Like an apparent many other people, I was walking my local mall yesterday and was immediately drawn into Yankee Candle Company by the large store front display featuring the dancing bride and groom from their Boney Bunch Collection. Inside, I looked around, and found a number of candles, candle holders and other goodness that appealed to me- but no dancing couple. Not thinking much of it, I decided I'd check the company's website when I got home.

I did, and found that these guys are all sold out. The Yankee Candle "Boney Bunch Wedding Dance Taper Holder" is so sold out that any trace of the item has been taken down from their website (though their picture was part of the display on their front page as of last night.)

Surely, I thought, I can grab a set of these guys off of eBay. However, a quick search finds that the cheapest available is a somewhat heafty $59.99, and there are a host of stories about people paying upwards of $150 a pop.

So what is it, exactly, that makes this piece so appealing? Upon first glance, the two instantly reminded me of Tim Burton's "The Corpse Bride," but at the same time appeared to be something entirely new based off the ideas in the film. Personally, the dancing dead skeleton bride and groom gives an impression of a seemless, timeless union of vintage and new age Halloween decor.

If you're finidng yourself disappointed and unable to pick up the groom and bride, there are plenty of other interesting pieces as part of the set, such as "The Boney Bunch Farmer and Wife Taper Holder."

...like the most wonderful time of the year.

Kirkland's sent out an emailing this afternoon highlighting several Halloween items:

• Spooky skull
• Halloween wine glasses
• Pumpkin cage with mosaic
• Rubber pumpkin mat

Looks promising!

Yesterday morning, my Wilton Halloween Metal Cookie 18 Piece Cutter Set came in the mail. The 5.4 x 5.6 x 5.8 inches ; 9.4 ounces set can easily be found online for $8, and I found mine on Amazon.

The cutters are a small, average size, but 18 shapes for under 10 dollars is a steal. The shapes are pretty well-rounded, as well. It includes a witch, pumpkin, cat, coffin, maple leaf, house, apple, witch's broom, tombstone, moon, candy corn, bat, ghost, spider, spider web, Frankenstein, oak leaf, and cauldron. The only thing really missing is a vampire or Dracula cutter. I know how difficult that cutter might be, but I would think it can be done. So far I've only found an older, vintage and therefore higher priced 3-D cutter on eBay, which was nearly as much alone as this set of 18 was. I can't wait to use this set.

My pumpkin patch is continuing to bloom. The patch continues to spread outward, and vine both out and up. Flowers are blooming everywhere. This weekend I am going to build a shelter for the top, to protect the patch from too much sunlight.

Apparently, I had know idea that this film existed until I found it on Amazon the other day looking for Halloween craft books. Bryan Singer produces, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox star in Michael Dougherty's "Trick R' Treat." First released in 2007, the film is finally, two years later, coming to DVD October 6, 2009. Trailer below. The imagery in the trailer alone is enough to get ridiculously excited about. And the film has the amazing Anna Paquin of HBO's True Blood and an army of fan reviews claiming this to be the next big cult classic. All I can do is pray that I'm not disappointed and wait for October 6 to come. And there's also a production book with similarly glowing reviews.

Here's a description from Netflix:
"The usually boisterous traditions of Halloween turn baleful, and everyone in a small town tries to survive one night in pure hell in writer-director Michael Dougherty's fright fest. Several stories weave together, such as a loner fending off a demented trick-or-treater's attacks, kids uncovering a freaky secret, a school principal -- who moonlights as a serial killer -- poisoning his candy, and more. Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox star."

I got to thinking about Halloween today, and the specials I used to watch as a kid, have my parents tape for me, and watch over and over again. Remembering a song that went something like "Witch, magic, Halloween" and trying to find that anywhere online, I came across "Disney's Halloween Treat" on YouTube, which was first broadcast in 1982. The graveyards and skeleton dance in here truly helped shape my perception of and love for October 31- and watching these clips take me back. The first video here is a remastered version of the beginning. And here is the whole special, of much lesser quality and divided into several parts.

My pumpkin patch is flowering. What was once a very small plant from Lowe's has taken over its small portion of the yard. It seems to be shooting out more each day, and I was very happy to see the orange flowering beginning this week. My patch seems to be getting all the sun it needs (I hope, this is my first time growing them.) I haven't ventured out to Lowe's or Home Depot again yet for the fertilizers everyone recommends-- perhaps that's something for this weekend.

Here's a fact sheet for growing giant pumpkins in the home garden from The Ohio State University. And everything you ever wanted to know from The Pumpkin Nook.

And, yes, I plan on sitting out there on Halloween night waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Also, I just realized that my last post actually features a picture of a ghost upon the floor.

This is the mat I found at Kirkland's in the mall for $10. I also signed up for their email mailing list while there, and have gotten a few since then, but none October/Halloween-themed. I also didn't find anything on their linked website at http://www.kirklands.com/.

They also had several hand towels with pumpkins and witches, and a glittery small pumpkin (maybe '10 tall, 1 or 2 wide) decoration.

I miss October. When November 1 rolls around, and the last of the discount sales have ended, giving way for the endless, instant parade of Santas and reindeer and Snowmen that December brings, I get a little sad. Since childhood, I have loved Halloween. All things October. The fall, the harvest, the cooling weather the colors bursting on the trees. Coming home with some apple cider on a cool, breezy fall night to watch a black and white Boris Korloff as Frankenstein's monster on TV. I can't explain it, but there are so many of us out there, who love the orange and the black and the telling of ghost stories.

So. I decided to start a blog for myself, keeping track of all I see and do throughout this Halloween season, which has already officially gotten underway. It's August, and the first piece of the season I saw two weeks ago was in Price Rite, a simple stack of 2 Musketeer boxes with a greenly lit nighttime scene of a gate and castle. And a week and a half ago, at Kirkland's in the mall, my partner and I found a Halloween display. I bought a door mat, which I will take a picture of and post.
Since then, I have been inspired. My holiday goals for this year are the usual decorating and pumpkin carving, as well as my new goals of baking dozens of Halloween cutouts and growing my own pumpkin. I plan on documenting all of this here.
I had wanted to name this blog "Midnight Dreary," a phrase from one of my favorite, not neccessarily Halloween-related poems, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." However, that name was taken; so, upon scanning the poem, the phrase "wrought its ghost upon the floor" struck me and reminded me just how beautifully woven Poe's words in the poem are. And so you have it.
Happy Haunting.