Just a quick note today, Labor Day activities are tugging away, its 55 days to Halloween and if you haven’t yet, it’s probably a good time to start looking through the garage, sheds, closets, under the bed, all those places we store our goodies for the big night. Also, for the long season – can’t wait to get everything up and going, lights, action, and smoke and mirrors! My best to you all and Happy Haunting!!
Tag Archives: Halloween
Stalking Windows
There are always things to see in the windows this time of the year. Even if its just the virtual ones.
(Pottery Barn Halloween 2016. Click pic to link to site.)
(Crate and Barrel Halloween 2016. Click pic to link to site.)
(Grandin Road Halloween Haven 2016. Click pic to link to site.)
(Traditions Halloween Store 2016. Click pic to link to site.)
(The Holiday Barn Halloween 2016. Click pic to link to site.)
Fun with Shadows
My dearly Beloved was doing some shopping for me today and came home with this from our local Crate and Barrel. It’s a drink dispenser holder and carafe and I’ve decided to use it as a candle luminary for the shadows! Apparently, though these are available online, the stores aren’t to put them out yet and so the kind folks at C&B dug these out of boxes just cause he asked, he came home with a set of glasses that match too. Couldn’t wait to post the pic. Enjoy.
(Click pic to link to site.)
Mirth and Musings Part 14 – Love Boney Bunch Love
“The Incredible Mr. Bones and the Boney Bunch”
Click pic to visit site.
August. While I realize that the Autumnal Equinox isn’t until September 22nd, making that first day of Fall weeks off, I do appreciate feeling like August is the pre-season. I am starting to see it creeping into shops, into stalls, into consciousness. The retail scope of the holiday merely allows us to view it that much sooner – but there is a collective audience standing in the shadows waiting for the curtain to draw up entirely on our beloved time of the year. I applaud those few of you out there standing with us but are stand-outs too – Pumpkinrot of course, and if you are reading this, in this most obscure and little known of blogs, you’ll know who I mean. But there is another, Boney Bunch Love, a Facebook entity who has established an amazing site for this “niche within the niche” of skeletal spectacle from Yankee Candle which I fear may be on the decline. I have been following the page for years now, lurking as I do, have posted a poem in my original post from September 2013, and I am constantly surprised and delighted by the originality, the dedication, the friendliness of the page and it has been and I hope will continue to be a touchstone for staying connected to at least one aspect of our Season annually. If you haven’t heard of the Boney Bunch, which launched in 2008, visit the page and spend a little time with it and you will gain an understanding past my ability to impart here. The 2016 line is due in stores on August 27, and is always much anticipated by its ardent fan base. It’s never too late to join the party, as Boneys past, present and future are always of much interest. Hope to see you in line in front of your local YC store. The door is opening, slowed by creaking hinges, but beyond lay delights and devilry, bonfires and beasties, mist and magic. Forward!
Shall I tell you a tale of why I love so much
these black and orange figurines called the Boney Bunch?
They show up every August to herald Halloween
Their Boney faces grinning wide as they appear on scene.
Boney Sir presenting Boney Bride her spider ring
Charon Boney in his boat dead and ferrying
Gypsy Boney gazing deeply into her sparkling globe
Reaper Boney keeping time with his scythe and robe
Headless horseman Boney riding hard on english saddle
Baby Buggy Boney making ruckus with his rattle
Lady Boney prim beneath her spider parasol
A juggling Mr Bonehead with his top hat very tall
Eternal Slumber Boneys read as off to sleep they drift
Bobbing apples Boney using his peculiar gift
Organ player Boney playing organ tunes to fright
Submariner Boney floating by with his flashing lights
Witchy Boney on her broom, hat adorned with spider
and Monster Bride waves “hello”, with her Frank beside her
So why do I love Boneys? The answer seems so clear
I love that they remind me of Halloween throughout the year!
– A.E.
Nothing grim about this…
Rogers Gardens has announced their annual Halloween Boutique Opening “Grimm Tales” will debut on Friday, September 2nd @ 9:00am! Visiting this amazing boutique yearly has become a favorite for me and I hope you find time to stop by, it will not disappoint.
“…and the Storyteller paused…
and it was as if the wonders he retold had cast a spell upon him…”-A.E.
