Screaming Pumpkins

There’s something about a smooth, dark organge and skull sized pumpkin that say’s  ” Halloween. “

And other pumpkins just scream:

Photo: A.M. Moscoso

Photo: A.M. Moscoso

Photo A.M. Moscoso

Photo A.M. Moscoso

Photo A.M. Moscoso

Photo A.M. Moscoso

These pictures are a few years old and I mention that for one reason.

I found these pumpkins in the Pumpkin Pile at my local grocery store- they were mixed in with regular looking Pumpkins.

People saw them in there and they were afraid to touch them- which was a relief to me because I got the best ones of the lot.

Sad to say, I haven’t seen these at my store since that year.

Some pumpkins have warts, but none looked like mutant pumpkins stolen by  the light of a blood red moon from a town that doesn’t show up on maps and populated by people who only roam the roadways that surround this nameless town by night.

angry

I hope your pumpkin hunting and pumpkin carving adventure is bone chillingly delicious

and

I hope your Pumpkins scream Halloween.

I know mine will.

amm

Apples, Muses and Me

caramel-apples-1_rs

I have a serious love of all things apple.

I love apples fresh, baked, candied (especially candied). I love apple juice, I love apple wine, I love the way they look and smell.

I especially love that satisfying crunch when you bite down into one.

Not only do they taste good they come with a story, a horror story to boot.

In the bible Adam and Eve bite into the Apple and  before you know it, they’re in Hell. A Devil is involved. Pain and suffering are involved. They realize they’re naked.

Because of an apple.

Don’t over think that here, this isn’t a bible class,  this is a story about Apples.

vonstuck

I remember when I was about 7 my Grandpa Bert said to me, ” You know how an apple a day can keep the doctor away?”

Actually, I did want to know. You hear it a lot when your either about to eat or are in the middle of eating an apple.

” You throw it at him really  hard”

I was probably mid-crunch when I looked up at Grandpa Bert and nodded. ” Okay. I can do that.”

He patted me on the head, smiled and walked away.

apple

Now that I have gone all around the apple orchard- this is what an apple a day has to do with writing daily.

I took part in this year’s Holidailies 2015 and YES I posted daily.

I took the challenge because I dropped the daily writing habit and in my opinion my writing suffered for it.

I played around on Facebook everyday, I managed to watch my favorite shows on DVD everyday, I managed to do a lot of other things everyday except for writing.

At one point I wrote that I treated my writing like a toy. I played with and at some point it rolled under the couch I didn’t bother to look for it. I  only ran across it when I  was looking for something else.

Sad to say, the apple bit me back.

appple2

There are a lot of good points to be made about writing daily, there are some great ones listed in this article:

Why You Should Write Daily

The most important one is this: when you do something everyday it becomes a part of your life. Not part of a routine, or a lifestyle, YOUR LIFE.

In my case, when I stopped writing I felt less…I felt less curious, less adventurous, less confident. I also felt a lot less interesting.

Something was missing  – and I’m pretty sure what I was missing was that part of me that sparks the rest of me to action, to life.

crossroads guitar

So this month-long project helped me to understand a few things, it opened my mind up to new possibilities I can take up with my writing.

I think  Muse is facepalming itself ( because I think my Muse is a male… that’s me…SWIM AGAINST THAT TIDE ANITA MARIE!) because I’m finally listening to it again.

It couldn’t have been an easy job to get my creativity back on track, to get the mojo working…TO GET ME OFF FACEBOOK FOR FIVE MINUTES.

But someone my Muse did it, despite having me to inspire.

I must have been like that rock Sisyphus had to roll up the hill … but I think my Muse did it.

He got me up to the top.

I also think if I roll back down again it will find a bigger rock and smoosh me with it.

Sisyphus by von Stuck

I learned something in December about me and writing.

It was well worth the journey.

So here’s to apples, Muses and dare I say…me.

amm

 

Three Little Things

:::HOLIDAILIES  PROMPT:::

For the next year, I resolve …

2016

I usually don’t get overly excited or sentimental when a New Year rolls around.

But for ’16 I’ve actually come up with some things I’d like to accomplish.

So here we go…

For starters, I want more sweetness in my life

redv

I don’t care if it’s food or the way I treat myself.

I want to be kinder to myself and to the people around around me.

But mostly myself I want to be sweeter to myself because I am so worth it.

Ha ha ha.

hauntedhouse2

I’ve got two writing projects I want to accomplish.

One involves my blogging- the other involves my book.

So that means between cupcake binges and getting my manicures and pedicures ( and I hereby resolve to do a whole lot more of THAT ) I want to focus, focus, focus on my writing.

I’m sure that one is on the top of my list and the reason why is simple.

I’ve seem a lot, I’ve done a lot and I have a lot to say.

And I love to tell stories, so this one should be do-able.

scary-mirror-1

I’m not sure if I hate mirrors or if I’m afraid of them.

It’s a little of both.

Mirrors creep me out.

So  this year I’m going to get over my hatred of mirrors.

I might even buy a few and pull my full length mirror out of my closet (it’s way in the back facing the wall ) and use it.

Baby steps. Baby steps. I’m not going to jump into that one fast.

children

So here I go into 2016 with three little goals.

It should be an interesting ride.

amm

2016

:::Holidailies Prompt:::

Recycling Christmas

gravediggers

Every Christmas and every New Years I go into the season thinking it’s time to make a fresh start of it- expand on the good things, toss out the bad.

Celebrate it all and  move into the New Year open to whatever comes my way.

take_me_home_by_imagicnationdesigns-d5o775e

Before she died my Aunt suffered from severe depression.

I remember I was watching her draw ( she was a very talented artist) and I was telling her how I was doing a lot of writing and I hoped to write books one day.

She looked so sad and she said, ” People in our family all had dreams and none of them ever came true.”

She died a year later.

That’s what her New Years brought her- despair, grief, sadness and death. I wish she could have known more then that in her 39 years of life.

When I think about ringing in the New Year, that anything is possible so why can’t that anything be great? I remember that last conversation with my Aunt and I wonder if I’m just fooling myself.

Is New Years is just another date that we face with all of the despair and pain and sadness from the year before. Or do we get a clean slate, a chance to start anew. 

I’m not sure.

I wish I was.

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