mstrust #5- Pumpkins, Candy & Maniacs

Welcome To My Nightmare

Actually, it's the best time of the year, and this will be lots of fun. Like last year, I'll feature a daily encounter with the season, including books, movies, food and candy, and just about anything else that fits. And like last year, it will start with the beauty of Autumn and get a little darker as the weeks pass and we get closer to Halloween.
Bring a flashlight, and don't get separated from the group.

9. Autumn/Halloween

1. The Horror Of It All- 4.5 stars
2. Pumpkins by MetroBooks- 4 stars
3. Great Ghost Stories- 3.5 stars
4. Locke & Key- 4 stars
5. Backyard Giants- 3 stars
6. The Letter, the Witch and the Ring- 3.5 stars
7. The Great Ghost Rescue- 4 stars
8. Ray Villafane's Pumpkins-4.5 stars
9.The Devil in the White City- 3.5 stars
10. The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens- 3 stars
11. Jane Slayre- 4 stars
12. Smoke and Mirrors- 4 stars
13. A Grim Almanac of Cambridgeshire- 4 stars
14. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary- 4 stars
15. The Curse of the Blue Figurine- 4 stars

These are the TBR books that I'll be choosing from. I'll get through as many as possible.

The Monk
*The Great Ghost Rescue- D
Full Dark, No Stars
In A Glass Darkly
*Backyard Giants- D
*The Curse of the Blue Figurine- D
*The Letter, The Witch and the Ring
The Horror in the Museum
Hollow City- D
*Great Ghost Stories (Watermill Classics)
Floors
*Jane Slayre
*A Grim Almanac of Cambridgeshire- D
*The Devil in the White City
Dreadfully Ever After
*Smoke and Mirrors- D
The Night Circus
*Ray Villafane's Pumpkins- D
*Pumpkins
*A New England Autumn- D

2. Pumpkins by MetroBooks, introduction by Ryan Williams. Just a coffee table book of big, colorful pumpkins. In the field, piled up for sale, or gathered around homes for decorations, this is exactly what it says- pumpkins and nothing but. It's unusual that no photographer is credited; there's a "Photography Editor", but no picture credits. 4 stars



Here is the site with the Fall Foliage cams all over New England. You can see the very beginnings of the colors already.
http://gonewengland.about.com/cs/fallfoliage/a/aacyberleafpeep.htm

Oh, you're getting me all excited for some spooky reads, I will have to make sure to include some in my October reading. Love all the pictures!

Thanks, Judy!
I've started on my enormous stack of spooky reads, and of course, I've been hunting down all the pumpkin spice and maple stuff. Yea Fall! I'll do a rundown of products in a few days.

>1 mstrust: - Ooooohhhhhh... that jack-o-lantern door on the tree is pretty cool! Happy new thread, Jennifer!

3. Great Ghost Stories by Watermill Classics. A slim volume of spooky stories by some major classic authors- Guy de Maupassant, Sheridan LeFanu, Ambrose Bierce and Bram Stoker. Stoker's piece, "The Squaw", actually seems like it might be an early work from him, as it's a disappointment both in plot and dialogue. But "Keeping His Promise" by Algernon Blackwood is masterfully creepy. 3.5 stars

Here's the story. It's about a 15 minute read.
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/blackwood/algernon/empty-house/chapter4.html

Just a quick list of some of the seasonal products I've come across so far.

-Glade Maple Inn candle- unlit, it has a medium strength maple scent. When lit, I think it's a mild, very warm maple scent. Very Autumn.
-Yankee Magazine Sept./Oct. issue- Not as heavy on the fall foliage as expected, though there are a couple of nice pics. The articles in this mag tend to be very short, but there's an interesting one on cookbook author Fanny Farmer.
-Quaker Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal- while most pumpkin spice stuff has a strong cinnamon/nutmeg hit, you really taste the ginger here, and I like it.
-Eggos Pumpkin Spice- a Target exclusive, I buy these up every year. A mild cinnamon/nutmeg flavor that pairs well with real maple syrup.
-Peeps chocolate mousse cats- extremely mild flavor, as in barely perceptible.
-Pumpkin Spice Mini Wheats- nope, I haven't found them. And I may never, as the very nice store employee showed me her scanner that said the whole chain in the Southwest was sold out and they weren't expecting another shipment. Ever.
-Twinnings Spiced Pumpkin Chai- really nice amount of spiciness. Just a little sugar and it's perfect.
- Chobani Pumpkin Harvest Crisp Greek Yogurt- with a flip side of pie crumble, pecans and glazed pumpkin seeds. Delicious!
- Crown Royal Maple Whiskey- has a surprisingly strong maple scent, then the torch-like burn, then finishes with a mild mapley flavor. I'm not a whiskey drinker, but if I were, it would be this one.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Season!

Sesame Street's Count dates Meg Griffin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUvi8tFQbSk

>4 mstrust: I love that book display. I wonder if I have enough orange colored books to make one here.

That what I wondered too, ha! Such a clever display.

>7 lkernagh: Hey, Lori! I don't know what happened to my comment to you, but I just noticed that it wasn't there, so sorry, I wasn't ignoring you!
And I was delighted to find that creepy jack o' lantern door to welcome you in- it's a bit sinister, isn't it?

Nice new autumnal thread. I love autumn and Halloween. I'm not a fan of pumpkin flavored foods and drinks (please don't hurt me). I love the meme in post #10. Ha!
From your previous thread: I really miss Partners & Crime book store. I used to go there to get my Felony & Mayhem titles. They were so laid back there.

Hi Kelly! Ok, so you're in NYC, so do you know why they closed? It was too cool for it to have been a lack of business. Especially in such a literary city.
And if you don't like pumpkin, you won't like today's link, but I'll have a maple day soon.



This is a site that gathers recipes from other cooking sites, so here we have lots of unusual pumpkin recipes. I made the "Coffee Shop Pumpkin Syrup" today and it's delicious. It's for your coffee, but it would be just as good in warm apple cider or on waffles.
http://www.organizedchaosonline.com/tag/pumpkin-2/

4. Locke & Key: Alpha and Omega by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. The final chapter of the Locke family, this is packed with evil, death and answers the questions about Mr. Locke's teen years and what happened to his friends after opening door 11. 4 stars

>15 mstrust: Love that picture! I've been to my share of muddy pumpkin patches and had to carry crying muddy kids back to the car!

It's a great picture because it tells a story of his visit to the pumpkin patch-his happiness and jaunty hat were both crushed. Btw, it wasn't snapped by a stranger. It was posted by his parents so that horrible people like me could giggle.

Here's a really special one. Let's just agree that everyone can't be an entertainer, no matter how much "Twilight" inspires us. Take note of the werewolf wearing an inside-out track jacket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suaOnmHYuj8

We have a new member of the family! Her name is Coral and she's a Boxer from the Humane Society. They guess her to be about 3 years old, but I think she's much younger. The skinny little thing is all bones and covered in scars, but she's still sweet and eager for hugs and kisses. I'll post her pic in a day or two.

In other news, I just found out that Maple Cotton Candy exists.


And here's a quick video called "5 New Ways To Use Maple Syrup". I tried the maple syrup and coffee ice cream with toasted walnuts. It tastes like toffee and it's so good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0u4445A08c

A big welcome to Coral, I am very happy for her as I know she has found a wonderful home. Happy for you, too!

Thanks, Judy! We'll fatten her up in no time, but the first thing is to get her house trained. Yes, she prefers to go on carpet at the moment.

Hugs and a big welcome to Coral. Sounds like her life is about to be turned around.

It is indeed- she's pretty happy about all the petting and food. I wouldn't be surprised if she's gained a pound or two already.

Looking forward to puppy photos!! :D

Yummy! This is a Bleeding Tooth Fungus, a member of the mushroom family. You can see why another nickname for it is "Strawberries and Cream". It's not poisonous but it is inedible due to extreme bitterness.



5. Backyard Giants: The Passionate, Heartbreaking and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Susan Warren. Warren, who writes for The Wall Street Journal, enters the world of competitive pumpkin growers, the people who spend up to six months a year growing the massive pumpkins of over 1000 lbs for competitions. She particularly follows the growers of a Rhode Island pumpkin club, and especially a father and son team who have spent years cross-pollinating seeds and coaxing seedlings into huge pumpkins, yet have never won the top prize they covet.
I love seeing the colossal pumpkins and if I lived somewhere things grow, I'd try growing pumpkins, though not these huge monsters that seem to become obsessions. This book celebrates those mostly small-town people who become the top in this field and provides lots of information about the hard work involved. 3 stars



Here's the theme to "The Groovy Ghoulies", a great show that featured Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman and lots of pop music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmelTlEzI34

>25 rabbitprincess: I hope to have a pic up today!

I was planning on posting a pic or two of Coral, but somehow we've used up 99% of our data for the month. We're hoping to squeak by until Monday, but I can't download anything right now.
I'm glad to say that she loves to eat. She also picked up house-training and stairs in one day, so she's super smart.

H.G. Wells, 70's style! Here's a clip from 1977's "Empire of the Ants", starring Joan Collins, Robert Lansing and John David Carson. Oh, and the Captain from "CHiPS". It was campy and fun, with giant ants killing people in their quest to take over the planet, so of course there were actors being slung around in the mouths of animatronic ants interspersed with shots of real ants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtRiYlOB5QI

I have to note that it's J.B. Priestley's birthday. And Inspector Calls is his most famous work, but I adore Lost Empires, about the people worked the traveling vaudeville circuit just before WWI.
I think he looked quite a bit like actor Timothy Spall.

In that picture especially! The BBC is doing an adaptation of An Inspector Calls; I think ep 1 aired yesterday.

