Halloween 2023

The Little Pumpkin Carver

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RDP Daily Prompt: SPOOKTACULAR
This October I had the best, the most spectacular Halloween EVER.
I had my first Halloween as a ” Lola ” ( Filipino kids call their Grandmothers  “Lola ” ) with my Granddaughter Jemma .
My son Julio, his Fiance’ Nicole and Jemma drove to Beaver Dam and saw two incredible Halloween displays. We went to Jemma’s school for her a Halloween Party and a Dance and Fox Lake hosted their yearly “ Fall  Spooktacular” in downtown Fox Lake,  so even though it wasn’t Halloween yet, I got to take Jemma trick or treating after all.
She dressed up as ” Sally ” from A Nightmare Before Christmas.

Jemma as Sally
Photo A.M. Moscoso
October 2023

But I would have to say, the biggest kick I got was watching Jemma carve her pumpkin.

She passed up a cat pattern, a traditional pattern for a ” Puke Pumpkin ” and then she went about carving it.

She asked for a big knife but of course she got the small one that came in the pattern kit.

That didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy that first cut with her little saw- she didn’t look pensive when she started to carve- she kind of a had a smirk on her face and I know it was smirk because my son, Julio, had the same look before he pulled one of his stunts as a kid.

Jemma and Julio
October 2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso

Once she started to carve, she really got into it.

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Julio and Jemma
October 2023

When she was done she jumped up, grabbed the pumpkin by it’s stem and she yanked the top off-  she really enjoyed that. I mean, she enjoyed it a lot.

Jemma
October 2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso

Jemma with her future ‘ victims’.

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Jemma
October 2023

I’ve written at least a dozen stories about pumpkin carvers who enjoy their craft a bit to much and I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that in real life, one of those carvers is someone close to me:

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Jemma
October 2023

Happy Halloween- I hope you will have as much fun as I did !

anita

I Only Need One Wish

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Mischief Night, 1994 by Andrew Wyeth 

On the night before Halloween-

If a Witch were standing outside my window- and she was dressed from head to toe in black, if she were holding a broom in one hand and sitting on her shoulder was a cat named Harley and she said she was there to grant me three wishes, what would I ask for?

Why. That’s Easy Peasy.

I’d ask her to fly away with her cat to my neighbor’s house down the street and I would wish that she would offer my remaining two wishes to her instead.

Then I would steal down the street, shrouded in the Witch’s shadow, to my Neighbor’s house and I would watch her gobble up those two remaining wishes without chewing on them- she would just swallow them whole.

Wishes taste like caramel- something about that burnt sugar is irresistible to the tongue and people devour them before they wrapper is even off.

Maybe a few hours later, maybe a month later I would watch those two poisoned wishes blossom and bloom- and as they did I would hear a voice at my shoulder say, ” Oh you are a wicked thing, you are a crafty little devil you. ”

And I would reply indeed I am I am a wicked little thing and a crafty   Devil to boot and all of us know that  Mischief Night isn’t just a date on the calander- it’s a way of life.

Happy Halloween!!!

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Happy Halloween Everybody!

 

The Window

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For Experience Writing: If These Bones Could Talk

The Odiham pest house, which dates from the early 1620’s is unusual in that it was built in the south west corner of the churchyard of All Saints Odiham- Photogrpaher Unknown

It’s not the poor Souls who were left in the Plague Houses to die without the comfort of their family- their beloved dogs or cats or even something as simple as having the comfort of facing the dark unknown from their own beds that haunt me.

The idea that haunts me is that there is a Plague House ( or pest house ) that was built in the corner of a churchyard near a cemetery.

Instead of the dying drawing solace from knowing that just outside their windows, on the other side of their bedroom wall was their world and it was close enough to touch- and that maybe, just maybe they might be able to go back it.

In that world they had gardens, maybe their best friend lived next door, maybe their first love lived a few houses down, instead of those comforting thoughts, all the residents of the Cemetery Pest House knew for certain was that on the other side of that wall was a cemetery and that in time, that was where they were going to be moved.

The only thing on the other side of their walls now were boxes of bones covered in dirt and dead flowers.

I’m not sure whose idea it was to build the Pest House near a cemetery, but I  wonder why- of all things- did it have a window over looking  a graveyard.

The Odiham pest house, which dates from the early 1620’s is unusual in that it was built in the south west corner of the churchyard of All Saints Odiham