Spooky Graveyard

When I was a child there were few outdoor Halloween decorations.  They were usually very simple consisting of Jack O'Lanterns, straw bales and scarecrows.  Nowadays there seem to be more elaborate displays, even out in the country.

We drove by a rather modest house with an expansive display of a graveyard.  There were ghosts and witches, skeletons, black cats and the Grim Reaper.  I stopped for a few photographs.

This is less than a fourth of the display area.

Several graves had been desecrated by spirits unknown.

This person definitely did not Rest in Peace as the tombstone says.

A ghostly carriage filled with frightening passengers

I wanted to take more photographs, but could see out of the corner of my eye a man coming out of the house with his little white dog.  He was walking toward the display.  I pretended that I didn't see him and quickly got into the car.  It's not that I am not friendly, but my husband was driving and we had errands to do.  I knew he would not appreciate waiting while the gentleman told me about every single display, where he got them, and how long it took to assemble.  And I just knew that was what he intended to do.  I felt terrible about it, even though I don't think he realized I saw him.

So we drove off without even telling the man how much we enjoyed his hard work.  Perhaps I'll go back out there this afternoon.  And listen impressively.

It's hard to think of celebrating anything when so many of our citizens are suffering.  We offer our thoughts and best wishes, and some money as well.  May their lives soon return to normal as they grieve their losses.

Downtown Festival

Not surprisingly, Transylvania County celebrates Halloween in a big way.  The day begins with the Vampire Run with most participants in costume.  And all day long there are vendors, games, contests, activities and music in downtown Brevard.  We especially enjoy watching the children, most of them in costume.

This guy was moving so fast I didn't catch his full photo but I thought it was a great costume.

Only the bravest would enter the toy store (O.P. Taylor's) underneath this giant spider.

One of many Batman costumes.  He was obviously delighted to pose.

John Deere tractors for tots.  This little guy didn't even ask anyone to hold his binky.

Hunger Games quests abounded.  (Much of the action was filmed in our county.)  This was an archery target as the children tried the Hunger Games survival tactics.

The Great Pumpkin Roll began at the top of Jailhouse Hill.

(Wouldn't they roll better if the stems were removed?)

Despite the many children's activities, this little toddler was content to play with one of the cones.

I couldn't help but wonder how one distinguishes the relevant truths from the non-relevant ones.

I should have attended the services to find out.

I love going to these small-town festivities.  The folks are always so friendly.  It's nice to live a town where  several blocks in the center of town are closed to traffic so the people can party.

Our thoughts go out to those affected by the monster storm that is hitting our eastern coastal areas as well as affecting even more of our country.  Our weather here has turned winter-like overnight with high winds removing the last of the autumn leaves.  Our dogs love it and we don't mind.

Stay safe, everyone.

Halloween in Transylvania

When your county is Transylvania you expect Halloween to be a big celebration.  And so it is.  The Halloween Festival brings vendors to our town in large numbers.  There are many activities for the youngsters and plenty of good food.

Saturday was the day of the festival this year.  Mother Nature did not cooperate.  The day was unseasonably cool and periodically the wind gusted to a miserable index.  Many of the vendors stationed volunteers to hold the tent poles when they took the tents down.  Scarves and other knitted or quilted items were removed from the displays before they blew away.  There were few children when we arrived and some of the vendors were deciding the sales would not be sufficient in this weather so they were packing up to leave.

The shops went all out with decorating and most of the shopkeepers were in costume.

 This is Jailhouse Hill.  Later in the day the children would roll pumpkins down the hill.  Most children brought their own pumpkins although some were available for purchase.

 Looking east on Main Street.  The crowds were sparse.

 The lanes were empty at the pumpkin bowling area.

 Looking west on Main Street.  Several vendors had already packed up to leave.

We did not purchase anything from the vendors this year.  We were sorry so many of our favorites were not there.  We were even sorrier that the children's fun was cut short by the wind and chilly weather.