Oh wow! Thanks for letting me know, I'd like to see that.
I'm currently hooked on "P.G. Wodehouse's Blandings" starring Spall and Jennifer Saunders, so that's probably why the resemblance came to me.

M&M Pumpkin Spice Latte, one of the new flavors this year. There's so much to it- first you taste chocolate, then a little spicy coffee, then a milky foam flavor like the topping of a cappuccino.

A stupid death from "Horrible Histories": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJoG1svld9g

I'm looking forward to seeing photos of Coral. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying all the other pics. The Bleeding Tooth fungus is amazing!

Yay for Coral. She'll get there, continence-wise. She's lucky to have found a family who will be patient, knowing that she will eventually be the best dog in the world.

>33 VivienneR: I know, I've been waiting for that data cycle to turn over so I can show her off.
Doesn't the Bleeding Tooth look like it's meant to lure you in with all that delicious looking jelly? It's that equivalent of gag gum.
And glad you're enjoying the photos; I enjoy finding the weird stuff, like a bleeding fungus.

>34 RidgewayGirl: For the most part, she's house-trained now, which is great. She's discovered a love of dragging garbage through the house at 2 a.m., so we're working on that. It's hard to pass up a buffet.

>35 mstrust: She's discovered a love of dragging garbage through the house at 2 a.m.

Ah, the joys of having an exuberant pet! We used to have a puppy that loved to dig up houseplants every time he had a few minutes on his own.

Here she is!

Oh, look at her! She'll be stunning once she's filled out and she's had a few months of love. Those eyes say she is very, very sorry about the trash.

She is beautiful! Yes, those eyes are asking forgiveness. Irresistible!

>36 VivienneR: Ha! I guess if I can forgive her ripping apart one of my Autumn garlands, I'm going to forgive her anything.

>38 RidgewayGirl: Her hip bones are already less noticeable, and she has her first vet visit tomorrow, so I'm hoping to hear that she's put on a few pounds. This pic was taken a day of two before she took up her trash hobby, so it might be saying "I have plans for you." ; )

>39 VivienneR: Isn't she? You can see why we wanted her so much.
I don't know why her head looks so big in the pic, but she really is tiny, about the size of a 9-10 month old. The society listed her as around 3 years old, but it's hard to say when she was so malnourished. She really came to the right house to get fattened up!

PUPPYYYYYYY! Awwwwww!!!

Also, I enjoyed Blandings as well. The Empress was a grand old pig.

She's a sweetheart, Jennifer. My husbands' family often choose Boxers as family pets, we currently have a brother-in-law with one called Sailor, and a cousin who has Dempsey. Both are friendly, fun dogs that are fun to be around.

>41 rabbitprincess: Uh-oh, I've just started season 2. Does the "was" in your comment mean something?
Coral's a little cutie alright. We went out for a short time tonight and came home to find she had managed to get some of my Halloween spider webbing wrapped up in a fan. Awww, her first attempted arson!

>42 DeltaQueen50: Thanks! Boxers are my family's breed. I grew up with them and they have so much personality and lots of facial expressions. You almost always know what a Boxer is saying.

LibraryThing's birthday, so let's have some cake!
Tempting. Hmmm. The most disturbing of all-" Kitty Litter Cake". Berrrkk.

Boxers are also really devoted to their families. I can see why they are a family favorite as I've never met one who wasn't awesome.

6. The Letter, the Witch and the Ring by John Bellairs. Lewis Belvardt's best friend, Rose Rita, is grumpy because Lewis is off to summer camp and she's being left behind with nothing to do. But old Mrs. Zimmerman, the neighborhood witch, invites Rose Rita to spend a few weeks driving through Northern Michigan to see the old farm Mrs. Zimmerman's recently deceased cousin has left her. He also leaves her a magic ring, but vandals have already ransacked the farm and the ring is missing. As Mrs. Zimmerman runs into a bitter romantic rival from decades ago, Rose Rita has her own problems, like how she's going to fit in at junior high when she isn't attracted to boys but wants to be one instead.
This is the third, and I think, last of the Lewis and Rose Rita books. I enjoyed the first two a little more, but this one was still action-packed. 3.5 stars

"The Devil's Rain"- a 1975 horror with William Shatner, Ernest Borgnine and melted people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTS8i31SBhw

>42 DeltaQueen50: I primarily meant "was" in the sense that I finished watching it a while ago. But it is true that the pig who played the Empress in the first season died before they could film the second. So it's two different pigs.

What a sweet looking dog! Sounds like she's found the perfect home for her.

> 47 Poor thing! But how amazing that they found two pigs that looked so similar- it's not like the Empress had a common look with that very pushed-in face.

>48 LittleTaiko: Thanks! Her cuteness is getting her all the food and toys and petting she can handle.

I have to say that I'm surprised no one has put out even a "gross" about the kitty litter cake. It's an actual cake trend of making food to look like a used cat box! You're either the most polite bunch, or the most jaded! : D

>49 mstrust: I have to say that I'm surprised no one has put out even a "gross" about the kitty litter cake.

I'm still trying to think of something else! Disturbing is correct!

I know, why would anyone do that to cake?!

It's wonderful Agatha Christie's birthday. The vast majority of pics of her are posed professional pictures, but here's one showing her out and having a good time. Or at least she's smiling.

Ha! I had to show that picture of the cake to the kids (after showing them Coral; they agreed she is lovely). My daughter found it disgusting and my son, who is 12, asked if I would make him one.

Oh no! Well now we know who would actually eat a kitty litter cake- 12 year old boys do like gross stuff! I think I've been put off Tootsie Rolls for a while.

My sister and her friends used to make kitty litter cakes when their kids were young. It was the big birthday party cake between 2000-2005. The kids loved them. My sister said they taste really good. It does look disgusting though.

>54 VioletBramble: How could something cake related have gotten past me? I guess I wasn't invited to any kid's parties, but I have to say that I wouldn't care if it was the best cake on earth, once I've seen "poop", I ain't eating it.

Halloween commercials are playing, I'm putting up decorations and I've spent a couple of days trying to get hold of the October issue of Martha Stewart Magazine. It's out, but not in my neighborhood.
Btw, anybody else enjoying "Fear the Walking Dead"?

Here's a Halloween story from early in Psycho author Robert Bloch's career. It's fun, atmospheric and a 15-20 minute read.
http://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/01/robert-bloch-cloak.html

I've been watching "Fear The Walking Dead" and for the most part liking it. Of course it is whetting my appetite for "The Walking Dead" which is starting up soon. Netflicks has a series called "Z Nation" (I think) and I watched the first episode with my grandson on the weekend. It really lacks production values and came off quite cheesy and made me miss 'The Walking Dead' even more!

BTW I love the picture in >56 mstrust:

>45 RidgewayGirl: Sorry for the late reply! I agree completely, Boxers are great family dogs who become Daddy's girls. I grew up with Melissa and her daughter Rachel, and they were the best babysitters.

>57 DeltaQueen50: I like "Fear the Walking Dead" too. Not as much as TWD, but I like it and plan on continuing to the end. The junkie son (can't remember his name) reminds me of Johnny Depp with his weird little mannerisms. I predict he'll become famous at some point.
I watched a few minutes of the pilot of "Z Nation" and had the same opinion as you. It's a cheap, poorly written attempt to cash in on TWD, but somebody likes it because I think it's getting another season.
Glad you like that pic. How surprising that photo manipulation goes back that far.


7. The Great Ghost Rescue by Eva Ibbotson. The crumbling, abandoned castles of Great Britain are being sold and turned into hotels and other things for the living, which leaves the ghosts who haunt them sick and homeless. When a family of ghosts have to flee their castle to find somewhere more remote, they find Rick, a little boarding school boy who determines to help them by presenting their case to the Prime Minister. 4 stars

This is a must-watch if you plan on using dry ice at Halloween. Science!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXvd0TnXGU8

A church in Vermont. What a gorgeous picture.

FOOD!
Entenmann's Pumpkin Pop 'Ems are basically glazed donut holes with just a touch of spice and orange color.
Chobani's lowfat pumpkin yogurt has quite a bit of nutmeg and a nice tangy pumpkin flavor from real pumpkin puree. I like the Chobani Flip Pumpkin Crisp Greek a little better.

Here's a clip from "The Innkeepers". It's a great haunted house/ghost story movie with just a split second of blood and really no violence at all but lots of tension, sort of along the lines of "The Turn of the Screw" or "The Haunting of Hill House".
I have to give you a little of the story for this clip to make sense. This old hotel is about to be shut down, so there are just two employees running everything. They have only two guests, and the employees get drunk in the middle of the night and decide to contact the spirit of the woman who supposedly killed herself there many decades ago. Okay, now your ready.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUXdDmn9wP4

Oh, pass the kitty litter cake! Yikes!

Your puppy looks sweet! Sage is a garbage dog too. I had to clear space for it in the coat closet cuz there's no training him to pass up that!

These are for you, Jennifer. Long form articles about murders. I found them fascinating.

https://medium.com/@jeffmaysh/the-murder-house-8bea26f11e5b

http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-murders-at-the-lake/

>60 cammykitty: Ha! Would you really like a slice?
I've cured Coral of her trash loving ways by spraying each empty tin can with my homemade lavender spray. She was pulling out the pet food cans to lick them, so I figured if it didn't smell like food, she wouldn't like it. It's worked so far.

>61 RidgewayGirl: Thanks for those, they were both new to me.
I don't get people wanting to make a visit to a murder house just because something horrible happened there, yet if I found myself in Fall River, I'd visit the Lizzie Borden house. I'd love to go on the Jack the Ripper walk in London. I guess the only difference is the matter of time. The Borden and Ripper cases seem like history to me, while something more recent has an air of ghoulishness.


