Author Archives

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The ‘Eve Approaches

Eve of the ‘Eve

Harried preparation

Porchlights all a-glare

Breath held in expectation

Of whom we hope to scare

 

Pleased anticipation

Is the order of the night.

Waiting on congregation

As capriciousness takes flight

 

Necksore from constant craning

We side eye here and there

Glad that it’s not raining

On the Haunt we want to share

 

Footfalls drawing nearer

Ears prickle at the sound

Rustles of hustled furor

Echoed through the ground

 

What gathering of stitches

represent the costume trends?

Is it a group of witches?

Or super hero friends?

 

Is that a ghostly meeting

In the yard just down the bend?

Or perhaps just soggy sheeting

Drying in the wind

 

Alas it’s just a lone dog

Not werewolves on parade

Just dry leaves scraping sidewalks

And not a zombie raid

 

It’s just the neighbor’s car alarm

And not a banshee shrieking

No haunted house but backdoor

That’s making such a creaking

 

Is that a bubbling witches brew

assailing my senses?

Or just the smoke of burning jack’o’s

sat upon some fences.

 

Pinecones dropped at random

Aren’t spiders on attack

Not thrills but chills in tandem

Cause those shivers down my back

 

Patience sorely tested

Spirits wait for their reprieve

Sure to end up fete and fested

On this eve of Hallows Eve

-a.e. (Revision)

 

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Malevolent mischief needs a playlist…

Did you hear that….?  Those sounds far off in the darkness?  That beautiful melody leading you on?  Are those lilting strains the plucks of a tortured soul, a winsome witch-call, a shudder of delight or a ghoulish mumble?  If you’re like me, you will follow those sounds to their source, and enjoy every moment of musical mischief you find.  Please sample these 31 gathered tunes, I hope they hold you spellbound…

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Counting Days….

It is just three months until Hallowe’en 2022 and with the retail side in full swing already…(yikes or yay!?!?)…some might wonder if seasonal burnout is possible………not!!  I absolutely adore that the season is edging into end of Summer, all the better for replacing watermelons with pumpkins and trading firecrackers for candlelight.  If you are looking to get ahead on your Fall cards, may I suggest these from 1canoe2? Just click pic for link and enjoy sending out a reminder to friends and family to seek out the sweets of the season.

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Moonglow and candlelight…

As not all Vampires are comfortable venturing out during daytime hours, the reliance on alternate light sources becomes all too important.  These offerings from Witch City Wicks described as “a darkly decadent collection” might just be the answer…and provide a sweet balm to all of us feelings pangs of longing for autumnal scents and the approach of……?

Click pic to link to site.

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Mirth and Musings Part 20

I love Hallowe’en parties.  They are my favorite parties to give, to attend, to plan and to savor.  I’ve traveled hundreds of miles for a Hallowe’en party and I would not hesitate to do so again.  As I’ve got older I think they become more precious to me, being the lone remainder of the nostalgic seasonal occurrences of youth.  I can no longer trick or treat, and I’ve no more schoolroom parties awaiting me.  Haunts are months of planning and weeks of production and since we are the dreamers and designers and do-it-yourselfers of our haunts, it holds little surprise for us.  The Hallowe’en party remains to offer that feeling of anticipated wonder.  We get to don a costume and be thrilled and chilled and immersed in the experience. An evening, a few precious hours to indulge in the spectral spectacle.  What is it that makes it all so special?  It shares all the common elements of every other type of party; music, food, decorations…and yet.  There is that something other…a sense of whimsy, of mystery, of funhouse fear that is singular and potent.

The most fantastic advice on how to give a Hallowe’en party must have come from the Dennison’s Bogie Books, please click pic to link to an archived site to read further on how to give just such a bash, with perhaps a dash of Monster Mash.

 

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Don’t be caught in the dark…

Tempt your olfactory organs and stock up on these wonderful candles from Witch City Wicks.  I have been a customer for some years now, I can recommend the Pumpkinhead and Trick or Treat and I use the mini travel tins in my jack-o-lanterns and the smell is gorgeous!  So don’t delay to halo your haunt, add glow to your graveyard or set your party aflame with these wonderful offerings from Salem, Mass.

Click on pic to link to site…

 

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Mixing at Midnight

Ooo the sights and sounds of Hallowe’en approach.

There is something about the heightened senses we have in the dark, when our ears catch the slightest murmur, whisper or groan.

We all listen for that far-off cry of the werewolf, the howls under moonlight, the shuffle of a zombie approach or the soft fluttering of darkened wings overhead.

This season calls for musical mise-en-scene, those rhapsodic melodies to indulge our cravings, tempt our secret soul and evoke fond recollections and surprised delight.

I humbly offer these thirty-one collected tunes to enchant your ears.

 

 

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The Apothecary Witch

Cauldrons leave you maudlin?

Can’t handle coal or candle?

Is there perhaps, no craft in your drafts?

On tenterhooks from bulky books?

Got no notions of potions, perplexed by a hex?

In pains from tisanes, simples just too complex?

Whether extract, elixir, infusion or tipple,

tonic or essence or tincture or ripple.

She fixes your mixes, she’ll simmer and stew,

she’ll bubble your troubles away in her brews.

Do pesky beaus bother? Do grey hairs persist?

A cure for ague that you wish to resist?

Is it romance you seek, is it fortune you crave?

Her prowess is awesome, her customers rave.

Her prices are steep, but your problems she’ll heed

with skill and discretion – results guaranteed.

(Excerpt from The Apothecary Witch, by A.E.)

 

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The First

Excerpt from

The Call of Fall 

Here now at last

is the turn of the year

when wind is a whisper

that prickles your ear,

and moonrise glows brightly

with merry foretell

and starshine lends glamour

to seasonal spell.

Clouds gather darkly

and fogs rise from earth

and the hammer of rain

is a furious mirth.

A season to savor,

to hold near and dear

of madcap behavior

and mayhem to cheer.

So hang well the buntings

and etch well the gourds,

make sure that your doorways

well welcome the hordes.

Make fast all devices

of fanciful scheme

and wait on the players

of mischievous theme.

Soon now all fey and

their sundry will rise

to caper with us

beneath Hallowe’ens guise.

– A.E.