We have four days off to prepare for Halloween. We should go to Diane’s garden one of those days, but as I begin this post on Sunday night, I have so much left to do and am so tired that I don’t think we will make it. Then right after Halloween, Allan is selling his boating book at a holiday bazaar, with only part of Thursday to work before he has to help set up. Therefore, I guess that we are having an almost mini vacation.
You still have time to go see Allan at his table today or tomorrow (November 2&3) at the holiday bazaar at the Ocean Beach Presbyterian Church, 5000 N Place in Seaview.
Saturday, 27 October 2018
All weekend long, from the midmorning moment when I read the news of the synagogue murders in Pittsburgh, it felt peculiar and trivial to be preparing for Halloween. And yet I did.
I woke up early with the feeling of much to do. I do not know how we used to pull together the Halloween corridor of spooky plants in just two days. The weather forecast is for rain, so I had decided we would have the trick or treating in the garage; if we can’t be outside, the front porch is way too small for the number of folks coming to the party that Tony and Scott are hosting here.
Yesterday I had a delightful brainstorm of turning the garage into a haunted forest grotto…with plant material in buckets of water so the buckets won’t tip over…and lining the driveway with plant-y stuff stuck into big pots with potting soil in them to hold the branches and stems steady.
I did not think of the potting soil idea till today so Allan went off to buy some (and pumpkin pie makings). On the way, he delivered a bouquet to Jenna, who is having a ghost event at Salt tonight.
I also asked Allan to get me some autumn leaves because I have an idea.
I started to set up buckets and fill them with water. I put some plant stuff in the pots on one side, and in pots and buckets outside when Allan filled them with soil. I was afraid the water would get stinky in four days and yet I could not wait…
I like the garden to be wild and tall in the winter. Since I began decorating for Halloween with plant stuff, I have to clip more tall perennials down than I would like.
Next door, Jared and Jessika have one big ghost. That is easier than my obsession with my Corridor of Spooky plants.
I went inside in the late afternoon with three hours to spare to finish my four part Smoky memorial blog. I had to finish 2016, and then do 2017. In the process, I deleted almost 13,500 extraneous photos from my iPhoto. Blog fodder photos are not all keepers, and I wish I had the discipline to delete the narrative flow photos daily.
We had promised to go to Jenna’s evening event. At the very last minute, I uploaded some late October Smoky photos, in tears at the end of his life; I still had more to add from September and October of that year. I could hardly bear to leave my computer.
Salt Pub, Ghost Adventures
We were later than we should have been and had to sit in back, even though it was 45 minutes till the pre-show started. Our Jenna had appeared as a historic figure in the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures series in a four parter set locally, called Graveyard of the Pacific. Her episode took place at the North Head Lighthouse a couple of miles from home. You can read all about it here.
Ghost stories preceded the show. The first one was told by a woman in a cat costume about being visited by the ghost of a beloved cat. I was in tears again.
Heather’s was a true tale about crows and was my favourite story other than the kitty. She put out some artificial crows as a last minute Halloween decoration and rushed to buy some candy. When she returned, her roof and trees were full of 300 crows, come to check out the “new” ones.
During the show, we were offered the chance to play a bingo game based on the television stylings of Ghost Adventures.
Let me just say that Jenna and the other local actors were the best part…You can watch the show right here on youtube (while it lasts). Jenna brought a quiet gravitas to the role of a woman who by accident or on purpose went over the edge of cliff into the sea.
My mind wandered out the window when she was not on the screen.
I could watch in a television reflection floating over the marina.
At home after ten, I had to sit down and finish putting my photos in the 2017 Smoky story. I still have Allan’s to add tomorrow.
Spooky cool!
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Thanks!
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I love your corridor of spooky plants, and am looking forward to seeing your new halloween decor idea. A dry spooky plant grotto! What’s not to like!
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A lot of work for you. Halloween passed in the Tootlepedal household with not a sign of trick or treat or anything spooky at all.
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Jenna was the best part! Looking forward to seeing your Halloween grotto.
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Dia de los Muertos was yesterday, when I planted the Gladiolus papilio bulbs you sent me! I will be posting pictures on Six on Saturday next week! There were so many that they were planted in three groups of a dozen or so, with two smaller groups of half a dozen or so, and are right next door to the Post Office at work.
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Excellent! Great news!
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