8. Ray Villafane's Pumpkins. You may know Villafane from his appearances on The Food Network's Halloween Challenge. He's the team pumpkin carver who has won twice. When not in pumpkin season, he's a professional sculptor, and his incredible skill shows in his pumpkins. This book has a 10 step tutorial on pumpkin carving with sculpting tools, then displays full page examples of his amazing work. He even carves pores into the skin for a really life-like result. 4.5 stars

>62 mstrust:
Wow, I wish I had those skills!

>63 -Eva-: I do too. He's very talented and I wish I had some.

Coral Report- We've had her a week now and she's put on enough flesh that her bones aren't sticking out anymore and she looks healthy. In this week she's also discovered eggs and ham, how to use stairs and a doggy door, and not to poddy inside. The vet's assistant said she must be between 2-3 years old and that she probably wouldn't get any taller, which makes her the smallest adult Boxer I've ever seen. She'll look like a puppy her whole life.

Here's the site for Ray Villafane, the pumpkin carver, who also does huge sand sculptures. Look through his gallery of carvings.
http://villafanestudios.com/

Talk Like A Pirate Day

We had an Autumn-ish date last night. Went out for dinner, then a trip to the Spirit store, where we played with all the new animatronics, bought me a rather realistic foam meat cleaver for my costume and some fake blood, and Mike found a syringe pen filled with red ink. Then to Barnes and Noble for a stack of October magazines, and found the Martha Stewart there, finally. Then drove through Culver's for a pumpkin spice milkshake, which I ended up sharing with the dogs because it was way too filling.

Dammit! I missed it! Off to switch LT over to Piratese for the last few hours of the evening. Over here it was just the start of Oktoberfest.

>62 mstrust: Those are amazing!

>66 RidgewayGirl: Well I hope you got a few hours at squinting at people and saying 'Arrrgg!" I'm sure the Germans will appreciate that. ; )
You have let us know what it's like to be there during Oktoberfest- it must be exciting!

>67 Chrischi_HH: I agree! He's able to make those faces so life-like. And he does the majority with sculpting loops, using a knife only at the end to create detail like deepening wrinkles.

Saw John Castle on TV again today! This time he was on an episode of Lovejoy entitled "The Day of Reckoning." He sure gets around the crime dramas!

>69 rabbitprincess: If you've seen John Castle today, you've had a good day! I've seen "The Day of Reckoning" a couple of times and he's great in it. So evil and illogical. And you're right, he's made the rounds of all the British crime/cop shows. The Professionals, Midsomer Murders, 3 Agatha Christies, A Touch of Frost, Sherlock Holmes....the list goes on and on. He's played a lot of bad guys.
And since you were watching Lovejoy, I saw Ian McShane yesterday in "Case 39".

I practiced my apple cake today, which is one of my fair entries for next month. Mike's buddies have been complaining that I haven't sent any experiments over lately, but it's just been too hot to have the oven on. But we've dropped into the high 90's now so I had to get started.
And then Mike brought me a bouquet of flowers tonight.
Btw,"The Great British Baking Show" has started on my PBS. It isn't the season I'd been watching on Youtube, so I guess I was watching old ones.

For your shopping needs:
http://www.spirithalloween.com/?UTM_campaign=PPC%3AGOOG%3Ageneral%3Aspirit_store...

Somebody has done a really, really cool thing by making a Youtube video of all those creepy paintings from "The Night Gallery". Very good quality and the music is perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIQqVF7ZVDE

It's Stephen King's Birthday.

I loved this one when I was a kid- Disney's Lonesome Ghosts starring Mickey, Donald and Goofy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phvVPEGU8hI

9. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. The true story of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, paralleled with the story of Chicago businessman H.H. Holmes, a serial killer.
The book traces the very beginnings of the idea of building a World's Fair in a city known for its violence, when the most successful Chicagoans wanted to change the city's reputation to one that would rival New York's. One of many who arrived to take advantage of the situation was Holmes, a young man who committed fraud and forgery and was able to build a hotel with its own crematorium without anyone suspecting him.

The parts about Holmes, and about the many obstacles of creating such an immense event as the fair, were very interesting. I have to admit that the descriptions of meeting after meeting and who met who and who didn't make the trip got tedious. 3.5 stars

How did I miss out on seeing this until a few months ago?
"It's Alive!" (yes, exclamation point) refers to a newborn who is so evil it even kills the hospital staff who are delivering it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pW99eaMons

>75 mstrust: That trailer was really over the top!

>76 mamzel: Isn't it? Who thought a fanged homicidal newborn was a good idea? It's very much a throwback to the monster movies of the 50's. And yet the cast consists of character actors, some you might recognize, who squeeze every drop of realism they can out of the script. They earned their money. : D

I cracked up when they actually used the phrase "excessive force" (as in not using) and the next scene was a virtual rain of lead.

>78 mamzel: Ha! Well they had to because that monster baby was killing left and right!
I really love old movies of questionable taste. The stuff that you can tell took a bad turn between the script and what came out of the actor's mouth. A sure thing are the 70's Italian movies of Franco Nero.

Here's a really good video of a walk through Sleepy Hollow. We did this exact walk through town and to the Old Dutch Church, because the cab driver who picked us up at the train station didn't know what we meant by "the cemetery", or "the Headless Horseman event" or "Washington Irving" or "how can you live here and not know about any of this?"
It's a really pretty little town that was decorated all over with Horseman motifs and scarecrows with pumpkin heads, and it has the most library-ish public library I've ever come across. Dark wooden plank floors that creak, a front sitting room with early Colonial furniture and a big fireplace...beautiful and inviting.
Anyway, I know the camera work here can get bouncy, but you end up at the church.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_iP5iQWeUE

F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday!

I've come across more pumpkin stuff. Trader Joe's has a pumpkin version of their (Cheerios) "O" cereal which is pretty good for flavor but feels like your eating packing peanuts. Then there are pumpkin spice Peeps. The marshmallow is very good, but they ruined them by covering the whole bottom half in gross, pointless white chocolate. Ptttoooey!

Here's Screamin' Jay Hawkins. And nope, it isn't "I Put A Spell On You". I really like this version of a Tom Waits song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eceUXYtdw8Q

10. The Complete Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens. Who knew that Dickens wrote so many stories featuring ghosts or strange occurrences? His most famous, "A Christmas Carol" and "The Signal-Man" are here, but there is also "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" with the same "love thy neighbor" message as the Carol story. There's "The Queer Chair", about a ratty old chair that comes to life one night to influence a man's love life, and the story of Captain Murderer, who kills many young brides.
Once you get past the many opening paragraphs of florid writing, the stories are often interesting. Not frightening at all, but just interesting plots. 3 stars

>81 mstrust: I just had to listen to Tom Waits after reading your post. It reminded me of his video of "Satisfied" that could be Tom dancing on a grave. The lyrics are very halloween-ish.

When i'm gone
when i'm gone
roll my vertebrae out like dice
let my skull be a home for the mice
let me bleach like the bones on the beach

I'm an easily frightened scaredy-cat. Your thread is bringing up bad memories from my younger years. LOL.
There is no way that I'm watching the trailer for It's Alive. I saw It's Alive in it's original theatrical release. Actually, on my 15th birthday, summer 1977. It terrified me. I was seriously traumatized for YEARS. (lalala..not thinking about It's Alive..lalala)
Mention of Sleepy Hollow always reminds me of a childhood trip to the town, after which i was convinced that the ghost of Washington Irving was hiding in my bedroom closet. That was a short lived fear, remembered only when I started high school -- at Washington Irving High School, of course. The scary just follows me around.
I miss the old pumpkin Peeps. They weren't pumpkin flavored, just orange pumpkin Peeps with chocolate cream filling. Yum.

>83 VivienneR: He's a moody feller, isn't he? It looks like both he and Screamin' Jay Hawkins have a few numbers that could qualify for Halloween. I'll feature more music down the road, but I have a feeling it'll get louder. : D

>84 VioletBramble: Awww! Believe it or not, I'm not trying to bring up horrible memories, but it's just so hard not to push somebody's buttons with all this creepy stuff. When I was little I was convinced Frankenstein was hiding under the bubbles in my bath. I have no idea how I landed on him, but he was stuck in my head. And I think I said last year how one of my babysitters made us watch the original "The Fly", and that "help me!" stuff doesn't leave a four year-old's head.
And I never had chocolate-filled Peeps!

Here's a couple of fun Halloween cocktail videos, one for "Dracula's Curse" and the other for candy corn shots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZKh6X2BljM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeAXulhGDYY

I can remember watching "The Fly" with my brother one night when our parents were out on our old B&W TV. After it was done my brother went to the bathroom and did a perfect rendition of "Help me!" I can remember to this day the hair on the back of my neck going up.

It was terrifying! Your brother and my babysitter were both mean. ; )
I was going to post a pic of "the moment" so anyone who hasn't seen it would know what we're talking about, but the images were too scary. shiver

Three course meal.

A clip from "Phantasm", one of the greatest horror movies from the 70's. This thing scared the bejeezus out of my sister and me when we were kids. So, of course, we watched it over and over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzxPIW5RrsY

And it's Jim Thompson's birthday! The Killer Inside Me is his most famous, but he has other great, morally bankrupt characters, like The Grifters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drr7dxV6I64

So I watched the cocktail videos. The Dracula's Curse looks good and should even taste good. The Candy Corn Shot looked fabulous but sounded dreadful to me, although my husband thought it didn't sound any sweeter than a B-52. I think my shot days are behind me, but I'd order the Dracula's Curse if I saw it on a cocktail menu.

