The Rocky Horror Pumpkin Show- mstrust's #7-Autumn & Halloween

How do you do? I see you've met my faithful handyman.
Welcome to my fifth year of luring LTers into my thread to discuss all things Autumn & Halloween. We're going to get our hands all gooey with pumpkins, food & drink, movies, music, decorations and books. I'll entertain you with some sweet Fall stuff for a few weeks, then scare the bejeezus out of everyone as we get closer to Halloween. It's my favorite obsession.



I use my own Scare Scale(TM) to rate my Halloween reads. I think it's a helpful guide to let others know how scary a book is, or isn't.
Here's the scale:
1 axe- Not scary and may not be intended to scare. Like seeing a light in the darkest night.
2 axes- Slightly scary or tense. Like crashing a party full of weirdos.
3 axes- Some effective chills. The party host arrives in his underwear. You'd like to leave now.
4 axes- Pretty dang scary. The host is a sociopath who conducts experiments.
5 axes- Terrifying. Now he's murdered someone right in front of you. Great. Now he'll never let you leave.



Grab an electric knife and help me carve this pile of pumpkins. The candy bowls are going around and for anyone who'd like to dance, I'm putting Vincent Price's "Graveyard Ghost Tales" on the hi-fi.

Autumn and Halloween Reads. Just for the books I finish by Oct. 31st.

72. Tales from The Haunted Mansion- 4 stars
73. Fear Street Nights: Midnight Games- 3 stars
74. From Here to Eternity- 4 stars
75. How I Got My Shrunken Head- 3.5 stars
76. Death and Douglas- 4.2 stars
77. DK Top 10 Vancouver & Vancouver Island- 4.5 stars
78. Goosebumps: Ghost Camp- 3 stars
79. A Night in the Lonesome October- 4 stars
80. Seasons of Connecticut- 4 stars
81. The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories: Volume Two- 4 stars
82. How to Survive a Horror Movie
83. Northwest Mountain Flowers- 4 stars
84. Annihilation- 4 stars
85. The Stand- 5 stars
86. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant- 3 stars
87. Supernatural: Nevermore- 4.5 stars
88. Poe-Land- 5 stars
89. Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls- 4 stars

Welcome to Autumn. Come in and have some pumpkin pie and cocktails. Boo!

Happy new thread, Jennifer!

I don't do scary, but I love Linus :-)

Happy new thread, Jennifer. I think you look forward to this one all year!

72. Tales from The Haunted Mansion. This is the first volume of the series, subtitled "The Fearsome Foursome". Four middle school friends who love telling scary stories to each other make the huge mistake of entering an abandoned mansion one night. They quickly find themselves unable to find the exit and joined by the mansion's librarian, Amicus Arcane, who happens to have four stories about some middle schoolers handy, and he guarantees they are the scariest stories of all.
4 stars
S.S.: 2

>4 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! Every year you stick your head in to tell me you don't like scary stuff. So I think you like scary a little bit ;-D.

>5 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg! It's gonna be fun!

Happy new thread, Jennifer! I don't read much horror, but I'm sure I'll continue with the Jules de Grandin occult detective stories, and I'm getting ready to start The Complete Cases of Horatio Humberton, Volume 1, about a "necrologist sleuth." And of course there'll be more horror movies on tap between now and Oct. 31.

Happy new one!

Happy new thread!

For a couple of decades I regretted not having taped The Rocky Horror Picture Show when it was playing nightly on Z-channel. I could have made a lot of people happy playing for those without cable or after the rights to show it were gone.

Happy new thread, Jennifer and Boo to you too!

Happy new thread! Looking forward to seeing what you read!

Happy new thread!

>7 mstrust: That is why I always try to show up early, so I can skim the rest of this thread ;-)

>8 harrygbutler: Hi Harry! Good to see that you've picked out your Autumn reads. I've yet to read Horatio Humberton so I'll look for your reviews on your thread. And I have horror movie plans too!

>9 figsfromthistle: Thanks!

>10 quondame: Thanks! Who would have thought back then that we'd be able to watch just about anything we want, when we want it. We're spoiled.

>11 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda! Glad to see you made it to the scary house on the block.

>12 drneutron: Thanks, Jim! I have a big stack of scary books to get through.

>13 curioussquared: Thank you!

>14 FAMeulstee: Just remember that unless you do some kind of ritual, nothing can come out of your computer screen.

Here are two sites to set the Autumn mood. You really can't get more leaves, coffee and roaring fires than this:
Autumn Cozy- https://autumncozy.tumblr.com/
October Sisterhood- https://octobersisterhood.tumblr.com/

>16 mstrust: Ah, lovely. Happy New Thread!

Hi Nicole! Isn't that a pretty scene?
I've looked up the weather for the exact days we'll be in Vancouver, and it's suppose to rain for most of them.

It's Pumpkin time! I'm in!

It is indeed! How you doin', Larry?

An internet pic because I'm too lazy to do my own.

This is the Hocus Pocus mug I bought yesterday. And it's huge, holding 16 oz.

Big mugs are a treasure.

I almost went to see if the mellowcreme pumpkins had made an appearance yet when I was in Target anyway, but will wait until they are prominently displayed. I have that much patience maybe.

I can fill that mug up with pumpkin spice coffee and sit upstairs reading without having to go down to the kitchen for a refill. Fantastic.
I was at a large Target yesterday and they did have the majority of their candy displayed, including the candy corn, so yours might have it out. But I was busy grabbing multiple bags of Junior Mints and Snickers. And a very thick knit cap with a fur ball on top.

Happy new Pumpkin Spice thread! Every time I see anything with pumpkin spice I think of you.

Thanks, Vivienne! Ha, so does my family! I have fully embraced the pumpkin spice.

73. Fear Street Nights: Midnight Games by R.L. Stine. It's her senior year of high school and Dana Fear has no choice but to move in with her aunt, uncle and cousin Jamie. The girls are the same age but Dana is dreading the year, remembering Jamie's demeaning treatment when they were kids because Dana's family was poor. Surprisingly, Jamie is welcoming now and brings Dana into her circle of friends. Nate's attention to Dana makes his girlfriend furious, but Dana can't help her flirting, even when weird things start happening, like Jamie's friend dying from an ice skate to the forehead.
3 stars
S.S.: 2

And I've had this for nearly a year, which makes it a ROOT.

We're highlighting cinnamon today. Because it's so good. And as Jerry once noted, whenever you ask "What's that I'm tasting?", invariably the reply is "Cinnamon."

In less than a minute, you can learn how to make Cinnamon Baked Pears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng3-jmqO7yA
Learn to make red candy apples in five minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrGB2FMhEDI
And learn to make cinnamon rolls in six minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFYi2QRVFOc
How about a buncha cinnamon cocktails? This includes a pumpkin mezcal margarita!: https://www.supercall.com/entertaining/best-cinnamon-cocktails

This summer, fashion house Moschino presented a horror themed showing of their 2020 resort wear. It was fun and freaky, with the models looking more like trick or treaters, or The Purge, than high fashion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAuRse7xzm8

Dang, I love Autumn! Our leaves are beginning to turn and our yard will look like the pic above in about a month.
I'm making my first pumpkin pies of the season this weekend when Will comes home for an Indian's game. One for him to take back to school and one for Bill and I. Yum
I'm waiting to use my pumpkin spice coffee for a nice rainy, chilly day.

Me too! Oh, I didn't know if it was cold enough back East to start the turning. I'm hoping to see some myself soon. You'll have to post some pics in your thread when your leaves have changed.
I've already had much pumpkin. Besides the pumpkin casserole, I made pumpkin spice waffles last night, and a few nights ago I added some heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin puree to the spaghetti sauce of an angel hair pasta dinner. It keeps Mike from getting acid indigestion from the tomatoes. You know, once you open a can you start looking around for how else you can use it, but I've been putting puree in tomato sauce for a couple of years so Mike can eat it without complaints. Makes the sauce creamy too. Oh, and I had a Gevalia (?) pumpkin spice latte.

74. From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty. Doughty is a mortician and owns a funeral home in LA. You might know her from her many Youtube "Ask a Mortician" videos. For this book she traveled to many different locations and countries to experience the different ways people conduct their funerals. She attended a funeral pyre in a tiny Colorado town, witnessed the Indonesian tradition of digging up loved ones every few years to change their clothes and have pictures taken. In Japan she visited a "corpse hotel", discusses suicide culture, and meets a Buddhist monk who is a visionary when it comes to death management. She visited Bolivia's Aymara, one of the indigenous people and the ones who keep natitas, mummified human heads or skulls that are kept displayed in the home and prayed to.
Throughout her world travels Doughty reminds the reader that the Western way of death is not worldwide and she observes, and sometimes takes part, with little hesitation. She does push for "green" funerals often.
4 stars
S.S.: 1. But if this was a squeamish scale, this book would hit a 4 or 5. There's some wild stuff here.

