Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,
Voices whisper in the trees, “Tonight is Halloween!”
– Dexter Kozen –
At night, if I don’t rein in my imagination, the walk from the road to The Red House is spooky. It is a long winding driveway, lined with tall dark spruce trees and just beyond are thick woods where all the wild animals lie in wait. When I was a kid, I would not have ventured up this driveway on Halloween – unless I knew with absolute certainty that the treats at the door were worth being that scared. It is a forbidding stroll at night.
We haven’t had a trick or treater at our door for a long time. There used to be a few children on our rural road, but they have long since grown up. I still decorate for Halloween anyhow and we still buy a few treats just in case. And I will likely walk down to the end of our driveway and back, just to get the adrenalin going. Nothing like a wee bit of fear to take me back to the Halloweens of my youth!
We recently spent a few days with dear friends who have a new kitten. (There is no better kitten than one that belongs to someone else – all the benefits, and no responsibility.)
Word association: ask your mind to remember kitten – cat – Halloween – pumpkin.
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When we weren’t playing with the kitten, or wandering around the farm, or talking or laughing or watching the first season of ‘Castle’ on DVD, we carved Halloween pumpkins. This was my pumpkin. Can you figure out what it is? It would be best if you told your brain it isn’t a face with one big round eye. If you fixate on that idea, you will never see anything else. Really.
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Here are our pumpkins at night. The one on the far left is mine from the photo above. Now can you see what it is?
The one on the right is our hosts. He did the carving with various size drill bits – trust a man to come up with a way to use a power tool.
The pumpkin in the centre is what happened when I took up the drill and three sizes of bits – and no plan at all. Don’t try to see anything in this pumpkin – it is simply the result of not knowing when to quit.
There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.
– Linus Van Pelt in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” – by Charles Schulz –
So starts my other post about Halloween. It was called Pumpkin Face. You wouldn’t know it from the quotation, but in this post I talk about how Halloween has fallen victim to political correctness and a process similar to homoginization. There is also a photo of the pumpkin my grand daughter carved – the face is one Charlie Brown could relate to.
Last, but not least: I used the WordPress Theme called ‘Monster’ for a few days during Halloween. This is what it looked like:
Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! Is it a haunted house? I just love Halloween. It’s my favourite holiday. Okay, not actually a holiday, but I just love it! We’re rather in the line of Hurricane Sandy in my little piece of Ontario. Nothing serious, just some wind and rain. But I don’t know how that will affect the Trick or Treaters.
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We’re watching the progress of Sandy on Fox News. Hope you all stay safe!
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Thanks, Margie. We may be a bit wind blown and soggy but I’m sure we’ll be all right. I don’t think it will be nearly as bad as the way the U.S. is getting hit. Stay safe everyone.
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I love the look of your page–great job! That pumpkin? I see a cat with it’s back arched. Cool post… 🙂
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The blog theme is ‘Monster’ and it does all the work for you! I’ll keep it through Halloween.
You are right, it is a cat. It really pops out when it is lit.
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Yup, cat, and a full moon.
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Yes, the big round ‘eye’ is a full moon, though it could be an eye to anyone who also sees a very odd face.
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Love it! HF
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Thanks Harper. I popped over to your blog. Your Halloween memories are very different than mine!
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Awesome carving job. You’re a pretty cool cat yourself.
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Thanks Al. Cool cat – I promise I won’t be giving out icy stares.
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I tricked you and was treated very well last week at the end of that scary drive!!
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You are always welcome here at The Red House! Your ‘crash’ experience always makes The Car Guy feel like he was extremely fortunate.
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Good post. I love the way pumpkin carving is evolving.
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Pumpkin Carving has become a real art form. I’ve bought another pumpkin so I can try something else!
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No more triangle eyes for us.
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Great pumpkins and the blog decor is to die for…….:-)
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Yes, très chic for Halloween.
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Oooo. Love the new look. You’re so creative. It makes me think…I’ll try a new look, then I go…naw…I’d have to do all that rearranging because things never fit right.
And then I got excited again when I saw the link to Pumpkin Face. I remember that post. I was actually thinking about it recently and wondering if I could find it for my self. So thanks for doing all my work for me. Do Canadians do the door to door trick or treat thing for kids too?
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I can’t help myself. Changing the blog decor is like rearranging furniture, but a lot easier!
Yes, we do the door to door thing, but much depends on the weather. Today it is -6 degrees C, and snowing, so I would expect many ghosts and goblins will not stay out trick or treating for very long tonight.
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Love the special blog design, Margie! I saw the cat in the pumpkin as soon as I turned my iPad screen upside down 🙂 Great job of carving!
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Thanks composer – I’ve downloaded some ideas for next year. I think I’ll try a witch on a broomstick, or a haunted house.
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The thought of you taking that “spooky walk” to get your adrenalin going made me laugh, as did the Linus quote.
Great job on the pumpkins, got a feeling the Car Guy would be proud of your drill bit work. And I’m diggin’ this wild ‘n’ crazy retro orb theme, or whatever the heck it is– cool, man!!
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Yes, all the men in the group were impressed with what a drill could do to a pumpkin!
Yes, the background looks very retro. So many choices for backgrounds – like putting on a new dress but a lot easier and cheaper.
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