I think he's making the candy corn as shots because a whole glass of it would be way too rich. To me, the flavor of candy corn is an intense butter and corn syrup flavor, like it's had baking butter emulsion added, so I eat only a few at a time. But a drink of sugar, cream and whipped cream alcohol would probably turn out to be my favorite. (And I keep a bottle of Pinnacle Whipped Cream vodka in the cupboard anyway.)
I would definitely order a Dracula's Curse off a menu.

And have you seen the commercials for the Halloween burger? I'd seen the Japanese versions, with McDonald's and Burger King using either squid ink or charcoal to make black buns. The American version is getting the color from A-1.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/25/bk-finally-lifts-veil-on-black-bun-burger-in-us.h...

Here's "Bubba Ho-Tep" encapsulated into 5 minutes. This is a really weird and funny movie, perfect for Halloween. An elderly man in a nursing home claims to be Elvis, while another claims to be JFK. And they are both fighting the mummy who is killing the other residents. Want to make a lot of money fast? Invite friends over to watch "Bubba Ho-Tep" and tell them the game is to put money in a jar every time a character swears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttJUvrVLgw

>92 mstrust:
OK, that is one creepy picture!

Eva, what's creepy about it? Just taking the monsters out for a stroll. ; )

And how is it that both my message and yours are numbered 92?

Children are inherently scary! :)

Ah, my message is numbered #93 - I referenced back to your comment in #92 in my post (so that it would be clear which picture I was talking about).

On my end both our messages were numbered 92, but it's adjusted itself now. Just a weird glitch that I'd never seen before.

Odd. I've never seen a glitch like that either. As long as it's not changing what I'm saying. :)

>97 -Eva-: Nope, got your message just fine!

Here's what The London Dungeon is doing for Halloween. The Dungeon is an attraction that features all the worst bits of British history, sort of like a haunted house where everything is based on facts.
http://www.thedungeons.com/london/en/

Getting caught up here with belated congrats on the new member of the family. Coral looks like a sweet dog! Not sure about maple cotton candy but only because I find cotton candy in general too sweet for my tastes.

Thanks, she gets prettier every day! But we're still working on some things, like how she will suddenly be right in our faces when she thinks we've slept enough.
I like cotton candy about once a year at the fair, but maple cotton candy sounds like the best. kind. ever.
We happened to grill pork chops tonight with a delicious maple/mustard glaze. I'm still finding new things to do with maple syrup.

Here's a very brief but good story from Charles Dickens about a murderer who is clearly based on Bluebeard. It's about a 5 minute read. And I can't help but think that the dark-haired sister could have come up with a better plan.
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/53092/

FOOD!- I've found the Pumpkin Spice Mini-Wheats! I had given up on them after our search last week, followed by Mike looking online and finding that they were going for up to $14 a box online. But last night we were out shopping and after dinner he asked if I wanted to just stop by our local Fry's and have a look. Sure, why not. The sneaks didn't have them on the cereal aisle with the other Mini-Wheats, they had put them in a small display in the freezer section.
p.s.- I don't know why I'm so obsessed with them.

It's Truman Capote's birthday! In Cold Blood alone...


Here's a clip from "Monster House". It's become a real favorite.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SZDkdyPfrM

So what do you think about the Pumpkin Spice Mini-Wheats? It has been ages since I had Mini-Wheats but I do remember their frosted goodness. ;-)

>103 lkernagh: They're pretty good. Not mind-blowing, but pretty good. Eaten dry, you taste more of the spice, while in milk, the pumpkin flavor comes out. And they do have a nice orange sugar frosting.

I've been watching so many scary movies over the last few weeks. It's hard not to, what with movies showing on t.v. just a year or two after being in the theater. Plus, I have a stack of Halloween dvds to get through this month. And lots more books. And the state fair competition, Mom's visit, Mike's Birthday, MIL's birthday, Redd Kross, and lots of Halloween events. Oh, and the Sherlock club meeting. October is always a very busy month.

So, it's the first day of October! Let's celebrate with Tim Curry Day Once I thought about his roles it was surprising how many fit in for Halloween.


Rocky Horror, of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BuHZ10BWes
His song in The Worst Witch (oughta call it The Worst Song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6089Z_NgPk
And in Stephen King's It: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPgjOcdQ0fE

Yea! We got our tickets to Redd Kross!!!

Here's a clip from the influential low-budget 60's horror movie "Spider Baby", which starred Lon Chaney Jr. If you've ever seen Rob Zombie's horror films, you'll notice how much he drew from "Spider Baby".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIKaDi-iW9s

I work across a couple of sites, to get to one of which I have to drive past a field of pumpkins. If I wouldn't be breaking umpteen traffic laws, I'd stop and take a picture for you! It looks like a filed of basketballs, as they're all rather round and rather orange.

I've not tried Pumpkin spice coffee, but it's presence does means than my favourite, the gingerbread latte is on its way very shortly... Wishing my life away again.

This is a great thread! New here, so just chiming in. I love Halloween and this time of year, too. I have my long list of movies I like to watch as well. Thanks for the great pictures and lists.

Livi

The Creature from the Black Lagoon wasn't really all that scary but that scene with the legs dangling and the creature coming slowly up out of the deep really got me. Every time I swim in a river or lake to this day, I think about it!

The Creature from the Black Lagoon was the first movie I ever saw in 3D. Not so scary... :) But that gif is great!

>106 Helenliz: I'm envious! I'd love to drive past a pumpkin patch, because I don't think I ever have. There's one about 20 minutes away, where we went through the corn maze last year, but you can't see anything from the street. Thanks for thinking of me though! And I like the gingerbread latte too.

>107 oliviabaxter04: Welcome, both to LT and my thread! I'm glad you like it, as I have a lot of fun putting it together.

>108 DeltaQueen50: I think that's something a lot of people fear, going into water and something is already there, just biding its time. ; ) I think we have both the Creature and Jaws to blame for that.

Mike had something very scary happen last night. It was around 11pm, he was turning off the freeway into the underpass to come home, and suddenly there was a big cement truck sitting there, on fire and shooting flames. Even worse, the car right in front of him slammed on its brakes, which trapped Mike right next to the burning truck. Mike says he was honking and yelling and the guy wouldn't move so Mike had to drive around him to get away from the flames.
I knew it would be on Youtube. Mike got caught in it before the fire department or police had arrived. He called to report it but they were on the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDjudU86I24

>110 mstrust:
That is scary! Glad to hear he got away from it OK. Bet that other guy was busy filming it on his phone....

>110 mstrust: Aaaaaa! Glad to hear Mike is OK. That would be terrifying!

The Angler Fish. Some of them can reach up to 100 lbs.

>111 -Eva-: That's what I said too, that the idiot was willing to get someone killed so he could have a Youtube video.

>112 rabbitprincess: Thanks, princess, I'm happy he got home too! Believe me, he was still feeling it when he told me, but who wouldn't be?


11. Jane Slayre by Charlotte Bronte and Sherri Browning Erwin. Taking the bones of the plot (cruel aunt, boarding school for orphans, Mr. Rochester), this places Jane in a world where she is raised by the vampire Reeds, learns to kill zombies at Lowood and finds that Mr. Rochester's secret is a bit more complex than in the original story.
The fun of monster slaying is worked in, making Jane a fearless fighter while still leaving in her problems with money and love. 4 stars

Here's a clip from "The Mist", a movie made from the Stephen King short story. It seems like the casting director for "The Walking Dead" cherry picked it. There's Dale, Andrea, Carol,... and I know I'm forgetting a fourth actor who ended up on TWD. Will Marcia Gay Harden eventually be fighting walkers? Anyway, grocery store bag boys have delicious strawberry centers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHc8hukbb5U

Here's a very appropriate song from legendary band The Misfits from their "Famous Monsters" release. This video was directed by George Romero and keep in mind that it's from 1999, so well before "The Walking Dead" or CGI. The band make-up, especially at the end when it turns color, is fantastic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGUWla4OVrY

The Food Network's Halloween Wars started last night, and they have several hours of Halloween shows scheduled for tonight, including a new one called "The Halloween Baking Championship". So Yay!

I've found another delicious pumpkin item. I was at BevMo to buy pumpkin ale, thinking I'd end up with Blue Moon Pumpkin because that's what I've been drinking the past couple of years, but they were doing a tasting at the store. I brought home Leinenkugel Harvest Patch Shandy. No, there's no lemonade in it (so I don't know why it's called shandy), but unlike many pumpkin brews, it doesn't taste like the pumpkin flavor was dumped in after the regular ale was made. It's a lightly pumpkin taste that has more of the spice than most, and I like it enough to go get more.

Ever want to be a ghost hunter? The Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana is the only library I've heard of that features "ghost cams", 24 hour surveillance on the web that allows viewers to spot resident ghost, The Grey Lady, and save the pics into the library's gallery of sightings. And there are a lot, as The Grey Lady likes to keep busy.
http://www.willardghost.com/

>109 -Eva-: I didn't know they made a 3D version! That would be fun.

A good, scary bit from "The Others":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LvUmxUqPTo

Yesterday was really busy for me, with painting doors, trim and doorways in my house. Then I had the Sherlock club that night at a restaurant, where we discussed "A Scandal in Bohemia". Lauren, who organized the group, brought several Sherlock books for us to check out, many from England, and another member had gotten back from a trip to England and Scotland just the night before. He brought photos of his visit to 221 B Baker Street. Our read for next month is "The Yellow Face".

And there are lots of tv premieres happening. We had the season finale of "Fear The Walking Dead on Sunday. I like it, but don't love it so far. The actress who plays Madison, the mom, has an immobile face, which bugs me. Scared, angry,concerned, it's all the same lack of expression. But I'll watch when it comes back.
"The Walking Dead" comes back on Sunday. Yea!
"American Horror Story: Hotel" started last night. I haven't watched it yet.
Halloween Wars started Sunday. Those skills blow my mind.
"Fargo" starts Monday and I've really been looking forward to that.
And TCM is starting to play a slew of old horror films that I've been wanting to see, like "Eyes Without A Face". I'll put up a list of Halloween movie night suggestions tomorrow.

