Halloween 2025: Pumpkins On a Porch and Cigar Time

 Friday, October 31, 2025

Set the jack-o-lanterns out on the porch. 

Stepped outside for a morning cigar. Wore my cowboy hat which is the closest I came to wearing a costume. 

Came inside and watched The Invisible Man with Dale. Una O'Conner screamed through much of the movie.  Gloria Stuart from Titanic played the female lead. 

After that I headed to Walgreen's to pick up some Halloween candy for tonight. They didn't have much left! After that I had lunch with Heidi and Ellen at the Malt Shop. We reminisced about school days, ate burgers and fries...

...and shared a pumpkin malted milk. BTW, I told Heidi and Ellen about my recent pumpkin carving experience with Ada and Bran and how they didn't wanna scoop out any of the goop. Heidi told me when her kids did that when they were younger she told them they didn't get to carve a pumpkin. I'm basically with her but we did acknowledge that we're more understanding now of people having sensory/touch issues. 

Halloween 2025: Pumpkin Carving

 Friday, October 31, 2025

Pumpkin carving this morning. 

I carved not only one....

...but two!!!

Listened to my classical Halloween music collection. 

I don't think I've ever carved more than one in a year. This year I've done 4 if you include the two I did last night.

Happy Halloween

The Nightmare

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Watched Nightmare on TCM tonight while eating dinner. Their website describes it as follows, "Janet is a young student at a private school. Her nights are troubled by horrible dreams in which she sees her mother, who is in fact locked in an insane asylum, haunting her. Expelled because of her persistent nightmares, Janet is sent home when the nightmares continue."

Never seen this Hammer Studios film before. Creepy, atmospheric, and quite a lot of fun. 

One day to go. 

Pumpkin Carving

 Thursday, October 30, 2025

Gym this morning with Dale. Afterward we went to the Howe for lunch where I got an Old Fashioned. 

I had mac and cheese and Dale got a sandwich. 

Afterward I took Mom shopping to help her pick up some things. I got some orange and black ribbons I'm gonna use to make something. 

Breanna from next door invited us over to help with pumpkin carving since Josh is out of town. Ada wanted to make a pumpkin fairy house but had a meltdown when Breanna didn't draw the door just right. She stormed inside and locked the door so Breanna couldn't get inside. Dale had to go get the key we have to their house. Breanna went in and found Ada hiding under the bed. She said she didn't hear Breanna knocking on the door. Breanna explained that Ada had had a tough day at school today. She wore her princess dress and a crown to class but somehow the crown got broken. The teacher sent a note home about some other drama that had occured during the day involving Ada. As a teacher I know how high emotions can fly during these holidays. 

                       

Bran designed a skull for his pumpkin. Breanna drew it on with a sharpie and I helped clean out and carve the pumpkin. I think it turned out pretty well.  

Anyway it ended up being a lot of fun despite Ada's drama. I think the fairy house turned out pretty well. 

Breanna carved the bottom pumpkin, Dale the middle, and I the top. Ada plans on decorating it tomorrow with leaves and twigs and some other such growth she had gathered.

One day until Halloween. 

Ghost Stories by M.R. James

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

I've read a few ghost stories by M.R. James this month. The first, Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad is actually one I've read before. In it, a professor on holiday finds a whistle on the beach and blows on it resulting in the unfolding of a series of mysterious (and creepy) events. One of my favorites. 

The next, The Residence at Whitminster, was new to me. The story is about two different periods of time separated by about a century which are connected by a haunting. 

The third story, An Episode of Cathedral History, The story involves a cathedral's renovation, during which workers uncover a hidden altar-tomb that has been sealed for centuries. Of course, creepiness ensues. 

Common elements in M.R. James's stories include a scholarly or antiquarian protagonist, settings in ancient English or European locations like villages, universities, or abbeys, and a plot where the mundane is disturbed by a supernatural entity after the protagonist interferes with something from the past. 

I love his stories because they build slowly with an increasing sense of growing dread before a chilling, often malevolent, manifestation appears. They also have many of the characteristics of a good mystery. 

Changing Leaves

 Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Many trees are looking beautiful. Lots of shades of yellow, orange, red, and rust. 

For every Halloween I remember the leaves have been down. Dale says I'm remembering incorrectly and that leaves have lasted past Halloween more often than I think. He's probably right. Anyway, I don't believe they'll be down in time this year. 

More Signs of Halloween Around the Neighborhood

 Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Back in my day we'd tape up Halloween pictures in our front windows and set up a few Halloween tchotchkes in the house. I don't remember yard displays. 

Now folks decorate their front yards as much as they do for Christmas. Halloween decor has really become a cottage industry. 

The above two photos are from a yard over by Lake Harriet. I have to think the big guy would take up a lot of storage.