Here's Halloween Daily News: https://halloweendailynews.com/
This is where you can see the Halloween schedules of the networks that do Halloween big, like AMC, Freeform and The Food Network. Also all the big conventions and upcoming movie news.

>29 mstrust: I was at Trader Joe's over the weekend and they've turned into pumpkin central. They got me with the pumpkin bagels they had displayed during checkout. They're good -- not too sweet, but a nice savory pumpkin flavor. I also have some pumpkin bread mix I need to put to good use.

Ha, I've just brought home my Trader Joe's pumpkin haul! And I got the pumpkin bagels too, because they look so good. I also bought the jar of pumpkin butter (every year, it's so good), pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin waffles, a bottle of bourbon barrel maple syrup, (which if you haven't tried, do it) Fall Leaves corn tortilla chips made with pumpkin and carrot powder, and a single serving bottle of spiced Fuji apple cider.
I was very surprised that the cashier didn't make fun of me.

I'm starving and pumpkin bagels sound really good, and the spiced Fuji apple cider sounds perfect!

Did I ever send you this link? https://www.retroagogo.com/ I'd like to buy one of everything they sell.

>33 mstrust: That sounds like an amazing haul! My location didn't have the pumpkin ice cream yet when I went on Sunday, which is too bad because it's delicious :( I'm going to have to go one of these evenings when it's less busy than on the weekends and I can wander the aisles and truly peruse all the pumpkin offerings!

I love Caitlin Doughty's books! I've put a hold on her new book, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?. I think it's geared to a younger audience, but I'd read anything she writes about death!

>34 SomeGuyInVirginia: Now you've just got to get a bagel and apple cider, huh? Fall foods are my favorites.
I believe you gave me that link a few Halloweens ago but it's certainly worth checking out again. Very cool Rockabilly/Monsters stuff.

>35 curioussquared: Mike's reaction to all my pumpkin stuff was "Jesus." I assured him that I hadn't bought every pumpkin item. I don't like Trader Joe's cereal, so I left that.
So you know about the ice cream, it's awesome.

>36 rabbitprincess: This was the first I've read from her, and I've watched several of her videos. She covers any question dealing with the dead, doesn't she? And a lot of stuff I'd never thought about before. She has a big personality, which is surprising for a mortician.

Here's one of her shorter videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMi117KF9Kg

It's Friday the 13th. Good luck with that.

>32 curioussquared: Oh, very good to know! The pumpkin bread mix makes amazing muffins and I was sorry last year that I'd only bought two boxes before it went away. I'll be stocking up this year.

Saw my first Halloween commercial this morning, for Kit Kats.

Happy new thread!
Love the festive thread here! I ate halloween cheesies a few days ago... they were mediocre but my kids loved the shapes

Look, if there's one thing I've learned it's to never trust a guy in a hockey mask. Or the drummer in a ska band. Long story.

If completely forgotten today was Friday the 13th! If I'm very still maybe a meteor won't crash into an Indian burial ground and the toxic gases start the zombie apocalypse. It's the weekend, I just couldn't deal with that!

Just outside of Richmond, leaves are starting to turn.

>41 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle, glad you found me! I don't even know what Halloween cheesies are but it sounds good to me.

>42 SomeGuyInVirginia: I never trust mechanics. Or home repair guys. Or people who make a lot of eye contact, they're plotting.
Now everyone who wasn't killed yesterday, raise your hand.

>43 SomeGuyInVirginia: Oh, yay! You're going to have a beautiful sight soon. I'm reallyreallyreally hoping the leaves are turning while we're on vacation.

What If People Ate Flies

What if people ate flies
Snacked on them all day like French fries
Roasted or boiled
Baked or broiled
What if we all ate flies?

What if it was perfectly alright
to eat a big bowl of flies late at night?
Or when you're peckish at three,
have flies and some tea
and savor every crunchy little bite.

Would you dig into warm puttanesca
that included musca domestica?
Or demand organic flies
ground to pepper size
to float in your glass of cerveza?

Think how many you'd get down,
you'd be eating flies by the pound,
on doughnuts, cake and pie,
you might like it if you try.
Maybe people should eat flies.

Poetry for Weirdos- Wednesday Atoms

75. How I Got My Shrunken Head by R.L. Stine. Young Mark hasn't seen his aunt in years as she's a scientist conducting research deep in a far away jungle. So it's a surprise when a woman who works with Aunt Benna shows up at Mark's house with a shrunken head sent to Mark as a gift and an offer from his aunt to come visit her in the jungle. What Mark finds in the jungle is a situation that is nothing like what the mysterious woman told his mother. For one thing, Aunt Benna has been missing for weeks, and the other adults seem to be lying to Mark. Also, the shrunken head isn't just a gruesome ornament.
3.5 stars
S.S.: 2

Congratulations on reaching 75, Jennifer!

(I saw what you did, luring me into your scary thread with #75!)

I probably should have given my kids more and ate less myself ... meh.

>47 FAMeulstee: I'm tricky that way. Thanks, Anita!

>48 ChelleBearss: Ok, I've seen those in the store. They look good too, it's just that I'm trying to reign in my Munchos habit.

The new season of American Horror Story starts Wednesday. Program your DVR. And I've heard that the original 1978 Halloween will be coming to select theaters in October.

>48 ChelleBearss: Food bullet?

Visit Spooky Little Halloween for the non-scary Halloween stuff. It's a year-round site dedicated to home decorating and parties, and she keeps track every year of the new Halloween collections of nation stores. Scroll down til you get to today's date.
https://spookylittlehalloween.com/

>49 mstrust: Thanks for the AHS reminder! There have been so many disappointing endings to the shows, but on I go...

You're welcome. I know, I haven't gotten into AHS since the Hotel season, which was terrifying. I skipped the political one entirely, and I guess most viewers did too. I watched maybe the first two episodes of the last season and was very happy to see Joan Collins on it playing a horrible grandma, but then she was killed so soon and I lost interest. But this season looks awesome.

***
And we've changed out plans again, so looks like we'll be going to Vancouver Island after all, and maybe a Gulf island too.
***
I'm juggling so many books. A Night in the Lonesome October, Supernatural: Nevermore, The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories, The Zombie Survival Guide, Dracula The Un-Dead, and I'm over 1000 pages through The Stand. It's a horse race.

It's weird, but trees we East of Richmond have more color than the trees around DC. It could be the trees are a different type, or a kink in the weather pattern (I believe the eastern shore has had some cooler nights than we), or some other environment factor I haven't thought of. If I had to pick one, I'd go with tree type; we've got some color in DC, as well.

I don't know how you could get any work done in the fall. I'd go into the forest and spend the day spinning around and yelling "wheeeeeee!"

Just about any house that Edgar Allan Poe called home for a time has been declared a landmark and turned into a museum, and that's a good thing. His Baltimore house/museum has come up with a cool way to make money. Go to the "Shop" link and see the different sized pavers that you can buy and put your name or message on. They're placed in the walkway leading up to the house, like a Walk of Fame for Poe fans. Take the virtual tour found under "The Museum" link.
http://www.poeinbaltimore.org/poe-house/

>46 mstrust: Congratulations on #75, Jennifer!

Though westerns dominated my DVD finds this weekend, I did pick up The Revenge of Frankenstein for some Hammer Horror fun.

>55 mstrust: It does make it hard to keep one's eyes on the road when driving.

>57 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! It's hard to go wrong with Peter Cushing. He managed to be dignified no matter how bad the script, but he made some great ones. I can't remember the name of the one with Medusa in it.

>58 RidgewayGirl: I'll bet. Getting to work pales in comparison to hanging out at a pumpkin patch.

>59 mstrust: That's right. I just watched Cushing (with Lee) in The Satanic Rites of Dracula yesterday. And the movie you're thinking of with Medusa is The Gorgon.

Congrats on reaching 75 books, Jennifer! 100 is surely in sight :

>60 harrygbutler: Yes, thanks, Harry! Great make-up in that one. I like Lee a lot too. He was an intimidating Dracula, what with the bleeding eyes and all.
>61 Carmenere: Thank you very much, Lynda! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for 100. I've been making for the last few years.