The Truth About Mrs. Bates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWHYmNrAFlI

It's R. L. Stine's Birthday.

12. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. A collection of short stories, some being horror-ish, some fantasy, a few just slice-of-life. "The Price", "Chivalry" and "Troll Bridge" were all in another collection, M is for Magic, which I liked a lot. This collection has "Don't Ask Jack", maybe the creepiest story two page story ever. There is also "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories" about an English writer who is brought to Hollywood to meet with movie producers, and one of my favorites was "We Can Get Them For You Wholesale" about a young man who wants his romantic rival murdered but finds his agent gives a bulk discount that is too good to pass up.
Not every story in the collection is Halloween specific, but I enjoyed most of them. 4 stars

Here's a clip from the Kurt Russell horror, The Thing. He's testing everyone's blood to find out who's... The Thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqVbOSEsJNo

Oh, yeah! Nothing like a little Kurt to liven up one's day!

Elvira! I miss her. I wonder if she's on YouTube.

>119 mamzel: He's yummy!
And since you're the first to visit me in a long time, take as much as you like:

Sorry it isn't handfuls of Kurt Russell.

>120 RidgewayGirl: Yes, she's still very active and has lots of stuff on Youtube. Oddly, she hasn't aged at all, so maybe she really is a vampire.

>110 mstrust: - Wooh.... glad to read that Mike is okay and was able to get out of the vicinity of the burning truck.

>113 mstrust: - That is one ugly fish I would not want to encounter on the end of a fishing line... or any where, for that matter.

>118 mstrust: - Love Elvira!

>122 lkernagh: Thanks, and I'm happy he lived too. His heart was still racing when he got home and told me about it.
Elvira is great. They did a reality show a couple of years ago trying to find someone to replace her (why?) and clearly it didn't work. She's too unique.

We went to see the wonderful LA band Redd Kross last night and they sounded fantastic. I've waited for many, many years to see them live.
Here's "1976", the song from the movie of the same name. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad2HWkH7FDY
O.K., so how many chances will I have to shove Redd Kross down everyone's throat? Not many, so here's another from them. Anybody who recognizes where this song comes from gets a prize.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tPTtc7MPN4

Here's your scare for the day- it's a clip from "The Crazies", a good movie about a virus that hits a small town and makes people very, very angry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvkj9AWGK4A

It's Neil Gaiman's birthday. This is how he celebrates.

>123 mstrust: For a chainsaw packing, tatooed zombie that top guy looks quite jolly!

And I would love to hang out with Neil Gaiman even it was in a cemetary.

It's nice to be happy in your work. And I would like to join you and Mr. Gaiman in the cemetery. I'll bring the cake.

And I forgot to mention how much fun Coral had while we were gone last night. We put away the tv remotes, closed the library and bathroom doors, did everything we could think of to Coral-proof the house before we left. We came home around 1 am to find that she'd gotten herself on the kitchen counter (who knew the tiny dog could jump that high?) and removed and eaten a dozen bagels. She pulled the dining room table cloth half off getting up there to chew off the stem of the pumpkin I'd bought that morning. She laid in bed and ate bagels on Mike's pillow. And this morning I found a cinnamon raisin bagel under the couch pillow and smears all over the couch. Isn't she cute? And if I know our lab, Greta, she simply laid there watching it all.

And another thing I forgot were the Halloween Movie Night suggestions. So here you are. Feel free to add your own suggestions:

Scary
The Others, The Mist, The Thing, The Woman in Black, The Innkeepers, The Purge, Insidious, Sinister, Misery

Funny
Theater of Blood, Scary Movie, Fun Size, The Selling. I don't recommend "The Walking Deceased". a TWD parody that is so stupid.

Family
Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It, Disney's Once Upon A Halloween, the Spooksville series.

Ah, Coral. She's making herself at home. I really miss having to check things for potential dog misbehavior before leaving the house.

Coral sounds like the perfect fur kid!

>126 RidgewayGirl: She certainly is. Whenever we come home, we greet them with "What have you done?" Weird thing is, if we leave the house individually, everything is fine. It's leaving at the same time that is too much for her and sends her looking for something to keep herself busy.
>127 lkernagh: Perfect for someone who owns a steam cleaning business! But in between naughty things, she's lovable and cuddly and she's gotten Greta playing again.

The Walking Dead starts tonight! We're having dinner out to celebrate Mike's mom's birthday a few days early, but I'll talk your ear off about it tomorrow.

This year's amazing literary jack o' lanterns.
http://bookriot.com/2015/10/09/incredible-literary-jack-olanterns/

The Shining is a great movie. Strange how it took years for it to be appreciated. One of my favorite scenes is the one with Jack and the English caretaker in the bathroom. That's where you see the penny drop for Jack, and were he starts to embrace the insanity.

It's leaving at the same time that is too much for her and sends her looking for something to keep herself busy.

Well, now it's time to trick the hound, obviously. We used to do this with our two. If people came over, they would obnoxiously greet them, but if I shut them in the bedroom and then opened the door to the bedroom ten minutes after people arrived, they would be fooled into thinking that the people had been in the house for some time and no longer needed to be greeted with terrifying enthusiasm. Of course, our two dogs were quite remarkably not-bright. Coral will probably see through one of you leaving five minutes before the other.

That's a good trick, and I'll try it!
I thought I'd be smart and give them really thick dental bones as we were walking out the door. I thought that would be enough of a distraction that we'd be gone before she'd notice. Ha! Foolish humans!

If you watched the season premiere last night, continue. If you didn't, just skip over this bit.
It took more than a few minutes for me to get what was going on, with the skipping around the timeline and black and white to color. And in the previous trailers they had really made it look like Morgan was going to be a problem for Rick, right? So, did they say where they were leading the walkers to, and how they were going to prevent the pit from filling again? They very well may have but I missed it.

How the show does zombie make-up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoJqZV8jZjE

I haven't watched the Walking Dead season opener yet, so I will be back after I watch it. Have to admit, I am looking forward to this.

I'm so happy to have it back! Do let me know what you thought after you've watched.

Love the Coral stories! I've only had cats who go to sleep as soon as you leave them alone. I used to tell ours to "mind the house" as I left and my husband would make responses appropriate to the look we got. Yeah, right. Yawn.

I like Vincent Price.

My fair entries are due this morning. I'm taking in Maple Apple Cake, No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies and Pumpkin Tea Bread. I'll have to wait until we go on the 21st to see if I've won anything.

Here's the really wonderful short film "Vincent", an early work by Tim Burton and narrated by Vincent Price.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASHP-vgnjAw

Best of luck on your entries! I really wish there was some sort of way we could compel you to send each of us a piece of every item.

>131 mstrust: To answer your TWD questions:

They just wanted to get the walkers out of the vicinity of Alexandria. The plan was to get them moving and Daryl, on his bike, along with Sasha & Abraham in the car were just going to keep leading them away for another 20 miles. Then hoping they just keep going. The pit wouldn't fill again as it only did so because the exit was blocked and the sound of the walkers gathered there would draw more until you get that massive herd that we saw in the opening episode.

>136 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, and I wish I could send some out to everyone! And I wish I could get a slice of the bread and cake too, just to see if it turned out as well as expected. We delivered them this morning, and that makes me squirmy.



>137 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks for getting back to me! I watched it a second time to see if I'd missed the information, but you're right, they were just leading them away to wherever. Which made me wonder why our precious Daryl had to be so vulnerable on his bike when they could have been playing music from the cars. Or honking. ; )
And concerning Morgan-
1. I don't get why Rick was locking him in when he hadn't done anything.
2. Morgan doesn't know Carol, so he didn't know how dangerous it is to let her know that he was on to her act.
3. Morgan doesn't seem pleased with Rick.
And Michonne seemed like she was the one really watching Rick in this episode, and she looks both frightened and disgusted. And where was Carl? Carl?

13. A Grim Almanac of Cambridgeshire by Neil R. Storey. For each day of the year, there is an entry for something bad that happened in this English county. Murders, fires, illness, muggings, the history of this place is jam-packed with bad stuff, and the death sentences were handed down for as little as stealing shoes. On Jan. 14, 1902, a pornographer sought by the police was found hiding in the walls of his house, on March 24, 1837, a sixteen year old girl was arrested for cutting off her newborn's head, and on Sept. 8, 1727, a barn caught fire during a puppet show, killing 78 people.
This is one of those odd niche books I seem to have a talent for finding. 4 stars

A non-Halloween book- how'd that happen?


95. Novel Interiors by Lisa Borgnes Giramonti. A thick book of interior decorating based on literary styles or specific authors. The rooms mostly look generalized into "English country" or "Art Deco", so while they're pretty, it seems like the author is really reaching for a literary connection. 3.5 stars

I've come across a few more Autumn Foods:
Sprout's Pumpkin Snaps have a good spicy flavor but they're hard as rocks.
Hostess has Maple Glazed Mini Donuts. I'd say it's an infusion of maple flavoring. They aren't bad, very light and fluffy with a strong maple scent and a fake maple flavor.
Kettle Maple Bacon Popcorn. I have it but haven't tried it yet.
Lake Champlain Maple Caramel Dark Chocolates. We were at our local gourmet store, AJ's, which really gets into Halloween with lots of specialty foods, body products, candles... so I see the word "maple" and grab it. I've had this brand before and I know it's good, but $15 for 5 ounces? It's very thick, creamy dark chocolate maple leaves filled with gooey caramel that has a hint of maple. I was hoping for more of a maple-with-a-bit-of-caramel situation, but it's still very good. And pretty.



