Punk(in)d

I didn't get many photos of the pumpkin fun - too busy taking part. It was raining when I took pictures of the jack-o-lanterns outside, so they aren't great, either...but hopefully they'll do.

Mum and Someone opted for Pumpkin Masters patterns. Usually I do one of those, too, but this year I wanted to freehand a design.
Mum was checking Someone out. You know how Mums can be - protective of their young.

Someone pretended not to notice. But he did floor Mum when he mentioned cleaning the cat box that morning...because he noticed it needed doing. I know!!

Rook wanted in on the fun...

We carved for a couple of hours and placed the results on the steps. I did two, mine and Bird's. He scooped out the innards and drew a design on his, but I'm still not comfortable giving him a sharp blade and setting him loose on a hapless squash.

My friend and sister of my heart, K, brought this one with her:

Here's Mum's:

The one I took without the flash, all glowy and cool, didn't turn out. Dang. I think they show better without the flash.

Here's Someone's:

Cool, huh??

Here's my silly face:

Hey, I drew that bad boy freehand! A bit simplistic, but considering my artistic endeavors usually result in poorly drawn stick figures...

Bird's design, drawn on with a pen and carved out by his bemused mother with a tiny saw:

I think it's a biclops, but don't quote me on that. Happy little thing, whatever it is.

Did you carve pumpkins? Do you prefer patterns or more traditional designs?

You Can Dress Meme Up...

