We miss October. We are two of those people who love the art of carving pumpkins and telling ghost stories over hot apple cider, and all the holiday brings. I started writing this blog for myself, keeping track of all I see and do throughout the Halloween season, and have been joined by my haunted friend What a Witch in our quest to live our upstate New York Halloween to the fullest. We document all of our Halloween projects, products and anything we can find related to October 31 here.
This blog is named after a phrase from one of my favorite, not necessarily Halloween-related poems, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."
Happy Haunting.
The show aired in 1992 for several episodes, and I'm sorry to say I never knew about them. These pictures, words and Big and Little Skeleton and their skeleton dog contributed much in my formative years to my love for what lies in the dark, dark, dark.
For a lovely spring afternoon, something to take you away to those cool, dark, flickering orange autumn nights.
An animated film by John McCloskey, a visual interpretation of Camille Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre." A special thanks to John at Season of Shadows for finding this.
This weekend, browsing the thrift store shelves, and after finding such wonderful things as Halloween Jello molds and a brand-new pumpkin soap dispenser, I found this face staring at me from a top shelf. Halloween was certainly not the first thing on my mind when I looked at her-- but an eerie sense of creepiness was. Her hands, twisted and slightly inhuman, were right out of Tim Burton's stop motion animation.
Soon, I came to realize that this bride rotates on her music box base, while Wagner's Wedding March plays. Yes, it crossed my mind to leave her there for someone who could use her for what she was intended.
But then I thought of all the fun we could have together, and how easily she could be remade into a corpse bride. I could age her dress and veil, give her black and/or dead flowers, change her face, hair or drape cobwebs from her. The possibilities, I'm sure, are endless, and I doubt I've even thought of half of them.
Ideas? Comments? Concerns? She has a tag which reads "Wedding March by Bradley." After a bit of Google researching, I have found that Bradley Dolls were made from 1954-1984, and included porcelain dolls (of which my Bride is not.) They appear to have a following, and remain inexpensive. A former Toys R' Us employee, to me they look like the Bratz Dolls' ancestors.
Here's a video in order to appreciate her in all her living, and likely soon to be undead, glory.
While searching YouTube, I came across episodes from the Welsh children's television series "Funnybones." Watching this jolted me through my memory to my childhood, when one of my most beloved picture books, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, were the "Funnybones" series.
