mike!

>273 mstrust: Happy anniversary! :D

Happy anniversary to you and Mike - and have a good time!

Happy anniversary!

>274 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry!
I've never trusted enough to leave a bowl of candy out on the honor system. I assume the first kid over ten to get there will take all the candy and steal the bowl too.

>275 rabbitprincess: Thank you! It's been a good day.

>276 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas!
>277 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

We've had a good day. We hit a second farmer's market for the weekend, this one has a guy making paella, so, of course. And I bought fresh olive bread and asparagus. We also had lunch and margaritas at our favorite Mexican place, so the paella was an appetizer.
I'll be making a new thread tomorrow. I have a lot of decorations to put away.

>273 mstrust: Happy Anniversary and congratulations on 29 years!

>279 quondame: Thanks very much!

Come visit my Winter thread!

I know you've started your winter thread, but I have one more Halloween missive -- have you ever read the Jezebel spooky story contest entries? They hold the contest every year, and each year I spend at least a few evenings reading all the submissions until I'm convinced something is lurking on our back porch ready to enter the house when I go to sleep. I also enjoy going back and rereading past years' winners -- there are some excellent entries from years past and it's my go-to whenever I need a scare!

No, I haven't heard of Jezebel. Do you have a link for the Halloween stories?
I got all jumpy like that while reading I'll Be Gone in the Dark. Really makes you alert, doesn't it?

Mostly they are a feminist news site/blog. They've been doing this contest for some time now. Here's a link to this year's winners: https://jezebel.com/10-scary-stories-to-ensure-you-never-sleep-again-1845453639

I enjoyed reading this year's but I'm not sure there were any winners that will stick with me like some past ones have. I recommend looking for one called "Look At Me" -- it gives me chills just thinking about it. You can probably google past winner pages :) happy spooking!