76. Death and Douglas by J. W. Ocker. Pre-tenn Douglas has grown up in the family funeral home. He comes from generations of funeral directors, and while he realizes that some people are bothered by that, he's just a regular kid with a best friend and favorite games like anyone else. He just happens to help his parents with funerals. It isn't until his family's home receives the body of a murder victim, with the letter "M" carved into her cheek, that Douglas feels fear.
The real tension doesn't start until 300 pages in, but this is still a quick page-turner. The story is set in a small New England town leading up to Halloween, so lots of Autumn images and an old graveyard, which makes it a good Halloween read.
4.2 stars
S.S.: 2

Funny or Die's reason why you don't want to get caught on Purge night : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8YhQSVRKrQ

>64 mstrust: What?! is that Miss Good Ship Lollipop!? I get freaked out by some of these youtube productions and this one did just that.

That's her alright, adorably proving that children can't be trusted.
Now, are you talking about The Purge video? That was actually produced by Funny or Die, who also produced Will Ferrell's famous "The Landlord" short. But I agree that The Purge franchise is pretty dang scary. Thanks for letting me freak you out!

77. DK Top 10 Vancouver & Vancouver Island. A slim, all-color travel guide that has a lot of information that I think will come in handy. Includes multiple detailed maps of the city and island. 4.5 stars
It wasn't scary at all though.

I just love these horror themed cocktails:
Beetlejuice's Drinks for the Recently Deceased- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7cCEPZpotQ
Dracula's Blood- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8E4xRYHMTc&list=PLxtI0gvfje123RbZIdrsQahhyh...
Inspired by the Winchester brothers, here are two drinks called Bourbon and Pie- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7IO2ZLsC10&list=PLxtI0gvfje123RbZIdrsQahhyh...

Congrats on blowing past 75!

Thanks, Jim!
****


For anyone in North America who'd like to take part in this year's mstrust's Halloween Card Exchange, PM me with your address. The cut-off is Sept. 28th, so 10 days from now. I've been doing the exchange for a few years now and it's fun to get spooky cards from Halloweenie LTers.

This is the hagfish. It's horrifying. Found in the waters off New Zealand, it's an eel- like creature that has rows of teeth in its nightmarish mouth, which are hidden until it sort of turns its face inside out to bite. Added bonus, it produces masses of clear slime to escape predators.

Here's the Spirit Halloween store website. Lots of animatronic videos, many movie tie-ins: https://www.spirithalloween.com/

78. Goosebumps: Ghost Camp by R.L. Stine. Harry and his younger brother Alex are new to Camp Spirit Moon, but as their parents waited until late summer to sign them up for camp, this was the only available place. The boys are happy to be there and quickly find friends, but they also think the constant pranks are weird, and the fact that the other campers experience serious accidents that would send other kids to the hospital, but Spirit Moon campers just laugh it off.
3 stars
S.S.:1

>71 mstrust: That is rather gruesome!

I'm a little late to your Halloween Party, but I did wear my costume!



Fall is definitely in the air, and one of the first signs is your Halloween thread!

We saw a few colored leaves on our driving trip through the Rocky Mountains but I expect in a week or so it will be spectacular!

>73 harrygbutler: Nature does some freaky things!

>74 DeltaQueen50: Glad you made it, Judy, and thanks for dressing appropriately. Ooh, nice to hear about the leaves in the Rockies. I'm expecting a real show when we get North, especially as our hotel is so close to Stanley Park.

Here's Elvira narrating the history of those cool vintage monster model kits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4brf8WVezUw
So many more than you thought.

Raise your hand if you watched the first episode of AHS:1984. They really got all the slasher tropes in. Mindless group of camp counselors partying, more than a few nods to the original Halloween, and a girl being chased through the woods who falls every third step. Looks fun.

>76 mstrust: In German, corns are called Hühneraugen, which translates into "chicken eyes," so that's delicious, too.

Ha, that's such a gross image!

Have you started feeling the Halloween?
What are your plans for Autumn & Halloween this year? And most importantly, do you already have a stash of Halloween candy in the house? I do, and it ain't gonna make it to Oct. 31st.
I have my general Autumn indoor decorations up, just pumpkins and Autumn garlands on the bookcases and hall table. I'll put my Halloween stuff up after we get back from out trip as my MIL will be staying at our house and she tends to break my stuff. I have a stack of seasonal books. We'll be seeing Fall foliage on our trip and we're also going to visit an apple farm and mill. I've never been to one and I'm really looking forward to it.
When we get back we'll go to the fair. Also the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree, and there will be two local Halloween conventions in October but I don't know if I'll get to either. And I watch all the Food Network Halloween baking competitions, which they add more to every year.
On Netflix, I've been saving We Have Always Lived in the Castle. And then there's the Halloween card exchange, and this thread.
Have I lost my mind? Y/N.

For us, autumn begin in September with the Hungarian grape harvest festival picnic and then the apple festival we always go to in Pennsylvania which coincides with our wedding anniversary in early October. Decorations, pumpkin carving et all too.
I've just added We have always lived in the castle to my netflix list. Have you watched Russian Doll on Netflix? I'm only on episode 3 but sort of creepy.

Congrats on reading and breezing past 75, Jennifer. I'm sure the travel book will come in handy.

>80 Carmenere: I'm glad someone else likes to start in September too, and you have fun things lined up! I would love to attend an apple festival. We'll miss the one in Vancouver by two days. And their Halloween parade by four or five.
We watched the first episode of Russian Doll and both said, "Meh". Does it get a lot better as it goes on? Of course I'm watching the new season of The British Baking Show on Netflix. They're releasing one episode every Friday so I can't binge.
You'll have to come back after watching "We Have..." and we'll have a chat. I might get to it during this coming week.

>81 Familyhistorian: Thanks! Everything is smooth sailing from here on. And it really does seem like a good book to take along, especially since it's so light and has many maps.

>79 mstrust: Y, definitely! Isn't it liberating!

I am so totally in on the Halloween card exchange! No on AHS: 1984. But mah gawd I love the idea!

Great, Larry! I still have your address.
I figure I'm setting up an established history for an insanity plea, if the need ever arises. It's the long con.

Here's the link to Odd Things I've Seen (OTIS), a site about the weird and sometimes macabre sights all over America. It's gone into Halloween mode, with a new post nearly every day of the season. The host is one of my favorites, J.W. Ocker.
http://www.oddthingsiveseen.com/

79. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. Each day of October is narrated by Snuff, a kind, intelligent dog who lives with Jack the Ripper. Jack and Snuff are players in "the Game", along with The Count, the evil Vicar, a witch, and The Good Doctor, who is most interested in working on his experimental man. Each player in the game has a highly intelligent creature who is an equal partner, spying on other players and trading valuable information, and they all are also observing The Great Detective, who goes to the trouble of some remarkable disguises in order to figure out who is killing players.
Not a horror story, but fantastical with murders and battles.
4 stars
S.S.: 2

It's the first day of Fall and I suddenly become normal instead of "obsessed". Phoenix has decided to celebrate with a rainy morning which is supposed to be on and off today and tomorrow. Getting rain two days in a row is unusual for us.
Fall-ish things I did this weekend: Had a scoop of maple pecan ice cream, read Yankee Magazine's Autumn issue, bought both apple and pumpkin latte scented shower gels, pretty much nailed down our vacation itinerary and booked a whale watching tour, found Mike a waterproof Winter coat. I've also started "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" on Netflix. I have the book on my Halloween stack too.
And many of the Food Network Halloween shows start tonight.
****

I don't know why Scream Queens was cancelled, other than the fact that if I like a show, it's gonna get cancelled fast. I'm the Ted McGinley of viewers.
"Are you screaming or are you singing?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGHsVOoNtqs

80. Seasons of Connecticut: A Year Round Celebration of the Nutmeg State by Diane Smith. The author is a former news anchor and state tv personality, so this coffee table book has a different approach to most of its genre. There are still the color photos displaying the state's beauty, but its focus are the residents. She interviews the owner of a sunflower farm in Griswold, a helicopter traffic reporter who also rescues bats, and the owner of a recreated 19th-Century sailing boat. She travels the Connecticut wine trail and has tea with the current head of Bigelow. The result of this approach is something of a cross between a photography and travel book. If you were planning a trip to the state you'd likely find some places you like to see for yourself from the mostly small businesses or pretty hiking spots here.
4 stars
S.S.: doesn't even rate a 1

As much as we enjoy reading about serial killers, it's odd that the Harpe Brothers aren't that well-known.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/harpe-brothers

OHMHGAWD! Zombieland 2 is out October 18! I can't breath!

I just saw the commercial for it last night. It's VERY exciting!
And I can't remember if I've mentioned that the original Halloween is supposed to do an October run in the theaters, but I haven't seen an ad for it.

Yup! Can’t wait!

>82 mstrust: What, Vancouver has an apple festival and a Halloween parade? I had no idea.

