Another Halloween has come and gone, and until last night, this year’s experience
was lacking. It did not matter that I have attended a number of Halloween related
activities this past month, I still felt like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin
to rise out of the pumpkin patch and as the night ends he is disappointed.
Not that I have been disappointed in Halloween in recent years, au contraire,
mon amies! This years "lack" of Halloween spirit was decidedly due
to a lack of GoatMan Hollow.

I was up and down whether or not I would make the trek to Riverdale, to the
home of two of the GMH founders for an elaborate yard haunt for trick or treat.
Part of me almost gave into the "Don’t want to deal with the traffic hassle"
and then, the part of me that LOVES Halloween more than any other holiday woke
up, kicked me in the pants and got me moving. I am so glad that part of me
prevailed.

Having glimpsed the yard haunt setup on Saturday at the Wright Manor Halloween
Party, I was wholly unprepared for the gloriously eerie glow from 50+ carved
pumpkins gracing the front lawn. The front porch was festooned with spider
webs and a mechanical ghost, wailing and floating, complete with chains a-clanking;
amazingly realistic thunder and lightning and spooky music set the tone for
the truly brave to traverse the path to the front porch where one had to reach
into a real coffin filled with a corpse, to get the Halloween treat. The yard was populated
with zombies, a pirate, a cannibal, a demonic scarecrow, dueling witches, Shaggy-Do
searching for his faithful companion Scooby-Do, a priest, a mummy, demons and
oh yes…THE GOATMAN! All these people, there for one thing: to scare the pee
out of unsuspecting trick or treaters, and of course, their parents.

It was such fun watching my friends delight in scaring the neighborhood
well past 10 pm. I would guess-timate that over 700+ people came by last night.
Numerous photographers came by to capture the moment – I hope someone will share
their images with us. One pal who arrived late was envious of not being a part
of the revelry, ran home and threw on a quick costume to join in the fun. Me,
I’m not the acting type – I’m more the behind the scenes sort of person – I
like to help keep things running smoothly. I chose to keep the candles in the
pumpkins lit -in the thick of things, yet, (I hope) unobtrusive, but helpful.
And that closes out Halloween 2005 – the promise of what it could be – fulfilled.
For me, it’s the camaraderie of haunters creating the scare and then seeing the joy and terror as the scare happens. Boo, everbody! Boo!

GHOSTS

I am almost afraid of the wind out there.
The dead leaves skip on the porches bare,
 The windows clatter and whine.
 I sit here in the quiet house. low-lit.
With the clock that ticks and the books that stand.
Wise and silent, on every hand.

I am almost afraid; though I know the night
Lets no ghosts walk in the warm lamplight.
 Yet ghosts there are; and they blow, they blow,
 Out in the wind and the scattering snow.-
When I open the windows and go to bed,
Will the ghosts come In and stand at my head?

Last night I dreamed they came back again.
I heard them talking; I saw them plain.
 They hugged me and held me and loved me; spoke
 Of happy doings and friendly folk.
They seemed to have journeyed a week away,
but now they were ready and glad to stay.

But, oh, if they came on the wind to-night
Could I bear their faces, their garments white
 Blown in the dark around my lonely bed?
 Oh, could I forgive them for being dead?
 I am almost afraid of the wind. My shame!
That I would not be glad if my dear ones came!

-Fannie Stearns Davis

As always, when it’s Tricks or Treating season, I am excited. So far this
season my Halloween activities have been or will be:

• Attended 2 haunted attractions –Eastern
  State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and Bates
  Motel in Gradyville, PA (October 1)
• Watching a bunch of horror flicks – most recently Tim Burton’s
  Sleepy Hollow (by far one of my favorites)
• The good doctor and I are going to Psychic Ghost Theater on the 22^nd, the rest of GMH will go the night before.
• Attending a dress up Halloween Party at Wright Manor on the 29^th
• Yard haunt on H-Day
• Missing GoatMan Hollow while it is on hiatus as we build a new, bigger,
  scarier haunt for 2006.