“The forest is dark and enchanted…branches creak and leaves rustle as trees close in, obscuring the path home. Wander deep into the shadows and you’ll find frightful folklores, fantastical stories and chilling tales. These bedtime stories will give you nightmares, and you’ll discover that not all fairy tales end happily-ever-after.” –Rogers Gardens
Mirth and Musings Part 12 – Waxing Nostalgic
Going to age myself a bit here, but couldn’t help it. While sorting through my TNY collection this Charles E. Martin cover made me smile wistfully as I remembered something from my childhood; something I couldn’t wait for when school days began in September as Halloween usually prompted the first one of the year. The classroom party. The chalkboard covered with the list of necessaries for a decent shindig and Mrs. Gresham or Mr. Argast signing up kids next to each one, invariably the “paper plates and napkins” and “cups” would go to that same kid in the front row whose arm would shoot up the moment the teacher asked. I don’t know, maybe he was baking challenged. The rest of us divvied up the cookies, brownies, other varied treats of no name, bottles of pop, etc for the Friday party. I remember classroom games, like heads up seven up and chalkboard hangman. I remember a parade of students walking around the quad proudly displaying homemade costuming. Teachers dressed as their alter egos (or true natures) best suggested. Trick or treating room to room with each classroom decked out along its own theme. The truncated lessons to make time to just enjoy the holiday undiminished by political correctness. Madcap and mayhem would eventually ensue in the sugar tide, everyone going home clutching a paper plate with various goodies to enjoy over the weekend shared with family, if they survived the bus ride or walk home that is.
Mirth and Musings Part 11
A lovely New Yorker cover from my collection. Edna Eicke has captured a wonderful moment. Everything the night should be, the “ghosts” peering through the gate to judge if the walk is worth the risk. I think the lighted windows highlighting the porch seal the deal. I love the importance of the porch, the threshold, the approach to the door. So much anticipation, exhilaration, consternation. You get it. Sometimes with haunters its meant to be a very long walk, even when its a hop, skip and jump to the door from the sidewalk. Like running the bases through a gauntlet, real or imagined. With only the thought of reaching the porch, the door, safety always to be found at home, even if for just a moment, someone else’s. A lovely tradition I think. Thanksgiving has the turkey shared with family and friends, Christmas gets the tree with thoughtful gifts to be given out amongst nearest and dearest. On Halloween we invite neighbors and strangers alike to our doors. We wait upon the knock, the doorbell, we pause and savor the shrieks and hesitant approach of children and adults through the keyhole or from between the blinds. The magical ‘say “trick or treat!” and enter’ that signals a kindred spirit whereupon we open our doors and distribute rewards for stopping by. Simply marvelous.
Countdown to Halloween
Countdown to Halloween is alive and well and if you click on the Frankenstein badge to the right it will take you to the listing of over 150 halloween blogsites!! Wow, so if you’ve got a spare minute or two this Season, check them out, there’s something for everyone. It’s my third year on their list and its been a blast every year. Always lots to discover! Happy Halloween. Indeed.
Edward Gorey….treat of treats!
Wish to indulge in a different type of treat this year? Got my invite for this yesterday and wanted to share in case any of you out there wanted to join in. Sounds like fun and its all ages which I think is SPECTACULAR!! Click pic for a link to the site and to download entry form. Flights of fancy well received and I hope to poke and prod all of you into submission. Wink, wink! Be sure to check out the 2014 winners, wonderful stuff!
THE EDWARD GOREY HOUSE 2015 ALL-AGES HALLOWEEN ENVELOPE ART CONTEST
Our annual Envelope Art contest is now open for submissions from artists of all ages from around the world. Submit your original envelope artwork postmarked no later thanOctober 23rd, 2015. There is no entry fee though artists can only submit one entry to the contest per year.
Decorate an envelope (of any size you choose) with your Edward Gorey-esque Halloween themed image(s)—with the Edward Gorey House address clearly visible on the front—and mail it to this address:
Edward Gorey House
8 Strawberry Lane
Yarmouth Port, MA 02675
USA
Rogers Gardens
I have attended the first day opening of the Rogers Gardens Halloween Event for the past few years and I will be there early to enjoy it this year as it looks to be especially creepy. The four rooms they usually design/decorate traverse beautiful to bizarre, worth the stop if you are near Corona del Mar, Ca. See you there? Click pic to link to site.