It could have been a lot worse, though.  At least we did not have the paralyzing snowstorm that hit so much of the mid-Atlantic states.

Fridays are Golden

Our Ellie frequently walks around with two tennis balls in her mouth.  Lucy tries and tries to grab two of them at once.  She is never able to manage it.  Her head and mouth just aren't suited for carrying two tennis balls at once.  But that doesn't stop her from trying.

Ellie came upstairs with two balls and Lucy took them.  I could tell from the expression on her face that she was going to try once again so I grabbed the camera.

Watch this, Mom.  I'm gonna do it this time!

Lucy gets one of the balls in her mouth without much difficulty.

 OK  I got one of them.  Now for the other one.

 This is the tricky one but I think I can do it.

 Take the picture quickly, Mom.  I'm already about to drop one of them!  Hurry!

As soon as I took the photograph, Lucy dropped one of the balls.  She held the two of them for no longer than 10 seconds.  But by golly, she did indeed hold two at one time.

That wasn't too bad, Lucy.  But you really need to work on your form.  The balls should be held so that both of them are centered.  Like this!



Here we are near the end of October.  Sixty-four days remain in 2011 and then it will be gone.  But there is a lot of fun to be had before then.

We love Halloween around our house and we have plenty of tacky decorations.  One of my favorites is a fiber-optic scarecrow.  We've had it for years and each October we wonder if the filaments will light up for another year.  So far so good.



From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night,

 GOOD LORD DELIVER US!!!

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!

OK, We're Tacky Too

I mentioned that my neighbor puts a smiley-face pumpkin cut out (a LARGE one) by her mailbox every year and I think it is tacky.

I must admit she is not the only tacky person around.  Here are my two favorite tacky Halloween decorations.  But at least we keep them in our own house and not outside.

Not just a lighted ghost.  This beauty is a lava lamp.  When the light heats up the liquid, tiny swirls of goop move around.

And this scarecrow has been around for years.

Not just any scarecrow.  He's fiber optic.

He casts an eery glow when the room is darkened.

The next two photographs show just how tacky I am.  They were taken immediately after Monday night's game and are from the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel.  They have become my favorite photographs of Brett Favre.

Oh, yeah, Brett.  So sorry it was your passing that cost the Vikings the game.

No looking up at the Packer fans this time, huh?

I wouldn't be so hard on Favre if I hadn't watched his arrogant happy dance when he mistakenly thought he had thrown the game-winning touchdown pass.

We still have his personally autographed poster hanging in my husband's study.  However we give it a somewhat different salute than we used to.

Hold My Chicken Leg While I Burn This Bible

No Trick-or-Treating for these folks. At 7:00 on Halloween night members of tiny Amazing Grace Baptist Church in nearby Canton, North Carolina, will gather to perform an ancient (and illegal) ritual. You may have heard about them. They certainly have tried to out-Gosselin the Gosselins in attracting the media. Why, you might ask, are the Associated Press, national newspapers and television networks, and even the UK Telegraph, so interested in this little pastor and this little church?

Some call it the "Bonfire of the Profanities." Pastor Marc announced a burning of Bibles that are not the King James Version (KJV). He maintains that the KJV is the true word of God and that all other translations of the Bible are satanic. During the past month Pastor Marc and his followers have been gathering the "satanic" versions of the scripture along with sermons, books, and music they consider satanic as well. Writings include those by Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, the Pope. It might seem a bit strange to include Billy Graham since he is a very popular evangelical preacher from the NC mountains. However, he has occasionally used bibles that were not the KJV so his words have lost their Christian context. Contemporary Christian music will be added to the fire.

A scripture reference always provides the explanation for the actions. In this case, the church uses Acts 19:18-20 to justify their Bible burning. "And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed."

This photograph of the church is taken from their Web site:

http://amazinggracebaptistchurchkjv.com/Download99.html

This photograph is Pastor Marc in an interview with an AP reporter.

It is of note that this Bible burning celebration will include a fried chicken dinner with "all the fixin's." The visual of tossing a Bible into the fire while holding on to a piece of fried chicken is almost too much, isn't it?