I’m pretty excited about attending a real live Halloween party and it’s the
first time since at least 1997 that I have dressed up. My last costume (1997) was a twist on Edgar Allan Poe’s Mask
of the Red Death – instead of dressing as the ghoulish male Red Death, I
festooned myself as the ghoulishly glamorous Madame Red Death. Most people
did not understand who/what I was, but I mark that down to the crowd I was running
with at the time.

There was some thought to manifesting myself as a Scorpio, but I was never
very satisfied with what I found online for pre-made scorpion legs (or spider
legs for that matter). My costume is a symbolic translation of who I am,
especially in regard to GoatMan Hollow. Although, the costume is available
in some very cheesy interpretations online, I was able to develop a costume
more fitting to my tastes. The last piece of the costume is a gorgeous leather
mask by renowned mask maker, Vincent Ur.
I wasn’t sure if there was enough time enough to get what I wanted, but I
received word that I want is available and will be the piece de resistance
of the entire costume.

It’s time to get into the spirit of the season – what Halloween activities are you going to do? Going Trick or Treating? Dressing up if so, as what? Carving Pumpkins? Going on a hayride – haunted or otherwise? Bobbing for apples? No matter what, be sure to enjoy the festivities all month long!

Dread Pirate Kidd

Like the famous Dread Pirate Roberts, I have a keen head for how to make a profit. Even though I’m not always the traditional swaggering gallant, my steadiness and planning make me a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Arrrr, in honor of this fine day, I have had the aforementioned pirate name bestowed upon me. You can get one too, and it will be based upon your particular peculiarities, and personal psychosis. Get your own pirate name from fidius.org. Anyway, everybody, I mean, come on me mateys, its talk like a pirate day! Arrrr!

I could not pass without sharing this with you. This comment appeared on the Digital Haus Frau’s blog this week. While Delegatrix and I have been going through Weight Watchers, our attitudes have changed about being over weight. I have the greatest respect for the folks who REALLY – REALLY make an effort to lose weight and get in shape – I’m there, doing it. For me, the dieting is not so difficult, it is and always has been the working out that is difficult. The problem I have with folks are the ones who only give lip service, who make excuses about their situation and/or have just plain given up, because losing weight is hard.

My appreciation to the annonymous poster who submitted it – it took courage. My admiration comes from the stand point that I’m tired of people giving up, and then make lame excuses about why they are the way they are. I know why I gained weight, no excuses here – I was lazy, and I ate more than my body needed. Some folks would say that my personal standard of normal weight is unrealistic for most in society – and that many can’t achieve the lofty goals that I have set for myself. Understand this- I don’t hold the rest of the world to my personal standards – only myself. I don’t expect everyone to be as vain as I am. I do, however, expect people to care about themselves, to be healthy and not grossly overweight, by doing exercise and taking supplements like kratom capsules.

WARNING: This comment is rather vulgar in nature and brutally honest. It has been reformatted for easier readability. You have been warned.

“Bitch You’re FAT!! Fat people eat too much. I know… they’ll have a whole list of excuses, but when you get right down to it we large people LOVE to eat… Some people like to talk some BS about why they’re fat… Here’s some of my favorites…

1. It’s my metabolism. Quite right. It is your metabolism fatass. It’s not designed to eat twinkies for breakfast with a light smattering of bacon and eggs to follow, a chocolate bar on the way to work and a packet of Doritos with your Diet Coke at eleven, a cooked lunch with dessert, a few more chocolate bars in the afternoon between work sessions and a full cooked evening meal with dessert and ‘just a little snack’ before bed. Yup … that would be your metabolism.
2. I’m big boned. BITCH, Your bigASSED. The dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum have got big bones, the dog at the end of the street has big bone. You’ve got 206 normal sized human bones with a lot of fat on them. Not the same thing at all.
3. It’s glandular. Now I have to careful here … sometimes it is. And this rant doesn’t deal with serious medical conditions, so we’ll leave that one there. However – a little tip. If it is glandular, the cure ain’t Krispie Cream!
4. Fat is a state of mind. No it isn’t. It’s a state of body. Big, fat, eating happy ass bodies.
5. This isn’t fat – it’s water retention. Ya know what causes water retention? Salty peanuts, potato chips, and salted popcorn. Licking your fingers don’t help fatass. You know what I’m talking about.