Weblog 245

October 24, 2010~ 12:00 am
Tis' the season of magical thinking and marvelous sites! Everywhere around you, folks are engaged in fantasy, dressed in costumes and lighting whatever can be lit......



giving things that rich Halloween glow. We visited Holly and family on Saturday evening and got a preview of the kids' costumes. Here's Bill, dressed as a Union Civil War Soldier



proud as all get out, big grin on his face. His Pap Pap Wayne gave him a minie ball on Saturday evening, taken from the soil after the Battle of Gettysburg- (he'd bought it years ago at the 'Horse Soldier'- a wonderful store for battle relics.) I thought it was so sweet for him to pass that on to Bill.

When I asked him, "Bill, count the rings. Is that Confederate or Union?" "One, two, three. It's Union!" (he's a smart cookie, alright.) We'd talked about that last week, how Union minies had three rings and the Southern ones, two- the rings helped stabilize the bullets in flight, and he remembered. That tickled me.

And here he is... standing in front of a living room montage of seasonal spookables.



(He has Freddie Krueger's head under his arm, incidentally...LOL!) I'm amazed the dogs haven't chewed it to shreds, thinking it's a dog toy as yet. Here's a closer look at some of those ghosts and ghouls



...that rubber mask is CREEPY, no? Their bedroom hallway has a silent Shade, standing in place like he's ready to take tickets for the bathroom.



(On the wall there, to the side of him, you can see the penciled-in marks of Bill and Kay's yearly growth. We had a doorjamb in my old house where I grew up that was marked just like that....I wonder if the new owners have painted over it yet?) Year by year, the costumes, the fun and memories just mount up with these holidays, but I have to admit that Halloween is my favorite. Their yard is full of tombstones and haunted stuff....



so that's what greeted us as we walked from the car, both their dogs wagging their tails to say hello. We laughed when there was the occasion to use the bathroom....Holly hung a 'Psycho shower curtain'- adrip in bloody hand prints and smears. LOL!!! On Friday, Bill and Kay's grandad watched them overnight, so Holly and Gary had a 'Fright Night' of rental movies. They watched 'Boogie Man' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. Naturally, Bill- who is always all ears, had his own version of what Leatherface must look like, and drew pictures of him... and his chainsaw. (Weapons seem to play a large role in little boy's fantasies.) Kay was decked out like a lovely fairy, all sparkly and glittery, in a costume her mommy sewed for her.



(No gory nonsense for Kay......heaven's no!) Something that shines, something pretty....of course! She still needs a crown or garland wreath, something fairy-like for her head-- so Holly will be putting that together this week so everything's ready for next Sunday, "THE" day...the TRICK OR TREATS. Till then......



our little five year old fairy will be dozing, dreaming of yummy delights to come and the ooo's and the ahhh's at each doorbell ring. Halloween makes me feel like a kid...like anything's possible. The full moon Saturday night just dripped with magic. Oh......and speaking of magic......that gorgeous picture at the top, the one with the lit tree trunks and the golden glow? -to see more of that artist's work, visit Yerkaland and get a taste of the beauty of that man's imagination. It quite bowls me over. (That.......... and HALLOWEEN!)

I'm sure I'll have more pictures next week. Just can't get enough of this stuff!




October 25, 2010~ 7:15 pm
I've been on a kick here for about 3 days browsing 'strange doll' sites (a definite interest of mine) and being by turns, delighted, amazed... sometimes appalled. I've had so much fun looking at the bizarre creations of folks whose imaginations know no bounds; many were startlingly beautiful- so much so, they quite take the breath away.

But of all the images, one has become my favorite.




It's a still from the movie 'Alice', by Czech genius Jan Svankmajer. (How can these things be out there for years and years, and I come so late to the party?) While I've not yet enjoyed Tim Burton's 'Alice In Wonderland' --which is rich in color and startling effects, the full power of Hollywood behind it, I saw only a short snippet of this version by Svankmajer, and it's like peering inside someone's dreams that are part nightmare, part enchantment-- lots of menace. He uses 'stop-action' photography to film his puppet figures.

Here's the info on this fella right out of Wikipedia. His 'Faust' is an ordinary 'everyman'... his 'Little Otik' is a tree stump raised as a baby that becomes more than a handful....lol. And 'Conspirators Of Pleasure'......what a dark, thoughtful exploration into the terribly private - always isolating- bizarre rituals of fetishism! I intend to search these films out and rent them. (Even subtitled, which I find taxing) I'd make an exception to experience this guy's talent.

(And that weird little skull wearing the elf hat and tugging at the cute little dolly) --it speaks to me in the same way the children's book, 'The Stone Doll of Sister Brute' did-- with its 'ugly kicking dog' who wore hobnail boots and wanted only to be loved by the little Brute girl. "LOVE ME!" --this skull says, all the while rolling its exposed eyeball as it scouts around for danger, its silly hat trying to masquerade as something jolly. Those big, human feet......lol. It's Hieronymous Bosch in stop-action. (And is that a stigmata wound on its instep?) Such things creep right into me, and won't let go. I love them. :)




October 27, 2010~ 7:30 pm
Today was another Ground Hog Day! After I got home, just after I'd replenished the bird feeder with more cracked corn, I saw him.......PHIL! -happily munching something amidst the gravel and the weeds of my carport.



(What he'd found so delicious there, I couldn't begin to tell you. LOL!!!) I was afraid to get too close or startle him into the alley because every hot-rodding MANIAC uses that alley as a shortcut during the rush hour. I slowly opened the door and he disappeared into the yew bushes, into his hideout in Lou's yard next door. Once I knew he was safely in there, I whistled as I always do to call the birds to the feeder, and OUT POPPED PHIL'S HEAD! Then the rest of him, onto Lou's steps. I was amazed.



Then he waddled down into Lou's yard- (and if you've ever seen a fat groundhog move, it's like watching a cross between an inchworm and a water balloon filled to capacity)- he's SO ROUND and SO CUTE! -and he was working his way down the walkway next door, then up to Lou's birdbath....



and I think he was trying to figure out a way to get into my yard to feast, having seen all the 'bird excitement' (or smelling that corn, who knows?) Phil traveled the length of the cyclone fence, every now and then, stopping to kind of 'butt his head' against the fence, maybe to see if it would give.... it was a joy to watch him to be sure.

I love him. I constantly fret about him getting squashed on that damned 'thruway' of an alley- the other night he became frightened when Wayne and I caught sight of him, and he loped like a laboring fat man across the road, up onto the gravel to the trolley tracks and threw himself over one rail, and then the other- and took off for the hills. If he dies and I see him out there, I'm gonna cry me a river--- so BE SAFE PHIL. Your biggest fan lives right in this yellow house. (What a critter!)





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