>93 drneutron: Only took ten years for the Zombieland sequel. And 40 for Halloween, the good one, to return.

>94 Familyhistorian: I do intensive research! Yes to both. I'm sorry we'll miss them but we're going to the Taves Apple Farm in Abbottsford one day. And The Who is playing after we leave.

We had a cool rain last night that brought us down to 75F, which was great. It's just started up again as I type. Feels like Autumn.

"People Who Could Win a Medal for Pumpkin Carving"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKKpNKgfz-8
Steal some ideas.

There were two flocks of Canadian geese in the park across the street this morning!

Here's the trailer to a doc I'm looking forward to, Halloween in a Box. It's a homage to the makers of the costumes that came complete in a box with the plastic masks we could hardly breathe through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWj-zegJOQo

81. The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories, Edited by James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle. A volume of short stories that includes Thomas De Quincey's "The Dice" and Nevil Shute's "Tudor Windows". Many of the stories have never been reprinted since their first publication. The creepiest of the lot is definitely "Halley's Passing" by Michael McDowell, about a highly organized serial killer. I also liked "Samhain" by Bernard Taylor, a story about an unhappy suburban wife and her upcoming Satanic soiree, R. Chetwynd Hayes's "The Elemental" is about an snobby commuter who picks up a curse in the tube and employs a down-market professional to rid him of it, and Isabel Colegate's "The Nice Boys" has such a sense of foreboding that really delivers an unforgettable ending. About the only story that disappointed me was "Herself" by M.E. Braddon, as it showed it's age, going into such melodrama and fizzled to an ending.
4 stars
S.S.: 2.5 (mostly because of "Halley's Passing" and "The Nice Boys".

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the cut off to PM me your address if you wanted to take part in the Halloween card exchange.

Here's the short film Jameson. It's really well done and will give you a scare. You're welcome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Ae4b5EA4I

82. How To Survive a Horror Movie by Seth Grahame-Smith. A look at the tropes of horror movies and how to make sure you're the final girl. This was a re-read for me as I thought it was hilarious a few years ago. Not as funny the second time around but still fun.

Looking for a murdery yet fun Halloween movie? I recommend Some Guy Who Kills People: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYwLNDzBxvY

OMG that little girl! LOL!

A very belated happy new thread, Jennifer
And also delayed congratulations on reaching 75!
>1 mstrust: I love the movie - I think I have to dig into my DVD drawer again...

>102 PaperbackPirate: She knows what she isn't willing to put up with! A mini Snickers isn't worth it.

>103 SirThomas: Thanks, Thomas, you've found me at last!
Rocky Horror is in my Top 5. I never get tired of the songs or garish make-up.

Autumn Alert!- Trader Joe's has boxes of fresh(ish) apple cider donuts.

>104 mstrust: It's my season when TJ's has Pfeffernusse, frosted ginger cookies.

My mom loves those too. And the ones from Cost Plus.

I'm busy making my fair entries today. The pumpkin cake is cooling and the brownies are in the oven. I have my cheese cracker dough in the fridge chilling, and Mike is going to pick up some parchment paper for me, as I pulled out my roll and found their was just an inch wide scrap left. I'll frost the cake and brownies in the morning and we should have them at the fairgrounds around ten in the morning. Then packing.

Here are two videos from The Homicidal Homemaker. Lots of fun, retro foods.
Edible Entrails: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_E3ff1E8ck

And "fresh meat" Red Velvet Rice Krispy Treats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdlKqJs2Jwk

Spike the Psycho Pumpkin

In a small rooftop patch,
in a city, dirty and rough,
Spike fought for survival,
so he grew up small and tough.

The patch was weedy and forgotten,
Spike raised himself on little rain,
no wonder he was small and blotchy,
and more than a bit insane.

The other plants had it bad too,
but only Spike had the mind of a felon,
he kicked the carrots, slapped tomatoes,
and bit the watermelon.

Spike hated the other pumpkins most of all,
and gave them ample proof,
because once in a while he'd tear a stem from the vine
and throw one off the roof.

Spike blamed the others for his ugliness,
even though it wasn't their fault,
but Spike couldn't follow basic logic,
and he liked seeing them smash on asphalt.

Then came the day when Spike looked around,
and he was the only pumpkin he saw,
his dry little brain formed a new idea,
and he crawled towards a screaming Crenshaw.

Wednesday Atoms- Poetry for Weirdos

Last night, I watched We have always lived in the Castle. I'd give it a 3. Atmospheric but I didn't care much for the characters, least of all MaryKat. Odd characters, not spooky....at all.
I hope you enjoy it more than I.

I stopped off at my local dollar store and casually walked down the Halloween/autumn aisle. And BAM! just like that it was all elves and Christmas ornaments. Not ready!

Happy Axis of the Universe Month! October is a special/weird month for me. I'll know more by November.

I'm in Vancouver, so you'll have to scare yourselves til I get back next week. 👻
We're going to an apple farm and mill today.

Enjoy Vancouver, Jennifer. I am over on Vancouver Island at my Mom's - unfortunately the weather is a little dull today - hope you get to experience some sunshine while you are here on the West Coast.

>111 mstrust: Have a fun trip!

Have a great time!!

Have fun! Don't stay in any strange motels!

I'm sure Jennifer won't mind if we make her house look occupied while she's away. Smore anyone?

Just dropping in, and thanks to everyone.
We've been to Whistler up North, the aquarium and all over Stanley Park. We're going on a whale watching tour today, so getting all the tourist things done. I've only bought four bottles of maple syrup so far.
Keep it creepy.

I'm not sure why your thread was not appearing on my computer, Jennifer as I dropped by to tell you I was missing you here only to find you have been here all along!

Have a great time in Vancouver, Jennifer! How long are you here for?

I'm home.

>109 Carmenere: That's too bad. I enjoy a sense of foreboding, which is what the book had in spades. I'll still check it out, but I have a week's worth of dvr'ed (?) Halloween shows to look at. Have to see who was eliminated on Halloween Wars and Halloween Baking Championship.
I was seeing Christmas commercials over a week ago. No respect for the pumpkin.

>110 SomeGuyInVirginia: Hey, Larry! Such a cryptic message...are you still with us? Tap twice for yes.

>112 DeltaQueen50: It rained five of the eight days we were there and we were happy with that. Not raining all day, but it would rain on and off the whole day. Mostly on. And nice and chilly. It dropped to 9 (44F) our last night.

>113 harrygbutler: Thanks, Harry! We did.

>114 rabbitprincess: Thanks! We're back, tired and in 90F. The cool weather was great while we were there.

>115 PaperbackPirate: Hi, Nicole! We stayed at the Sylvia Hotel in the West End. It's over 100 years old and was right across the street from the seawall. I'd definitely recommend it.

>116 Carmenere: Thanks for making the place look occupied, Lynda! I don't mind trying a stale s'more.

>118 PaulCranswick: Well I'm glad you've found me, Paul. I've had that happen to me too. I think it's when the person creates a new thread, if I don't leave a message right when I find it, it falls off my "Talk" list.

>119 Familyhistorian: Thanks! We were there for eight days and did so much. The rain didn't slow us down at all. The damn protest on the Burrard Bridge did though.

Oh, I do love my undead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3r9MP5AONo

I read two books while I was away.


83. Northwest Mountain Wildflowers by Dana Visalli. Bought to try and identify some of the amazing flowers we came across in Stanley Park. 4 stars
This book didn't scare me at all. Thumbs down.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. An unnamed biologist is part of a crew sent to explore Area X, the site of an unexplained environmental disaster. With just four members, little information about what they should be looking for or what has happened to previous crews, and intense training that discourages the members from trusting one another, the biologist remains quiet when she is infected by a strange plant soon after arrival. That this infection allows her to see their group leader's unethical manipulation of the other members may give the biologist an edge in surviving the mission.
There's an intense sense of foreboding throughout, and as the perimeters of Area X keeps the crew in a defined space, it's almost a sci-fi locked room mystery. With weird plants.
4 stars
S.S.: 2.5

I have been MIA far too long. But now I've had my Halloween fix for the day and I am so happy!!!

>121 mstrust: You should have stayed longer. It was down to 1 C last night. A bit early in the season for those temperatures. Brr.

>124 Berly: And it makes me happy that I can get a skeleton to dance!
>125 Familyhistorian: Ha! Missed it by that much. Besides missing all the Halloween and apple stuff in Vancouver, on our last day there was a little poster for a mushroom festival taking place ten days later. Yes, I would totally make time for that!
But I turned out to be a pretty good mushroom hunter in the woods of Stanley Park and I have lots of photos to prove it. Along with some wild blackberry and flower photos. And we also spotted a red-headed woodpecker.