I have a house guest and am preparing for a major holiday, so once again I am leaning on a meme for a post. Whatever you're doing tomorrow, I hope it's happy, safe, and a good time for all involved!
~~~~~
The Halloween Meme

1. What is your favorite written work of horror fiction? Umm...I don't know about that, since I don't really read horror...but I am rather fond of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas books, and many of his more recent works, as well - do those count?

2. What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy? Oh, wow...ask me my favorite oxygen molecule and you'll more likely get an answer. Umm...Heinlein is a favorite, and Mercedes Lackey, Flynn Connolly, Larry Niven, Starhawk, Piers Anthony, Neal Stephenson, Simon R. Green, Jim Butcher, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey...and I just know I'm forgetting some...

3. Who is your favorite monster? Hmm...I rather like Frankenstein's monster, because he was such a tragic creature. I also like the critters in the Species movies, because they're freakin' heinous! Or would those be aliens? I am also rather fond of Snortimer, the monster under the bed, too.

4. What is your favorite Horror movie? Would you believe I've never seen one? bits of them, yes, but they bore me to pieces, so I don't tend to watch them.

5. What horror movie gives you the most chills? Again, I don't watch them, really, and the little I've seen never frightened me at all...just made me wonder what people were thinking, writing things like that.

6. What character from any horror film would you most like to play? Hmm. Eve, from Species 2, even though I am fairly certain that's not really a horror movie.

7. Freddy or Jason? The only Fred I know is Captain Martini from the track, and the only Jason I know was a very nice young man I went to school with entirely too long ago, so, umm...both??*

8. What is your favorite Halloween treat? I miss caramel apples. And popcorn balls. These days, even candy corn is rather sad, unless you get Brach's (made with real honey!). I don't have a modern favourite.

9. Ghosts or goblins? Elves and fairies, thanks.

10. Friendly-faced jack-o'-lantern or scary one? I like both, as well as those fancy scenic ones you can do with the paper patterns. Last year and this, I am more drawn to more traditional faces, though.

11. What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal? Never had a scary one. Honestly, I grew up in a haunted house where the ghost wanted nothing to do with me. He haunted everyone else, but not me. It was so unfair!!

12. Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not? Yep. Because too many people have had experiences that don't fit into any other rational explanation.

13. Would you rather be a zombie, alien, or psycho? Umm...Alien, if it's Eve from Species 2. Seriously - she's a hottie, smart, psychic, a hottie, fierce, and a hottie.

14. Favorite Halloween costume? You know...I remember having store-bought costumes when I was little...but otherwise am really drawing a blank. I suck at costumes. Really. These days I wear my own clothing and tell people I'm a witch...and like serial killers, we dress like everyone else.

15. Best thing about Halloween? Roasted pumpkin seeds. Oh, yeah, and family and friends hanging out, laughing, having a good time telling ghost stories and remembering our dear departed.

16. Person in your family who most likes Halloween (not counting yourself)? Hmm. I would think my son likes it, but he's only just getting into it. mum's fond of it, too. I dunno...

17. Are you superstitious? Yes. Yes I am.

18. Share an unusual Halloween story. Umm...I don't have one...

19. What did you do for Halloween as a kid? Went trick-or-treating, or sometimes to parties. Played Barn Door (a variant of hide and seek played at night with teams).

20. What's the best Halloween party that you've attended? I don't know that I've been to any as an adult...but as a kid, sometimes we'd go to one at The Stone House in Little Compton. It was fun...I remember costume contests, bobbing for apples, and pinatas...

So...how 'bout you??

*No, I'm not that stupid or socially retarded, I know what the question meant...I'm funnin' ya because I didn't want to be boring and say "I don't watch those movies..." again.

The Camouflage Is So You Can't See Me When I'm Not So Stealthy

Yesterday, Mum, Bird, and me meandered over to Party City (FTC dudes, relax, Party City doesn't even know I exist, not even as a customer, because Mum paid for everything and I'm not reviewing Mum, here, just mentioning where we went) and perused the costume selection. Mum is taking part in a spelling bee/charity thing which involves leggings, fairy wings, and foolery of the highest order.

Bird, on the other hand, was interested in some sort of Halloween costume. In prior years, he's dressed in whatever I made/procured for him with minimal input on his part. This year, he professed interest in dressing as a bat. A bat was the only thing that would do. Not the baseball sort, either - he wanted to be the kind of bat that we've seen fluttering around our home on summer evenings. This was beyond my ability to sew, glue, staple or tape...at least in two weeks or even a month. OK, fine, so we'll go look at a costume place and hope for the best.

At Party City, there were certainly costumes. All kinds of costumes. Every cartoon character, major motion picture hero, villain, and comic sidekick imaginable. Animals, plants, and aliens galore. The little dude didn't know where to look first, and spun from one thing to the next like a mote of dust bouncing madly through a beam of light.

The he saw it. Awesome! There was the costume...the perfect one.

Only...it wasn't a bat. It wasn't even Batman. Nope.

For some reason, he suddenly had to be a Ninja. A camouflaged one, at that. As soon as we got home, he had to put it on...and once it was off, he wanted to put it on again and wear it around the house.