---------------The bonfire is NOT open to the public. Only church members and others invited by the Pastor will be allowed to attend. Anyone else will be considered trespassing.

---------------While this post is written tongue-in-cheek, there is a serious part of me that is very frightened to be sharing my world with people who so fervently believe only they are correct.

---------------I feel the need to clarify a couple of things. For the most part, the citizens of Canton are just like the citizens of every other little mountain town. Secondly, this "Baptist" church is not a part of any other group of Baptist churches...it is yet another little independent church that names itself baptist. Anyone can start a baptist church around here...just find a meeting place, a preacher, and a couple of families and you have your own baptist church. Oh, you'll also need a collection plate.

Trick or Treat

We don't have trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. The houses are pretty far apart and the terrain is very hilly. In fact, we have no children living on our street.

Our neighbors have three young grandsons who visited on Halloween. So the neighbor called several of us to give us a "heads up" that the boys would be out trick-or-treating. They would come to our house last, since we are across the street.

I remembered our trick-or-treat days in which we covered a lot of territory and got a lot of candy. I realized these children would go only to six or seven houses and wouldn't have a lot of loot. So I purchased three large bags of assorted candy. Imagine the surprised looks on their faces when we dumped an entire bag of candy into each treat bag! It was priceless.

Ellie and Lucy were fascinated by the colorful costumes. They were very good girls and remained at a "sit/stay" while we distributed the treats. You will notice that Lucy (on the right) seems very interested in something around the door. She was looking at my husband who was getting the candy from the dining room table.

I love seeing children in their Halloween costumes, and I thought I would really miss trick-or-treaters. But you know what? I really didn't. There were no kids taller than I, no mothers with infants carrying treat bags for "the baby," and no more hungry looking children whom I wanted to bring inside and feed. No more parents standing in the yard grabbing a smoke, and no more carloads of children from other areas of the city. I'll be content to treat my neighbor's grandsons and call it a night.

Halloweenfest

The Halloweenfest is the biggest festival in town. That shouldn't be much of a surprise. After all, we are the County Seat of Transylvania County.

Saturday morning was drizzly and damp, but that didn't mar the festivities. We drove down early to see all the crafts and listen to the music.

This is Main Street, and booths line both sides of the street, as well as the intersecting Broad Street.


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This is Courthouse Square. We have lived here two years and both my husband and I have been called for jury duty here at the Courthouse.

You don't believe cigarettes are addictive? Even the black cat has to take a smoke break.

The owner of a shop called Hunters and Gatherers is dressed up for the occasion. She is dressed as a hunter, in case you didn't figure it out.

A local bakery had cookies for the children to decorate. Sometimes the parents were far more interested than the children.

We have a very large (and very fun) toy store on the Square. O.P. Taylor's has anything you or your child could desire.

A glace at the political booths gives a lot of insight into the politics of Transylvania County.

The Republican Headquarters was crowded with visitors all day. Interestingly enough, far more of the advertising was for govenor and Senator, with little mention of the Presidential race.

The Democratic Headquarters had far fewer visitors.

The two booths were directly across the street from one another. I was very pleased to see that there was no shouting, or disruptive behavior from the visitors to either booth.

Children lined up for the Old Time Fiddler's Contest on the Courthouse Square.

This little girl (who looked to be about seven) played a rousing "Orange Blossom Special" much to the delight of the crowds gathered to listen.

The "Little Blue Choo-Choo" gave rides through the streets. Here the engineer takes a little coffee break while an interested youngster checks out the train.

We did not stay around for the biggest event...the costume contest and parade. Last year there were 400 children who marched in the parade. We had a lot of fun and bought a beautiful bowl made from a cherry burl. We enjoyed chatting with the folks who were there and watching the children having so much fun. Just as we were leaving, the sun burst through the clouds and the day was perfect. We were glad the weather changed so the children could enjoy all the free activities planned for them. There are so many joys in living in a small town.