>126 mstrust: I noticed that some mushrooms sprang up after our recent rain. Your timing was perfect for finding them because along with the cold weather we no have dry days (no cloud cover to warm us up.)

>127 Familyhistorian: I found plenty. Even all the way up along a tree that must have been thirty feet tall. I think I spotted at least seven varieties. I wasn't even tempted to believe that I could spot an edible one from the poisonous, I stick to what's offered in restaurants and the grocery store.

For the first time, I forgot about the season premiere of The Walking Dead. I saw a few minutes here and there of the past seasons in our hotel room as we got ready to go out, but completely forgot about the new season. Vacation+boring last season= forgetfulness. I'll be watching the first episode this weekend.
If you have Netflix, the second season of "Creeped Out" has just been added. It's a really well done kids horror series from the U.K./Canada/U.S.
And I'll post a pic or two of our trip, along with one of all the maple products we brought home. It's a haul.

The horrors of a fast food diet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6fkYKvpsfM

Hmph! I was just checking my report on my article on Dorothy B. Hughes and found that someone on Good Reads had given it 5 stars. Sweet, and even though I haven't have an account on the site for about ten years, I was able to check it out. And then I found that I was also being listed as the author of some books that appeared to be hardcore porn stuff! Good lord. I had to sign up and send whoever a message asking them to make some necessary changes so people wouldn't think I'm writing non-fiction bios as an aside to my regular Medieval orgy books.

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

>12 drneutron: 😂😂😂

>130 RidgewayGirl: Thanks!
>131 drneutron: I think you were referring to my message of >129 mstrust:? And if so, I would also think it was very funny if it wasn't me :-D. Adding a little salt to the wound is the fact that there's a scientist who shares my name and publishes in her field. Why couldn't it have been her work being mixed in with mine?



I'm gathering up my list of Autumn products and will post that in a day or two.

If you haven't picked a really scary Halloween movie, try "The Devil's Candy", available on Netflix and Youtube. Creepy stuff and features a couple of TWD alumni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpPQ2NNlTgs

I got the card! It's it perfect, Parker thinks Halloween is all about him anyway!

Thanks Jennifer, I love it!

85. The Stand by Stephen King. A superflu, nicknamed Captain Trips, wipes out what seems to be almost the entire population of the U.S., maybe the world. In just a matter of weeks the cities have just a handful of survivors, the roads are blocked with cars and the electricity if off. While trying to figure out where to go, the survivors begin having dreams that are impossibly similar, of an elderly woman calling them to her, while an evil man torments them in the nightmares they have just as often.
We travel a post-Apocalyptic America with Stu, and unemployed Texan; Larry, who had a big hit song just before the flu began; Fran, who had just discovered she was pregnant; Harold, the arrogant little brother of Fran's best friend; insane Trash Can Man: Nick, a deaf-mute transient, and Nadine, who is too mysterious to get close to anyone but the angry little boy she found.
Truly epic. Over 1439 pages the reader witnesses the germ warfare that destroys nearly everything. King introduces characters that last just a single paragraph or 1000 pages. My favorite character was Larry, my least favorite was Fran with her crying and wails of "Stu!" But even then, there wasn't a boring page in the whole thing. 5 stars
S.S.: 4 in some horrifying passages, 2 in much of it. Averages out to a 3.

I did it. 10 months of reading a chapter or two between other books. I always looked forward to finding out what happens next in this one. It feels a little weird to not have it on my nightstand anymore.

>133 SomeGuyInVirginia: I'm so glad it finally arrived and that you and Parker like it!
But I mailed it on the last day of September, I think. And a postcard I mailed from Vancouver took a whole week to arrive. Super slow, huh?

>134 mstrust: Congratulations, Jennifer.
I'm glad you like one of my favorite books, too.
I guess someday it will sneak back onto your nightstand...

No no no! I'm not sure when it got here. Work's been really heavy and I just got to my mail. Winning the lottery is starting to look more and more like my safety parachute!

>136 SirThomas: Thanks! Sticking to it wasn't hard at all, it's so interesting throughout. The only hard part was trying to hold it open when I got around halfway and it kept struggling to slam shut on me.
I enjoyed this inbetweeny way of reading a doorstop enough that I think I'll pick another to read throughout next year.

>137 SomeGuyInVirginia: Oh, then I'm glad it didn't take so long. I think it's about time you quit working and become a man of leisure. You could cultivate the reputation for being the guy who carries a cat in a Baby Bjorn.

Vacation pictures! I've got a few to post so just pretend to be interested.

From the four and a half hour whale watching tour:

It was a dark, cold, drizzly day and we took seats on the prow. We saw three humpback whales, an eagle, a couple of very far away dolphins and a whole island of sea lions and seals.

The sunset from Stanley Park our first night:

The sunsets are spectacular. One minute it's red and orange, the next it's lavender.

The day after we arrived, we rented a car and drove to the Taves Applebarn in Abbotsford. They have u-pick apples, pears and pumpkins, along with a corn maze and cider mill (which turned out to be just a small viewing window) and cider for sale.

This is very special. Mike usually turns his head when I try to take his picture. The apples must have mellowed him.

Our third day, we drove up north to Whistler:


But along the way we stopped in Squamish, which turned out to be unnecessary, and came across Brackendale, a small town that bills itself as The Eagle Capital of the World. Eagles return to this stretch of the river year after year. All along the bank is an eagle viewing point. It was a cold, crisp day and we stayed about a half an hour, seeing one eagle soaring over the water.

On another day we went to the aquarium. Mike took this pic of these bright jellyfish. We also saw the jellyfish feeding, which was a pitcher of sea monkey brine shrimp poured into the tank while the jellyfish seemed to barely notice.


We saw two baby sea lions being weighed, saw piranhas and poison frogs and saw a lecture about unusual edibles of the sea.

We visited Sneeky Tiki, a tiki bar downtown. They had a list of the vodka infusions they make themselves. Mike getting me a pineapple Moscow Mule:


Maple cheesecake from Stuart's at the Granville Public Market. Huge picture but it's actually single serving sized. And delicious.


The sunset from Stanley Park on our last night:

Great pictures from your trip! The fall colours, the crisp blue skies... and that cheesecake!

Love the pics!

You took some fantastic pictures! You're clearly not just pointing at things with your iPhone. And I'm glad you got to see some fall color.

Definitely great pics! I love the sea lions.

I don't have to pretend anything ;-)
Beautiful pictures.

Looks like an amazing trip and you're back in time for the lovely weather here!

>143 rabbitprincess: Hi, Princess! I did get to check off things off my list, such as bringing home a maple haul (pic to come) and mushroom hunting in the woods. Mike was most happy with the whale watching. And that cheesecake was so good. Also the tiny raspberry almond pies we got from the British stand in the public market.
It's a beautiful city. Highlights for me were Stanley Park, the Sea to Sky Highway and the trip to the apple farm. And walking around in that weather with gloves and scarf. :-D
There were a few things that made Mike say that he was ready for the trip to end by Monday morning. First, the parking in Vancouver is bad, really bad. It's hard to find a parking spot around anyplace popular and we ended up driving away from another tiki bar in Riley Park because we couldn't find parking after driving around for 20 minutes. Also, that you have to pay to park even if there's nobody there, even in the public park. That's unbelievable. That city is raking it in.
And Vancouver turned out to be even more obsessed with politics than America. Local, national and American politics. They held a protest for climate change on the Barrard Street bridge near the Maritime Museum, shutting it down for 12 hours, with the police barricading it. What did that accomplish other than making the protesters feel superior.
>144 curioussquared: Glad you like them!
>145 RidgewayGirl: Both pics in >139 mstrust: and the jellyfish in >142 mstrust: were taken with a Canon digital camera, but the others were all taken by me with my phone. I started enlarging before taking the pics, so I got more clarity than I usually do. I managed to take lots of great photos of flowers and mushrooms.

>146 drneutron: Thanks! That island was covered in sea lions and seals, and they were also in the water around it. I like that pic because the large male threw his head back to tell our boat not to get closer.

>147 SirThomas: Thanks, Thomas! These are some of my best ever pics, as I'm usually a terrible photographer.

>148 PaperbackPirate: Hi, Nicole! Yesterday morning we were driving home from the park and I saw that it was only 75F, but I was hot. Mike says I got too used to it being 45F, ha.

Here's your scary bedtime story. Bram Stoker's The Judge's House, presented by Edward de Souza and "Fear on Four". It's creepy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOYlXuIa5J4

Here's the list of Autumn products I've been working my way through, just so that I could help you with your selections.

Fall Stuff!