I have no idea what goes on in little boys' heads, really...but since it was one of the few costumes that was not only in his size but also still available and one sale for less than ten bucks...score!!

The real trick will be keeping the thing in one piece until it's actually time to wear it for its purpose...garnering gobs of candy from strangers so he can bounce off the walls like a mote of dust in a beam of light - for days on end.

Now if you'll excuse me (and even if you won't), I have to cut stars our of cardboard, cover them with foil, and pray that he doesn't put somebody's eye out with those things.

Coming Up on the Witching Hour

I'm tired - it was a long day, with all the cooking, carving, and trick-or-treating we did...but I wanted to post a few photos from the evening.

These are the small pumpkins with which we lined the drive (thirteen pumpkins were out, but I didn't get a photo of one of them):

These are the large pumpkins that led up the steps:

I loved the way the driveway and stairs looked with all the jack-o-lanterns - it was totally worth the hand cramps - but I couldn't manage much of a photo of them from a distance.

And finally (for now), here's Bird in his ghost costume. Someone needs to tell his mother that it's too long and he'll probably step on it while going up stairs and be unable to see when the eye holes shift around to his ear. Of course, she'll probably reply that she already shortened it twice, and shepinned it to his sweatshirt hood so it would stay in one place, but I don't believe her one little bit.

One Last Halloween Laugh

This is my favorite of my halloween cartoon collection...

Heh, Heh, Heh

Heh, Heh, Heh

Oh, But I DO Know Jack

Jack o' Lantern, that is.

This morning I'm at Mum's without child, husband, or felines - they are left at home to fend for themselves for three days while I hang out with Mum, go photograph some old graves, seek out and purchase several million one or two gallons of the finest fresh pressed cider to be had in North Georgia, and buy pumpkins. I was afraid there would be no pumpkin purchasing, given the economy and our uncertain financial state, but Mum has declared that we shall have them...and one doesn't argue with Mum. In a perfect world, we will manage enough to line the steps and (not too long) driveway come Halloween. I love to toast the seeds and hoard them share their roasty goodness with friends.

I love to carve faces into pumpkins. All kinds of faces. And occasional abstract designs.

I like to make luminarias out of tiny little decorative pumpkins. I'd like to one day purchase a gigantic one , hollow it, carefully carve the very surface, fill it with water, and float candles in it.

I don't have a single unhappy memory about carving a pumpkin, and considering my remarkable ability to recall every nasty thing I ever experienced or saw someone else experience, that's saying something.

I often wonder if people know why (besides fun!) they are carving faces into the vegetation.

Read on if you'd like to know!

It wasn't pumpkins, at first. It was turnips. Yep. People would find great big ones to hollow out and place a little candle-end into, or some tallow and a bit of wicking. They used them as lanterns to shed a tiny bit of light on the path when they walked from their homes to...well, never mind that bit - it's all tangled up in a history of paganism that is way too long for this entry. The faces were added later as a way to frighten away evil spirits ( the thought being that evil spirits are too stupid to recognize turnip flambe) and eventually to scare gullible yokels away from private ceremonies.

So I carve pumpkins to honor the tradition, and to keep bad juju away (it's exhausting be hated for who I worship instead of for the perfectly valid reasons I give people every day), and because dang, it's fun (and the only sculpture most people are comfortable with trying, because the worse it looks the better), and to let the neighborhood know there's tons of candy right this way...and because I think I need pumpkin seeds to live. Yep. I bet I do...

Why do you do it?

Update and Heh, Heh, Heh

Update - after cleaning the Evil Genius' room last night, I let him back in. He was amazed and said "Wow, mommy, you did well cleaning my messy room. I'm going to play in here!"

Yeah, I figured it'd be a mess again in a few minutes. But no. It wasn't.

Instead, he played with one toy, put it away, played with another, until bedtime. It was still clean in the morning! He said it was easier to play when he did that. Hmm. I'm looking for the pod.

While I look for where the aliens hid the body, here's a cartoon for you:

Bwahahahah!

Some people have too much time on their hands - bless 'em!

Go here for a little Halloween fun!

*Edit - I have some kind of throat plague (sore throat, swollen glands, hard to swallow, fluctuating temperature, no appetite)(I'm not complaining about the no appetite - if I can't get to the gym, at least I'll still lose a pound or two!), so posts may be a bit sparse on words and heavy on links and cartoons for the next few days - it's not easy typing when you're having dizzy spells!

Heh, Heh, Heh

Heh, Heh, Heh

Punk(in)ed

Go have some pumpkin fun today!!

Thanks to M for this one.

*Edit - I am off to the gallery to demonstrate beading (its a condition of placing art there - one must demonstrate...although the art I have there is photography, not beading...but that's a story for another time) so I'll be out of the house all day...which means I won't be reading or commenting anywhere, aither...hmm...is there some kind of medication for withdrawal?? I think I feel the shakes already...

A Very Small Joke

Q: What do you call thirteen witches in a hottub?

A: A self-cleaning coven!

Hah!!

Yeah, yeah, I'll hang my head in shame later.

Meanwhile, maybe this will make up for it:

Heh, Heh, Heh

Heh, Heh, Heh