Here's Bruce Campbell losing his mind in "Evil Dead 2". His new sequel is premiering on Halloween and it's the first time I've ever wished I had the Starz channel. He just seems like a fun guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOpcdJ_V5_M

I watched the first Walking Dead last night, and I too, was a little confused at first with the timeline. I kept thinking that I had missed an episode along the way that explained what was happening. I finally put the pieces together and was then able to relax and enjoy the zombie multitude.

* I agree with you, Daryl should be protected above all. ;)

* I think the whole thing with Morgan is that Morgan knew Rick in the very early days but hasn't been with him while he's gone through so many changes. The Rick of today really doesn't have a lot in common with the Rick from the first season but Morgan seems to think that the upstanding, decent Rick is still in there somewhere.

* My take on Michonne is that she would like to put these hard days behind her but everytime she relaxes, something happens to drag them back to violence. She was eager to get off the road as she thought if they didn't, they would soon become unfit to be around other humans.

* Carol kind of creeps me out (in a good way) these days.

* Personally I didn't mind that Carl played such a minor role in this episode as he is my least favorite character.

My biggest disappointment is that for some reason my PVR stopped recording the show before the end of the episode. The last thing I saw was the when the loud horn went off and the zombies started to veer off course to follow that. Was someone deliberatly sabotaging them? Did all the main characters make it to the end of the episode?

Now I don't feel so bad that it took me a few minutes to understand what was happening. They seemed to throw you in too far into it, so you have to gather the information and work backwards. But it sounds like you got the full episode-it ends with the horn going off and everybody running to see where it's coming from, with the walkers following.
Awww, that's funny that you don't like Carl. Since Beth is gone, I think Gabriel is my least favorite. And I've never warmed up to Deanna. She just squints too much for me to trust her completely.
Carol has become a viper, and I like her for it. Her character has changed the most over the course of the series.

Thought of you when I was in New York. Ate breakfast at one restaurant that served pumpkin stuffed toast that was quite delicious. Also had some fried pumpkin at another.

>144 LittleTaiko: That's stuff sounds delicious, so I can assume your having a great time! I was in NYC one Fall and liked seeing how people would go all out decorating their tiny front stoops. And I enjoyed the crisp Autumn weather.

>134 VivienneR: Sorry for the delayed reply. When we're walking out the door, I tell them "Be good." Which seems to be working 50% of the time.

Here are evil Simon and Hecubus from "The Kids In The Hall".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L8wftRFLX0

>143 mstrust: Thanks for setting my mind at ease, I was afraid that I missed 20 minutes. I don't trust my PVR these days, it seems to have a mind of it's own! Next week's program should be a good one!

Glad to help. And my DVR started acting up Monday night, turning itself on and off and rebooting itself over and over, just in time for the premiere of "Fargo", so I ended up with four recordings here and there of 3-5 minutes each. I'll be catching the replay.

And I've come across a candy corn that isn't sickening sweet. It's the CVS brand called "Spooky Village", and the candy corn is a mild vanilla flavor. The Autumn Mix has pumpkins that are a different taste and texture from the candy corn, sort of like firm frosting. It's much better than Brach's, to me at least.

And I've been meaning to post this for a few days. It's the trailer for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAChymiQC-o

>145 mstrust: - Yes, it was absolutely delicious! We did have a good time - fall in New York like you said is a good time to visit. We did see lots of decorations in front of homes in Brooklyn. The Chelsea Market was all decked out as well. Weather was a bit warmer than expected but infinitely better than what we are currently having at home.

NO. Brach's is the only kind of candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins worth eating.

>148 LittleTaiko: We went to the Chelsea Market too, and they had huge pumpkin displays. There was a massive jack o' lantern carved as Frankenstein. That's also the first time I ever had chicken peanut stew and I loved it so much I started making it at home.
I'm glad you had such a good trip!

>149 RidgewayGirl: Ha, I won't try to change your mind! It's just a different flavor, and I prefer the milder one. I do think Brach's should remove their American slogans from their packaging since they closed their American production a few years ago.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

"This is a living hell. There's an angry monster in the next room, my fiancee visits peep shows looking for someone to kill, and even though I have no vocal chords or lungs, I have to spend my time talking to the worst actor in this $45 movie... oh, and I'm just a severed head sitting in a tray of liquid. That's bad too."

The kids are going to Kidnap Sandy Claws:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry7PcYtKPhA

Halloween candy buffets exist! It's a thing! Invite me!

Does anyone else enjoy the author chats and general awkwardness of "Well Read"? I love it. Over the past couple of weeks they've been tweaking the show by adding computer graphics and having Mary Anne give her recommendations to the camera rather than speaking to Terry Tazioli, but now they've gone crazy with a new background and a room of coordinated furniture rather than the old Borders coffee table. I'm happy that the hosts counteract any attempts at slickness by upping the embarrassingly awkward banter that much more.

I watched the second episode of American Horror Story: Hotel, which I wasn't sure I would after the premiere last week. There were a couple of scenes that were hard to stomach, so I guess they met their shock goal. Schmidt from "New Girl", that's all I'm saying'.

Here's Vincent Price reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Conqueror Worm". I've always thought this poem was far, far more scary than "The Raven".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJ5CAGUrqU

Stopping by now that the weekend has arrived and I actually have some time for LT. Fingers are crossed for your fair entries! They sound wonderful, especially the no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies.... I am a huge Reese Peanut Butter Cup fan, but only the original variety. No crunchy, bar or supersize for me. ;-)

>153 lkernagh: Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing if I've won anything. And eating, of course. I understand that this year's new foods include Frosted Flake Fried Chicken, deep fried Twix, raspberry fry bread and Kool-Aid injected pickles (which I will not be having).

Our lab, Greta, is 11 years old now. The doggies got huge homemade pumpkin spice cookies instead of a cake. And we've had Coral 5 weeks now, so I measured and found that she's put on two inches around the chest. She looks very healthy.

This is a fun all-things-Halloween site that pops up every year just for the holiday:
https://hween.wordpress.com/

Max Greenfield, huh. Probably will still not watch AHS: Hotel. Did you ever watch Veronica Mars?

I saw most of one episode, liked it, and meant to watch more but just never got around to it. Is that were Greenfield started?
I've just found another really good, creepy show that isn't anything like AHS; it's a three part mini-series called "The Endfield Haunting" starring Timothy Spall and Matthew McFadyen (sure that's spelled wrong). And surprise, it's being shown on A&E, the channel that hasn't shown any high-quality shows like this for years.


14. & 96. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M. R. James. First published in 1904, this is a collection of spooky stories with a very Gothic feel. Several of the stories involve a traveler doing research in Scandinavia and finding that long-ago myths are real. My favorites are "Number 13", in which the traveler staying in a pleasant hotel finds that his room, number 12, sometimes has a noisy neighbor next door in 13, though the hotel owner insists there is no room 13. The most effective is "Mezzotint", in which a University student is sent a tint of an old, nameless house, but finds sinister changes to the photo every time he returns to his room. 4 stars

This is number 14 for my Autumn reads and number 96 for this year overall.

>156 mstrust: I have just started Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James, and I am looking forward to some gothic creepiness!

>152 mstrust:
The marketing department at my work sets up a candy buffet every year for Halloween. It's a very dangerous place to be!

>157 DeltaQueen50: It looks like his Collected Ghost Stories includes the stories of Ghost Stories of Antiquary, plus lots more. I hope you like it, and "gothic creepiness" is a perfect description. Hope it scares you a little!

>158 -Eva-: Now I'm jealous! Yet I doubt if I'd get much work done knowing that a candy buffet was in the building.

A list of the "Top 10 Infamous Murder Houses". The narrator sounds almost gleeful.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVR6NyEyDu8

***SPOILERS

I've just watched last night's The Walking Dead- oooh, badass Carol is back! And Carl too. I wished Morgan would just pick up a gun already and not let a whole pack of murderers trot out the gate, but I guess he's following his conscience or whatever.



And we had a very sudden storm here in Phoenix yesterday that turned to hail within minutes, something that happens about every three or four years, so a big deal. We also saw plenty of big trees ripped out by the roots. It finally brought our temps down to the 70's.

Just some pics I've been meaning to put up:


maple apple with walnuts- 2015 state fair entry


smoked cheese and black sea salt skull crackers


Greta with her birthday cookie

"The Blob" was another movie that played on our local channels when I was a kid. It seems like the most economical monster ever created, just a couple of boxes of raspberry jello.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GODDLgM1gKo

What great Halloween gifs!

When I was a little kid in Chicago, we were sometimes given a special treat on Saturday night and allowed to stay up late and watch "Shock Theater," which played horror films like "The Blob," "Frankenstein," and "Dracula." It was only on air for two years (1957-59), but it made a lasting impression. And caused some scary times after watching it, lying in bed in the dark trying to get to sleep and hoping there were no monsters coming up the back stairs from the basement to get me). After that, there was "Screaming Yellow Theater," but I don't remember it with as much fondness as Shock Theater.

Ah, good times!

http://chicagotelevision.com/sven.htm

>164 Storeetllr: Thanks! I'm hoping my thread helps set the Halloween mood.
And thanks for the link- "Shock Theater" is new to me. I wondered were Svenghoulie came from. He just started appearing in our area a year or two ago. I wanted to like him but he just isn't funny and his movies are more old and obscure than so-bad-it's-good. I grew up with Elvira, who was an L.A. local a few years before she went national. Now she's funny.
I saw most of the old classics because channel 9 out of L.A. would play them on Saturday nights.