First, a bunch of Trader Joe's stuff I like:
1. Pumpkin frozen waffles. Tastes the way the Eggo pumpkin spice waffles did before they messed with the recipe. Fast to cook and a lot of spice.
2. Pumpkin spice k-pods. Great! Just the right amount of spice. I add a bit of vanilla creamer and it's a smooth cup without any bitterness.
3. Pumpkin pie spiced ginger brew. Like a spicy, bubbly Martinelli's. I like it.
4. Pumpkin ice cream. Still awesome. Skip the ice cream parlor because this is just as good.
5. Apple Cider donuts. Delicious! A strong apple flavor in the donut, and the whole thing covered in cinnamon and sugar. How could it go wrong?

Other products:
6. The Walking Dead Cabernet Sauvignon. Produced by The Last Wine Co., Sonoma. I didn't expect much, just wanted to taste a TWD wine. I was pleasantly surprised to find a very smooth yet rich and flavorful wine. I'm not a connoisseur but I'd buy this again.
7. Gevalia Pumpkin Spice Latte k-pods. You empty the packet of "foam" into the cup, then top with the k-pod coffee. I did this twice trying to make the bitter foamy top taste good, then threw away the foam packets and just made the coffee by itself, which I liked a lot better.
8. Special K pumpkin spice cereal. I had this last year too, so I like it enough to keep buying it. Has pumpkin spice flavored yogurt pebbles.
9. Bath and Body Works 3-wick maple cinnamon pancakes candle. Sounds good, doesn't it? Smells even better.
10. Wasatch Brewery pumpkin ale. Made in Salt Lake City, 4% alcohol. Smooth taste with a little nutmegy flavor. I like it.
11. Kroger and Walmart apple cider, the gallon jugs. I defer to Mike on apple ciders as it's his Autumn thing and he's from Michigan, so has been drinking apple cider in Autumn his whole life. We've tried many brands, most being much more expensive, but these are the two that he keeps going back to as he says they blend the apples just right. He goes through many jugs in the fall.
12. Rambling Oats Co. Steel Cut Oatmeal, maple and brown sugar flavor. This is a Canadian product so maybe not available in the States. It's a single serving pouch of perfectly cooked oatmeal with just a touch of sweetness. Really good.
13. L.B. Maple Treat Maple Caramels. Individually wrapped soft caramels with a nice maple flavor. Canadian.
14. Softsoap Halloween scents. There's a green "wicked citrus" with a skeleton on the bottle and an orange with a scarecrow. I like them both, as the scent has been toned down from previous years and doesn't make me gag now.

Some Products I Didn't Care For (It's Official):

1. Trader Joe's pumpkin butter. Tastes different than it used to, more bitter. Maybe it's just me?
2. Trader Joe's pumpkin bagels. Flavorless.
3. Canada Time maple cream filled milk chocolate bar. This comes down to personal taste. It's a sweet milk chocolate with a maple cream filling, making it too sweet and the strong flavors fight each other.
4. The brandless maple syrup lollipop I bought from a stall in the Public Market. It created a sharp edge in my mouth and sliced my tongue. I didn't care for that.

What Autumn products have you tried?

What Autumn products have you tried?

The Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix is very good. I make muffins. And it's so quick and easy, I can make muffins and serve them for breakfast and not get up early.

And I bought a Yankee Candle in Maple Chai scent. Smells like a coffee shop with a fantastic bakery section.

That's it so far. You are the queen of autumn.

Holy cow! The new American Horror Story has an heiress, a hairdresser to the Stars, and Joan freaking Collins! How did I not know this?!

>151 RidgewayGirl: Ha, thanks for bestowing the title on me! Good to know about TJ's bread mix as I haven't tried it. And maple chai sounds delicious, I bet it would have me drinking a lot of coffee.

>152 SomeGuyInVirginia: What, no, that was last season. This season is the 80's slasher-in-the-camp season. And they've added Richard Rameriz "The Nightstalker" into the mix, so we have multiple murders stalking the camp employees. It's very eventful! I just watched last week's episode this morning.

I'm a Supernatural fan because you never know what's gonna happen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRl6NOFq7fQ

Oh, that's right. I knew that about AHS. I finally have interwebs at home again after a month. The tec who came out said that the FCC flies planes over residential areas looking for 'signal noise'. They reported me to Cox for 'signal noise', who shut my interthingy off. It was a month before I could get away from the office to let the tec dude in. He said there's a bad switch in the hallway and he didn't know why the first guy didn't fix it.

OH! I mailed the card this morning. Huzzah!

I don't know how many episodes of this season's AHS there will be, because I'm all caught up and they're killing characters at a pace that makes me believe they're sprinting towards the end.
A whole month without the internet! That explains why you haven't been spotted very often. I've never heard of the FCC and "signal noise". Sounds like you've been accused of spying. You delinquent.
Looking forward to receiving your card! Now that we're home, I spent some of yesterday putting out Halloween decorations.

WOW! What a great trip you had. Thanks for posting all the photos.

Love your fall stuff critique. I love to collect wines in October...this is one of my favorites: Rook. I also like Bone Shake and Evil. : )

I dropped by to wish you a great trip to Vancouver and here you are, already home, with the trip only a memory.

Great photos! Glad the weather wasn't too rainy or cold.

>157 Berly: Sure thing, Kim! I'm noting your wine suggestions as I'm always looking for good ones. Thanks for your pic!

>158 VivienneR: Yep, home and all unpacked with the suitcases put away. We need to go through the photos of two phones and the camera and decided what will be printed out and put on the wall. The weather was exactly what we were hoping for, so Vancouver didn't disappoint.

Anyone watching the Halloween/scary shows? The Walking Dead, the reboot of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the Food Network shows?

You still have time to order your necessary Halloween bath & body products. Etsy makes it easy to find what you've been looking for; marshmallow scented body Bat Oil, coffin shaped bath bombs made with "funeral flowers", or apple maple scented body butter. Really sets the mood for whatever coven you plan on hanging out with on Halloween.
1. https://www.etsy.com/shop/AndromedasCurse?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listin...

2. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ButterflyBlissShop?ref=simple-shop-header-name&lis...

3. https://www.etsy.com/shop/KrystalRoseSoaps?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listi...

4. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ParloCosmetics?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing...

>161 mstrust: Now that's Halloween!

I've been watching a greater proportion of horror movies this month, and will likely continue through the rest of the run-up to the 31st.

Zombieland: Double Tap. I can't breath...

>162 harrygbutler: Such a simpler time. You throw on a mask you can hardly see or breathe from and go collect your Three Musketeers. I've been watching horror movies too.
>163 SomeGuyInVirginia: Did you see it? I have no doubt it's great.

I watched the original Suspiria from 1977 yesterday. I don't think I've ever categorized a horror movie as classy before, but this one fits. It's always on the lists for best horror movies of all time so I had to see it eventually. I don't think I've ever seen a movie of any genre that made such use of colors, with corridors bathed in red, rooms of green or pink, glowing stained glass. The cinematography is often beautiful.
I've also watched Await Further Instructions an English locked room horror movie about blind obedience. The Blackcoat's Daughter about death in a Catholic boarding school, and Madea Boo!, which was the first Madea movie I've ever seen and it was pretty funny. Also Scream 3 and the amazing Train to Busan, which was something like the biggest grossing horror movie in Korea. It's a cast of thousands and it's awesome.

Here's an old movie worth watching. Quartermass and the Pit from 1967, a superior sci-fi horror movie. How many times has Julian Glover been burned alive in his career?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD5GDkmiSds

We went to the fair last night and saw my entries in the cases. Success! My frosted brownies and spicy cheese crackers both got First Place ribbons, my pumpkin cake had a Second Place ribbon! Pics to come.

86. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan. Teen Darren (the main character is named after the author) is forced to become the assistant to vampire Mr. Crepsley in order to save his friend's life. Becoming an assistant means becoming a half-vampire, faking his death in order to leave his family forever, and experiencing loneliness for the first time. Though Mr. Crepsley is kind and regrets making someone so young a half-vampire, there's nothing he can do to change it, and he has to endure the railings of an angry teenager who will never grow up. He decides to take Darren to his occasional job, as a performer in a traveling freak show, to meet the most unusual people, including a wolfman and a snake boy.
The writing started out a little rough but seemed to get better as it went along, or maybe the story took over. The ending was unexpectedly gruesome.
3 stars
S.S.: 2

>165 mstrust: Congratulations on your success at the fair!

I recall thinking Suspiria quite strange, but that's about all I remember.

Thanks, Harry! I'm happy with the outcome. *Though I assure you that my pumpkin cake with pumpkin spice buttercream frosting is amazing*
Suspiria is strange, I agree. I can't remember where I read that it had originally been written for much younger girls in a boarding house situation, which explains why these grown women are sticking their tongues out at each and why they whisper like they can't get caught talking. But once I accepted that so many voices were dubbed, I enjoyed the sets and appreciated the long silent pauses. And the end with its 70's special effects was scary and weird.

