Jack gets some air

Our friend Jack that I carved last Saturday was getting all moldy so I thought I'd let him go outside to get some cold, crisp air.

Doesn't it look like he's exhaling?

Haunted tour fundraiser was a spook-tacular success

On Saturday night Ralph and I volunteered for three hours outside a stately (and haunted?) Victorian mansion that is now a funeral home.


It was one of several stops along a Halloween-inspired haunted lantern tour through downtown Derby, Ct. 
We told a spooky story hat we read from a script given to us.
Hundreds of people - who paid $5 apiece - came to get spooked and learn local history.
I counted 20 tour groups, although I could have lost track, because I was getting rather punchy near the end of the event.
 

So does Ralph look kinda creepy here? I think so.
It was cold out there and the wool cape added a bit of a 'Grim Reaper' look, in my opinion...


We told the story of a young woman, Emma Schabert, who lived in the house with her first husband - who was 40 years her senior.
She and her brother were lucky enough to survive the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 after being rescued from a lifeboat by the crew of the Carpathia.
The question we posed was: would her wealthy husband, Rufus W. Blake, who owned the Sterling Piano Co. in Derby, be as lucky?

As the story goes, the couple was home one night playing cards when Rufus went upstairs and accidentally shot himself in the eye. He never regained consciousness.
Newspaper accounts at the time said his death was accidental. However, the "accident" left Emma a very wealthy young widow.


Coincidence? No one can say for sure.

But as the script we read says, "Someone in the house rests uneasily.  Footsteps are heard echoing through the building, cigar smoke is frequently smelled and doors open and close without explanation."


Hmmm... 

Before the tours there was a Jack O'Lantern contest. Guess who didn't win?

 BEFORE
AFTER

 

Bwahahaha ~ I've only carved three pumpkins in my entire life, so I'm not too skilled at it.

Pink is for Pumpkins

On Monday Allegra and I stopped over at a friend's house, and were greeted by these "gals" next to the front door.

Christine's creative teen-aged daughter painted and decorated the pumpkins.

I thought they were adorable and was happy I had my camera with me.

Didn't think to ask if she had painted them pink because October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month or because our community is going pink this coming week.

The Valley Goes Pink Week starts tomorrow...schools, businesses, and organizations have pink-themed activities planned throughout the week to benefit a $1 million fund-raising campaign to go toward construction of a breast wellness center. One town has its own group, and will give part of the proceeds from their events to national breast cancer research organizations.

I wrote a story for the paper about the pink initiative, which was published today, that you can read here.

Sepia scenes ~ kinda spooky, kinda friendly

I spied this guy last week displayed in the window of a local art gallery. The actual piece is painted in Jack O' Lantern orange, but I thought I'd give it a sepia bath.

Visit Mary T, our Sepia Scenes hostess, to see more sepia photos.

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ second submission

~ Pumpkins ~ Jack o' Lanterns ~ Hay Bales ~

Shadows!

To see many more shadowy photos, visit our hostess, Tracy, at Hey Harriet.

Thanks, Odat for the quizzes...

You Are

An Angry Pumpkin Face You would make a good smashed pumpkin.

What's Your Pumpkin Face?

Your Monster Profile

Demon Murderer You Feast On: Hot Dogs You Lurk Around In: Candy Factories You Especially Like to Torment: Groupies

What's Your Monster Name?

Warning: Watch out at the Halloween party

A woman got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the Halloween party alone.
He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed and there was no need for his good time to be spoiled by not going.
So he took his costume and away he went.

The wife, after sleeping soundly for about an hour, woke without pain and as it was still early, decided to go to the party.
As her husband didn't know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him. So she joined the party and soon spotted her husband in his costume,
cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with every nice 'chick' he could and copping a little feel here and a little kiss there.
His wife went up to him and being a rather seductive babe herself, he left his new partner high and dry and devoted his time to her.
She let him go as far as he wished, since he was her husband. After more drinks he finally whispered a little proposition in her ear and she agreed, so off they went to one of the cars and made passionate love in the back seat. Just before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away and went home and put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation he would make up for his outrageous behavior.

She was sitting up reading when he came in, so she asked what kind of time he had.
'I never have a good time when you're not there.'
'Then she asked,'Did you dance much?'
He replied, 'I'll tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Joe, and Bill Brown and played poker all evening.'
'You must have looked really silly wearing that costume playing poker all night!' she said with unashamed sarcasm.
To which the husband replied, 'Actually, I gave my costume to your brother, and apparently he had the time of his life.'