We had another lovely hail storm today! It's very exciting!
And I watched "Straightjacket", the William Castle movie with Joan Crawford playing an axe murderer. Not bad, and quite a surprise at the end. One of the best bits is a clear shot of a dummy head (suppose to be George Kennedy's) being lopped off.

Did you know we have rats in the cellar, Blanche?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=648-2RE4XAk

I lived in L.A. for almost 40 years and loved the early Elvira. One year I went to a Halloween party as her. I'll see if I can dig up a pic of that. Ah, memories.

Straitjacket reminds me of a really good horror novel I read earlier this year about Lizzie Borden. Have you read Maplecroft yet?

If you find that pic, do post it. I was Tim Curry from Rocky horror when I was fifteenth. Photos exist but I don't know where. And I lost last year's Halloween photos when I switched phones. I haven't read that one. Is it accurate as far as facts go?

It's horror fantasy. Factual generally, I guess, and as far as historical time and place. Begins some time after Borden was aquitted for the killings.

>168 Storeetllr: Thanks for the rec! I'll look for it.

I've had a very eventful day. Mom showed up around 9 am. We ran out for breakfast, then came home for Mike to open his presents, because it was his birthday. Then he went to work and Mom and I went out shopping for a couple of hours.
When Mike got home we went to the state fair. First thing, we went to see if I'd won any ribbons for the culinary competition. Right away I found my no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies, with a 1st Place Blue Ribbon! Then I was looking for my pumpkin tea bread, and there it was in the case, but no ribbon on it. They only put ribbon winners in the cases, so where is it?
Then the three of us were all searching for the maple apple bundt cake, because of my three entries, I was sure about that one taking a prize. So I'm looking just at the names on the tags and can't find it. Mike finds it, and it's won a 1st Place blue ribbon and it has someone else's name on it. I find a fair employee watching over another arts section, she calls another employee, they both agree that the employee who should be in the culinary section has gone missing. They go find him and he goes to find "someone in charge". Who turns out to be the very young girl I had handed my entries over to a week ago. I show her the pic of the full cake on Mike's phone and make her agree that this is the same cake in the case (yes, I get that way), and make her take my number to call me once she's talked it over with her supervisor. Mike says I have zero chance of receiving that ribbon when they mail them out after the fair closes. She also didn't know what happened to the pumpkin bread ribbon.
So mad.


Here's an excellent reading of M. R. James' The Mezzotint:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmiAmBz4t9U

Well, that sucks. I hope you made that exact same face. At least you know that you won!

Seconding what RidgewayGirl said.

You're a winner even if you don't have the ribbons to show for it!

Congratulations on your two wins and I commiserate on the mix-up with your pumpkin tea bread. I hope the mistake gets straigtened out.

I made that face when I was reading your post about the missing ribbon and mislabeled entry, even before I saw it. How enraging! I'd have been hard-pressed not to slap someone.

As mamzel says, though, you're a winner even without the ribbons.

>170 RidgewayGirl: It does suck. And although I know I won, I want my ribbon!

>171 lkernagh: thanks!

>172 mamzel: I demand my ribbon!

>173 DeltaQueen50: thank you, and I hope it gets straightened out too, yet I don't see them having a motivation to straighten it out.

>174 Storeetllr: Ha! Thank you for the replacement ribbon! I appreciate it!

It's so frustrating because you go to a lot of work trying out recipes, tweaking them, making them over and over, buying the ingredients, the special cardboard rounds and boxes, sending in the form and fee, then making sure everything is perfect and driving it to the fairgrounds, and after all that effort, they give someone else credit. And I wasn't the only one waiting to talk to the employee. There was another contestant there who found her entry, but the ribbon was lying in between hers and another entry, so you couldn't tell who had won, and she desperately wanted to know if that was her ribbon (it was). I mean, come on, you can't put the ribbon on the actual winner?

Oh no! What a disappointing mix-up. I hope it gets sorted out.

I am currently watching the Joan Hickson version of A Murder is Announced, which features John Castle. He's kind of dishy in this one :)

>176 rabbitprincess: Thanks, princess. I will get my ribbon!
I spoke to the supervisor today and she assured me that she knew about the problem, it would be fixed and I would receive the right number of ribbons. And she said that they had displayed all the entries this year, so if there was no ribbon on the pumpkin bread, that was it. Two 1st prizes still makes me happy.
Ha! Calling John Castle "kind of dishy" is like saying the sun is "kind of warm"!

Solid proof.

Here's a clip from Andy Warhol's Flesh For Frankenstein. Udo Kier gets all chatty once he's been impaled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QECchGdV3pI

>169 mstrust:
That's not cool. I hope the ribbon arrives!

Saw this today (Most Popular Halloween Candy In Each State) and immediately thought of your thread:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/halloween-candy-most-popular-favorite_5628f0...

>178 -Eva-: Me too!
>179 lkernagh: Thanks for that! I can believe Snickers or Reese's and stuff like that, but California's favorite candy is Lifesavers? Must be the peppermint flavor.
And my state's is Toblerone, which are tasty and makes us sound cultivated.

Mom leaves in the morning and we've had a very good visit. We've shopped for days, went to the fair, went for Indian fry bread, took her to Tonto's, which is a place that specializes in Southwest food (lots of chilis and prickly pear margaritas) and bought a few books.
And yesterday afternoon I was playing with the dogs and swung my hand back, jamming my pinky finger tip first into the wall. We can't tell if it's fractured or broken, but I heard the crack and now the finger and palm are bruised purple and bandaged to the ring finger.

Here's the scene from Night of the Living Dead that got everyone nervous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBPUvsudXmE

Ouch.

>181 RidgewayGirl: Indeed. My hand keeps getting puffier and the bruise darker. Probably because I keep opening and closing car doors with it.

I nearly forgot to say that last night we went to The Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree to see the pumpkin sculptures by Ray Villafane. There was a huge pumpkin, maybe 450 lb., set up in the pavilion and a guy, from his studio I suppose, was working on it. There was a 400lb. pumpkin displayed that said Ray would be carving it on Halloween. Then there were pumpkin sculptures throughout the park. I'll post pics very soon.
http://carefreepumpkingarden.com/

And here's what we had at the fair: poutine (very good), corn dogs, maple funnel cake (a favorite), deep fried s'mores, kettle corn and a big handmade pretzel. Everything was shared between three of us, except the corn dogs, but we still waddled out. And we're probably going back on Friday.

Mom left this morning so I'll spend the day doing laundry and doing a one-handed clean up. Oh, and just before she left, Coral pulled Mom's book off her bed and tore a page out carrying it downstairs.

Six More Days!

The original Nightmare on Elm Street with a very young Johnny Depp making a mess in his room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiGdPpy0he4

>182 mstrust:
I love his pumpkins - Enchanted Pumpkin Garden looks so much fun!

>184 -Eva-: So do I. He does amazing carvings that look like guys you'd know. I'm hoping to see him on Halloween, as long as it's during the day. This will be the first time in maybe 10 years that we'll be home to give out candy.


The carver in the pavilion.

The carving on the right was stuck inside a fake life-sized cactus, that had real cactus needles. The pink tongue and teeth were carved from squash.

A clip from Let The Right One In. Even though it's in Swedish, you can follow that meaning without knowing a word.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Li5dLDfmY

That bat is amazing!!

And that movie is all kinds of amazing as well, but in a very different way... :)

It's a pretty scary movie alright.

I've just watched "the walking dead". No! No! No! No!

I hope you get three ribbons delivered. You certainly deserve them for putting in so much effort and I'll bet the results were fabulous.

Your Halloween thread is pretty fabulous too!

>188 VivienneR: Thanks, Viv! I'm going back to the fair on Friday, and if my name isn't on that cake, she's getting another call.
And I'm glad you're enjoying the thread. It really makes me feel like I'm experiencing Autumn, even if temps here have just dropped below 99 degrees this past week. I'm getting cool Fall weather vicariously through pics and clips.

Do not read this article if you haven't watched last night's TWD! Don't even glance at the link.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/opinion/the-walking-dead-glenn-dies-603-recap-thank-y...

>189 mstrust: I envy your warm weather, Jennifer. We had such a busy summer that I feel like I missed it, and now we are into Fall. Around here that means nice sunny days around 60F but it goes down around freezing at night. Our furnace quit the other day and we had a few hours where we pretended we were just fine. Fortunately it wasn't a long wait for a repair.

I would love to have 60 degrees, so I have to say that I envy you your cool weather. Summer lasts for 6 months here. But I'm glad you were able to get your furnace fixed quickly. We get to use our heating from about January to March.

Possibly the creepiest picture ever taken.

I'm posting a bit early tonight because I'll be busy later.

Is anyone else eating pounds of apples right now? They see to be in much better shape this year, and we've gotten hooked on a variety that's new, to our area at least, called Sweet Tango. They're crisp and very sweet. Mike's from Michigan, where they grow lots of apples, and he says they taste like they're right off the tree.

Well, I can say that if my finger wasn't broken before, it definitely is now. Yea! I banged it around some more and it's so many shades of blue and purple. Very colorful, like a kaleidoscope.

Here's a classic that should bring back horrible memories, even for those of us who first saw it on video. I can't imagine what it must have been like to see it in 1974, when it's subject would have been a rarity. This clip is the extra-long intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swBoRZaCTPA

>192 mstrust: Gah! BRB having nightmares.

Re Walking Dead, my BF thinks Glenn might not actually be dead, because on Talking Dead, the "In Memoriam" section didn't actually state his name. After showing the scene of him being piled on by walkers, the screen just said "Please don't let this be true" three times, with no "RIP Glenn". But that would be wildly improbable.