>163 SomeGuyInVirginia: I received your black cat card today, Larry! Thanks!

Hi Jennifer. I am back from my visit to Vancouver Island and trying to catch up. Congratulations on your well earned ribbons - I could go for a frosted brownie right now! We had about 3 beautiful sunny fall days last week but now we seem to back to dreary, dull, rainy days. My brother and I took our grandnephew to a corn maze one day, and then I went crazy at the farmer's market and bought corn, squashes and apples.

I have recorded the Walking Dead but I havn't yet watched any episodes. Will probably get to it next week.

Thank you, Judy. Sorry you don't like your rainy weather. Send it to me!
We're going back to the little farmers market we went to last week. I'd bought a small painting of a prickly pear cactus there, happened to mention it to my Mom, and she got all excited and asked for one for herself.
I've watched the first two episodes of TWD and they've got my interest back.

>168 mstrust: Happy Halloween, Jennifer!

I'm several stations behind on TWD. I hated to lose Glenn and Abraham and haven't watched the show since.

>171 SomeGuyInVirginia: I know, that was a big mistake in killing those two off, and then they compounded it by killing Carl off soon after. I think seasons 8 & 9 were just a constant slaughter of our mainstay characters that the audience cared about, and then trying to plug the holes with too many new characters that aren't that interesting.
But last week's episode about the origins of Alpha and Beta was good.

Here's an ambiance video from Autumn Cozy. Put it on your tv and read, make dinner, clean up that murder scene, to the relaxing sounds of Autumn. Autumn Cozy has a long list of ambiance videos to choose from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbaEn7phVKM

Just catching up here. Love all the halloween stuff!

>139 mstrust: Looks like you had a fun vacation. How fortunate, you were able to see so much! I went on a whale watching tour once and saw one whale only :(

>165 mstrust: Congrats! First place winner :)

Thanks, glad you dropped in! I'm about to post a few more pics, including my winners.
We took the tour from Prince of Whales at Granville Island, and they guarantee you will see whales or you get to keep going on tours with them until you do. For life. They also had three naturalists on board, which was great. Whatever creature was spotted they pulled out a model and big charts to give you all the info. And you got as much coffee or hot chocolate as you wanted. :-d

***
We stopped by Half Price Books today and I brought home Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls, The Essex Serpent and a nice new copy of Crime and Punishment. Also a 2020 calendar. And we bought all the Christmas tins I'll need to fill with cookies this year. We're up to 14.

All the Canadian maple stuff I got home with. What's that Canada? You have nothing left?
Five different brands of maple syrup, several different types of hard candy and caramels, maple filled chocolates, maple pecan cereals... If they make it, I got it. A few things will go in Christmas stockings.

And now I realize I need to download the pic of the Native carvings we bought from a gallery. They're cool.

State Fair winners. Keep in mind that these were made 12 days before the pictures were taken, so it's all concrete:


Spicy cheese crackers- 1st place. They're chili pepper shaped.


Frosted brownies- 1st place. With marshmallows in the frosting.
The strange pic size is because they were on the plate with someone else's stuff.


Golden pumpkin cake with pumpkin spice frosting- 2nd place.

Today is Mike's birthday, and this would be his dream cake. I tell him it isn't fair that he has an October birthday as his only interest in Halloween is that the weather is nice, he can buy a cartful of giant bags of candy and not look like a hog, and I love the month.

Happy birthday, Mike! I'm just going to steal the Crunch bars on top of the cake :D

Happy birf Dee Mike, the Nutter Butter bars are mine!

So you had two first place and one second. Gawddamn, that's impressive.

>178 rabbitprincess: Hi! I just tunneled my way into the cake. Grab the candy before the roof collapses.
>179 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thanks! See, it's a cake that has something for everyone.
The competition is a matter of coming up with a recipe that my tasting panel (the guys at Mike's work) likes and getting a judge who likes what you like. Since they don't tell us who the judges are, and I suspect they're the carnies putting up the rides, it's a crapshoot that sometimes I win, sometimes I don't. I blame the judges lack of taste when I don't.

I finally saw "The Conjuring" and it's a good and creepy haunted house story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRuulhJ2ARQ

Have you found any pumpkins in the Pumpkin Hunt?

The Autopsy of Jane Doe on Netflix stars Brian Cox, so you know it's good. Cox and Emile Hirsch are a father/son coroner team who also live in the creepy old house that holds the town morgue. And nothing bad ever happens. Spot the guy who looks like the cheesy meatloaf of >165 mstrust:!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V56U2gY_1Q

I found one, but with a horror theme it's going to be pretty easy.

I stopped watching Autopsy because I thought it was going to just be body horror. It's worth watching?

I finished AHS Apocalypse this morning waiting to head off to the dentist. I liked a lot of the character, especially Mallory and Misty Day, and Jessica Lange and Cathy Bates are always great. But I thought it was kind of confusing. Maybe because I've only ever seen the first series and then this one?

You're talking about the Pumpkin hunt? Probably the easiest for fans of scary, but some of the clues are written to be confusing, and one answer has nothing at all to do with Halloween. Also, with two of the correct answers, I had to keep clicking on them over and over until the damn thing came up telling me I had solved them.
Hmmm, by "body horror" do mean the scares based on gore? There are autopsies going on, but I found the gore definitely taking a backseat to the other stuff that happens. I went into it trusting that Brian Cox doesn't make bad movies at this point in his career, and I thought it was a good, creepy movie.
I watched Apocalypse only until they killed Joan Collins, so maybe the first two episodes. I liked the beginning, with everyone racing to find a place to survive and I liked Collins' character, so I didn't like them killing off the mean old lady so quickly.
I would say that if you want a truly scary season, either the seasons of Freakshow or will scare the beejezus out of you. I really liked the My Roanoke Nightmare season too. It had Leslie Jordan, who was a deee-light, though he meets his end in the most horrible way.

Yesterday I made the recipe for "Sucrerie de la Montagne's World Famous Maple Sugar Pie" that's in The Maple Syrup Book. This is the pie served at the most famous sugar shack/ restaurant in Quebec. It doesn't work. I know the directions are off, as it says to cook the milk by itself only until it's hot, but it should have said to cook the milk with the flour until it thickens, because otherwise it doesn't set up. The ingredients may be off too, but it's a rather expensive fail, as it calls for 3/4 cup of maple sugar (not maple syrup), and that ain't cheap. I think it's possible that the owner of the shack didn't want to really give out his real recipe.

Collins makes another appearance and this time her character is unalloyed delight, Bubbles McGee, a talented witch who would rather pursue her dream of being queen of the B movies. I find her to be endlessly fascinating, which is the point I guess.

No, he didn't want other people to make his pies. And, at least in Virginia, cars with Quebec plates drive like they're in the roller derby.

Yes, body horror/gore just gak me out. I'll give it another try.

Crazy Head. Check it.

Collins re-appears later in Apocalypse? I had no idea!
I was thinking that I'd really like the writers/producers to do another miniseries like they did with Feud last year. Something starring Collins, Lange, and just to up the creep, Karen Black. Her acting has improved so much since the 70's, and that one crossed eye has developed a mean glint that would be perfect.

I don't know how much reached the average person, but a few years ago there was a mini scandal when people began calling out celeb chefs for all the recipes in their cookbooks that didn't work. It came out that so many recipes were published without ever being tried out by the chefs or staff or publishers.

I don't go in for gory movies as a rule, unless they're of the zombie type. Which is strange because when I was a make-up artist I wanted to be in the special effects make-up field that at the time was ruled by Tom Savini. I ended up in regular ol' beauty make-up.
I've had Crazy Head in my queue for about two years and just haven't gotten to it, but I'll check it out if you say so. It's like it's been on Mount TBR for so. I also have the Crispin Glover version of Willard to get to, and I'm watching his version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle too.

O.k., people, it's one week until Halloween. Time to get seriously creepy.
And I need to finish a book.

By now I've noticed that I tend to like haunted house stories best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LkVC2grgus

Cray-pay!

Crazy Head owes everything to Buffy, but the actors are Brits so they bring the feels.

Not long ago I read the short story The Paperhanger by William Gay in the 2001 O Henry Awards book and it was creepy as hell. More of a serial killer story than horror, but it was horrific.

I watched last night's AHS 1984 this morning. What a twist has happened there! This is such a good season.
Thanks for the short story rec. I usually make time for a few short stories here and there in October because I like to pass one or two along on my thread.