***Spoilers***

So after my "Ahhhhh!" and slapping Mike's knee during "the scene", I watched "Talking Dead". I had sort of noticed that Glenn's chest, while he's having all the intestine's pulled out, looked a bit too high and meaty for him. I'm hoping that it's useless Nicholas on top of him. But even then, how's Glenn getting out?
So "The Talking Dead" calmed me somewhat, but that show is tricky.
Lots of people dies in that episode, but Glenn is the only one that matters. I kind of laughed when the Talk Negative About Rick died. He should have learned something from Carter right before.

***Spoilers***

OMG I just watched THAT episode and my heart is still racing! I sure hope what RP says is true, I am not ready to say goodbye to that particular character!

Dodging anything and everything that might give me nightmares, so just a quick HI!

Have you been to the doctor?!? I'm having sympathy pains at the thought of you wandering around with this grotesquely broken finger, banging it on random objects. It suits the theme of your thread, but a well-bandaged hand would also be atmospheric.

>195 DeltaQueen50: I think Glenn is one character who is liked by all, and that doesn't happen very often. I want him put on the official "no kill" list. They can go ahead and off Enid or Gabriel every week.

>196 lkernagh: Things are only getting worse from here. Cover your eyes.

>197 RidgewayGirl: I didn't go to the doctor because I've been through this before when I broke my toe a few years ago. All that be done is to keep it immobile.
I had my pinky wrapped to the ring finger before, but now Mike has wrapped my whole hand in a bandage to keep it immobile. I kept catching everything because my knuckles are swollen so I couldn't get my wedding ring off, so it created a gap in the tape. The pain is manageable, just ibuprofen. But thank you for the sympathy pains, and I also think an injury is fitting for the thread!

And here's the latest news of Coral: while I was out and Mike was sleeping, she went into the library, a room she isn't allowed in, and chewed two wax statues into a thousand pieces. She also went into the pantry and ate a whole pumpkin panettone. We only found the cardboard box. She's an explorer.

Today is Steve Almond's birthday, which is very fitting as he wrote the wonderful non-fiction Candyfreak.


Just came across this fun article about sexy (lame) Halloween costumes and had to include it:
http://gothamist.com/2015/10/13/sexy_halloween_costume_hell.php

I didn't care much for the costumes, but that pumpkin giving birth really caught my attention!!

>199 DeltaQueen50: That pumpkin was gross and funny: grunny.
The costumes made fun of in the article are what I think of as the "lazy slut" variety. Manufacturers are determined that women look like strippers, and I guess enough women have gone along with it. I've always admired the one-of-a-kind creative costumes myself, ones that make you admire how clever they are and that the wearer thought about it rather than just opening a plastic bag.
One of the reasons I love Halloween is that my husband and I met at a Halloween party. I did not look pretty, as I was dressed as someone who had been run over by a car. I had tire marks across me, bruises on my face, twigs in my hair and a license plate hanging from my pants. He asked me out anyway. : D

>200 mstrust: Awww! That is a great story! Also, a great costume.

>201 rabbitprincess: Thank you!
We had our first date on November 1st, so that's the date we also got married. Sunday will be our 12th anniversary.

Have you been watching Halloween movies?

Turn out the lights and watch this clip from "The Haunting" alone. Great movie and even better book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQxyaI74v7U

Bejeweled skeleton from the Roman catacombs.

Two more days!

They say too much t.v. is bad for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpb2-ZOzc_o

15. The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs. It's 1951 and twelve year-old Johnny Dixon's mom has recently died and his father was re-called into the Air Force to fight in Korea. This leaves Johnny in the care of his grandparents, so he is sent to their small town, where he attends Catholic school and tries to avoid the class bully. While poking around in the church basement, Johnny finds an old Egyptian figure along with a scroll containing a curse written by the infamous Father Baart, the insane rector who ran the church 70 years before. Rumors that the rector was a murderer persisted, but the advice and gift of an interesting ring from an elderly parishioner help to make Johnny feel better, at least for a little while.
Every Bellairs I've read so far has been a pleasure. This one, which I believe is part of a series about Johnny, is a little more grown-up than his Lewis Barnavelt series. 4 stars

Wow, it's been a long time since I did a review. I've been so busy, and reading lots of Autumn magazines.

Well, it looks like The Curse of the Blue Figurine will be my last Halloween read as I don't think I have a book short enough to finish in one day. Though I didn't have any 5 star reads, I still had some good, fun reads. I've also had a visit from Mom, the fair, and lots of Halloween movies.

Just a two minute scene from "American Horror Story". How can a t.v. show be that scary?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i7b3UsPZzY

It's here! I hope you have the Halloweeniest night.

In case you want to drop by my Autumn thread next year, look for it in the 75 Challenge. Now I have a whole year to gather up creepy pics and clips....

Here's something horrible to dwell on all day. Ta-ta!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JehjqlzXwIQ

Yikes!!!

Happy Halloween!

And to you, princess!

>207 mstrust: That remains the scariest film I've ever watched.

I've really enjoyed your Halloween thread, Jennifer! I've stolen a few of your gifs, images and links, they were too good to not reuse. Hope that's okay.

Happy Halloween!

>202 mstrust:
Aw, love. They're my ideal couple. :)

Happy Halloween to you as well and don't forget (as if) The Walking Dead on Sunday!

>210 Storeetllr: It's very scary! I have a whole bunch of scary movies to choose from tonight, including "The Howling" and "The Hills Have Eyes".
I'm really glad you enjoyed my thread enough to steal from me. I don't mind. Just send me some Halloween candy in return. ; ) And Happy Halloween!

>211 -Eva-: So romantic!

>212 DeltaQueen50: Happy Halloween!
I'll be here to discuss the latest episode on Monday. I'm crossing my fingers that Glen is alright.

I've already been in the candy bowl. A lot.

Are you not going to have a Hallowe'en thread here next year? : (

>214 RidgewayGirl: I'll be in the 75 Books Challenge for 2016, and I've already begun thinking of the Halloween thread. : D
I like the category challenges a lot and it forces me to read more deeply on a subject, and, of course, I love a list. But I need to have a year where I can just pick up any old book rather than needing it to fit in a category, so the 75 group will be a breezy change.

Well, how was everyone's Halloween? I had a total of seven trick or treaters. We're off a major street, and that was it. So we have lots of candy and Mike is taking it to work. We had the decorations taken down by 8:30 and sat on the porch with wine for me and a cigar for Mike. A few streets away, someone was setting off professional fireworks that burst in the sky.
Today is our anniversary, and we've celebrated by hitting Target this morning for their sale on Halloween stuff. We'll go to lunch later, but I've got a day of putting decorations away.

Happy Anniversary!

We don't get trick-or-treaters and outside of some unprofessional fireworks going off in the area over the course of the night, it was a quiet Halloween. Later in the evening it was also a rather wet one, so no worries of stray fireworks starting a fire somewhere. ;-)

It was very quiet here as well. I think we had about 26 trick-or-treaters which is about half of what we usually get. Perhaps being a Saturday night there were more home parties to attend. I am not to be trusted with leftover candy so I bundled it all up this morning and sent some to the grandkids and the rest my husband will take to work to share out.

>215 mstrust: I'm sad that you won't be here in the Category Challenge next year. Make sure that Jim puts you in the Threadbook so we can find your threads among the thousands over at the 75 challenge.

>215 mstrust: Will miss you over here at the Category Challenge, but hope you have a wonderful breezy 2016 with the 75ers! I'll be starring your thread for sure :)

I'm not sure how my parents' Halloween went, but my BF's parents actually ran out of candy, which hasn't happened in a long time. I was mildly disappointed because I was hoping they'd have a few leftovers. ;)

>216 lkernagh: Thank you! Sorry you don't get trick or treaters, so I guess you have to eat all the candy yourself. ; )

>217 DeltaQueen50: 26 is a lot! Mom in Vegas only got two for the night. I made sure I had lots of candy because I really thought there would be hordes of kids and I was looking forward to it. There I was, dressed as a hillbilly child butcher and no one to see it.
Mike filled a big bowl with candy and left in on the counter at work for anyone to grab, and I've stuck many bags in the freezer. I usually freeze a few and tell myself that it will last for months, but really, all it takes is a night here and there of Mike rooting around, desperate for chocolate.

>218 VioletBramble: It'll be o.k., I'll just be one group over, so still here! Come visit!
But I've been on LT for 8 years and never heard of "Threadbook", so you'll have to tell me what that is.

>219 rabbitprincess: I'll be looking for you, princess!
And I'd be super mad if there was no Halloween candy left for me. Did you see this week's Halloween episode of "The Goldbergs", where the mother goes running through the neighborhood grabbing the pillowcases of candy from children? If only I had that woman's courage.

>220 mstrust: Threadbook is a group wiki used by the 75 group to keep track of everyone's threads, whether you have 1 or 50 threads. It's on the group home page. When I was in the group Jim (drneutron) used to put links to the threads on the threadbook but, now that more people are comfortable with the wiki, everyone may be adding and updating their own threads.

Thanks to everyone who visited me and made this a really fun thread. I've put up my new thread and hope to see you there!

I'll pop over to your new thread, but I just wanted to say two things about Halloween and thought it better done here.

First, I had so many trick-or-treaters that I ran out of candy after about an hour! ETA that the biggest treat for many of the kids was Nickel, my African Gray parrot, who sat on my shoulder as I passed out the candy. A lot of them wanted to "pet" her, but I told them she'd take off their arm if they tried. I think they thought I was kidding. I wasn't. A couple of the kids were so nice, I let them hold her after getting permission from their moms. That was also a big hit.

Second, I watched one of my favorite films: Beetlejuice. Not scary but so much fun! (It was between that and Rocky Horror Picture Show. I just felt like a few laughs rather than pure horror.)

How great to have that many trick or treater's, and I love beetlejuice. I watched the BBC airing of "the Rocky horror show" on Halloween. It was really fun.