87. Supernatural: Nevermore by Keith R.A. DeCandido. The first in the series of novels using the characters from Supernatural. Dean and Sam are in the Bronx, where a pothead musician has been experiencing a haunting every weekend when he returns from playing his regular bar gig. While staying in his house for a week, the Winchesters have multiple sightings of the blonde ghost in the Queensryche t-shirt. They also begin investigating multiple murders about the borough that seem to be following the plotlines of Edgar Allan Poe stories such as Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Tell-Tale Heart.
This was a good one. The novels are original stories, not novelizations of the tv episodes, but if you've seen even one episode of the show you'll see how well the author did in capturing the voices of the Winchesters.
4.5 stars
S.S.: 2

And I just noticed that I posted clips of "The Conjuring" twice, within days of each other. Forgetful much? I've made the change for today's scare.

Oh I can't wait. Let see if the season is available. I wrote an undergrad paper at BYU arguing that slashers were instruments of the new Inquisition. Sex, drug use, listening to New Age in your Walkman? Dead. I only wrote one thing in college wioryj reading and that was a review of O'Connors's A Good Man is Hard to Find. I hope I kept a copy.

If you're ok with gore, I can recommend Lie to me and Tap Tap by George Martin. Jet black humor and some broadly described gore.

AHS has broken a few of the slasher tropes with this season, the big one being that the whole "good" girl virgin getting better treatment while the slutty girl is quickly disposed of. Even the killers have stories past the slaughter at the camp.
But I'm currently watching "Scooby Doo and Kiss in The Rock and Roll Mystery".

Hey kids, do ya like that rock and roll?
Here's Canadian band The Creepshow with "Devil's Son". Great song, very dark video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwEgUKMRX5w

Yes, I'm enjoying this season of AHS!

Isn't it fun?

Maybe I shouldn't mention this, but we've started Christmas shopping.

Oh my god, you bought a baby Audrey and Marilyn! They go with anything!

I'm done with the world. I got my hair did, oil change, the closets sorted (don't start), and Parker is fed. Imma drink some wine and watch movies.

Turned out imma drink some wine, watch the first 30 mins of Reanimator, get bored, channel surf, decide against ordering in some Chinese, admire the tidy closets Marie Kondo would approve of, then justify going to bed at 10pm because there's nothing on tee-bee.

If this happens again promise you'll shoot me.

I would totally put a candy cigarette in Baby Audrey's cigarette holder.

I've had a busy day so this is the first chance I've had to get here.
>197 SomeGuyInVirginia: Ha! I hadn't even put my comment together with the pic until you said something! I don't usually go in for cutesy stuff but these two are awesome.
>198 SomeGuyInVirginia: And you had a busy day too. Of course having wine was the correct thing to do. Then, after a box and a half, you could have tied a scarf around Parker's neck and gone for a walk. Bringing the half empty wine box along is always optional, depends on if you think the exercise will make you thirsty.

If this happens again promise you'll shoot me.
How 'bout I throw handfuls of Meow Mix at you?
Larry, didn't you hear me knocking? I got you something for being my ghoulish visitor who likes Halloween as much as I do. Now get some glasses and 50 pounds of ice.


One of our stops today was at a tiny farmers market where I bought a little painting of a prickly pear from the artist, who is a grizzled old biker looking dude, and his cacti look sort of 60's retro to me. My mom requested a painting for herself, so we went back and bought two purple prickly pear and five packages of homemade dog cookies.
Then, we went to the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree, a little event we've gone to for five or six years. We got there and found that the city has now fenced in the whole garden, which is in the courtyard, and is charging $15 for what has always been free to wander before.

Vampira! So awesome!

She's the original!



88. Poe-Land by J.W. Ocker. Ocker researched and organized Poe's life state by state, visiting homes and more often, the sites of former homes, along with the graves of Poe and those close to him, libraries with Poe collections and the former hospital where Poe died. He also interviews librarians, curators and more than a few Poe impersonators and actors. It's a thick, heavy book full of Poe's travels as he moved all over New England, giving the picture of a man who was always chasing work, always having to find cheaper lodging. And as Ocker spent over a year gathering interviews and visiting sights, there's a lot of more obscure information than you'd normally find, even in a book about someone as well-known as Poe. For instance, Ocker visits a street corner in Baltimore where Poe got into a fight with a newspaper editor who had cheated him out of a cash prize in a poetry contest.
In Rhode Island, Ocker is present for the unveiling of a library bust of H.P. Lovecraft, who himself was such a Poe fan that he undertook his own Poe tour in the 30's. Ocker is able to see Poe artifacts held in various library rare collections, including a lock of Poe's hair, and travel to Great Britain, where Poe spent five years of his childhood.
5 stars
S.S.: 1

Have you watched something truly scary for Halloween yet?
Here's the full episode of Masters of Horror "Cigarette Burns", starring a very young looking Norman Reedus. Directed by John Carpenter, this is a scary and disturbing hour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO0wQVyH1ZY

And just noting that I received an LT Early Reviewer copy of The Hollywood Book Club today.

89. Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls by R.L. Stine. When the teacher forces nerdy Spencer to read the class his scary story about the local cemetery, it gives her the idea to take the class on a field trip there. A forgotten backpack later and the class bullies have tied Spencer to the shared headstone of the evil Manse brothers, who were just waiting for some fool to come along and disturb their rest.
More gruesome than most "Goosebumps", but also a little more enjoyable.
4 stars
S.S.: 2

>195 PaperbackPirate: Your very cool skull card arrived today, so thanks! Two days to travel 30 minutes.

I wanted to come and wish you an early Happy Halloween, Jennifer. Enjoy "your" day! ;)

It's almost your special day, Jennifer. Hope it's a good one!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Mwahahahaha!

>205 mstrust: Glad it made it in time! LOL!
Happy Halloween!

>206 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! It should be a fun day. Candy and carved pumpkins will be involved.

>207 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg!

>208 SomeGuyInVirginia: Mwahahahaha right back atcha! Happy Halloween!

>209 PaperbackPirate: Happy Halloween, Nicole!

Almost forgot to deliver the biggest scare yet. Train to Busan is my must-see Halloween movie this year 'cause it delivers like nobody's business:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POpYt4cHlFs

It's over. I had nine trick r treaters last night, which is the most in several years.
Today is our anniversary, so we've opened presents and we have a reservation at a steakhouse tonight. Maybe a hike at the mountain preserve in a little while if Mike can get away from work.
I've taken down Halloween and packed it away. I'll make a new thread tomorrow. Today, I eat candy.

Happy anniversary!

Glad you enjoyed Halloween - but nine trick r treaters?? We turned the lights off and hid in the dark at 7pm when we ran out of candy after about 150 kids. We live in a small town so 150 is a lot, even half that many is a lot. Hordes of them were brought by the truckload from outlying areas.

Yesterday Ottawa and Montreal had significant rain and high winds. Montreal ended up postponing Halloween to tonight because of the weather, but Ottawa did not. So there were jokes about Ottawa kids trick or treating here yesterday and then going to Montreal for Part 2 today. Not sure anyone actually did, although that isn't a half bad idea ;)

>216 rabbitprincess: I heard many of the Montreal kids ended up going out on Halloween as usual. It would be difficult to postpone an event like Halloween. It was clear here but quite cold (about 2C). I love seeing little princesses wearing parkas and snow boots with the tiara held on by ear muffs. Somehow the little merlins and superheroes can get away with it.

>214 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita!

>215 VivienneR: Yes, and that beat the last year, which had a grand total of two. We're almost right in the middle of a major city, but I don't know if it's that most of the houses on my little street have their lights off, or that parents just don't want to walk around with their kids anymore.

>216 rabbitprincess: I heard that some cities in New Hampshire bumped Halloween back to today because they were expected a heavy rainstorm on Halloween that didn't show up. If I was a kid and was told that I had to wait two days more for candy, I'd crumble.

>217 VivienneR: I think every kid that showed up at my door was dressed as a superhero. I miss Dracula.

>217 VivienneR: Growing up in Edmonton, every year I'd be all excited about my costume and then every year I would be forced to wear a parka and snow boots over that costume.

I have a new thread, so come see what horrible thing I've done now!

>219 RidgewayGirl: I remember in Edmonton trying to make costumes for my boy that would fit over his winter wear. One year it was so seriously cold that shopping malls stayed open (back in the days when they closed at 6pm) so that the kids could trick-or-treat inside. The stores didn't do much business but handed out a ton of candy.

Our HOA organizes a trick-or-treat parade the Saturday before Halloween and we got about 100 kids this year. On Halloween night only 3.

Happy Anniversary!

100 kids? I haven't had that many in fifteen years I've been in this house combined.