Category Archives: Hallpween Decorations

Adventures of a Pumpkin Grower: Harvest Time

Claude Rains, gardening, gardens, Halloween, Hallpween Decorations, massachusetts, Nature, New England, pumpkins, Sharon Yang, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,
My last post was about the denizens growing in my pumpkin patch.  Now, I can write you about the harvest.  I still have one large orange pumpkin on the vine, and two embryos actually got fertilized about a week ago-who knows if they’ll make it.  However, most of the others are now decorating my house!
Number One Son is here in the living room, decorated appropriately for Halloween.  He may not be the biggest of the family, but he’s the brave first to be fertilized and survive.  He’s right next to the television, so we can see him all the time.

 

 

 

Here is Number Two Son on the dining room table-another place that we spend a lot of time.  He’s a bit bigger than his elder brother, and he is strong and handsome.  You can also see he shares the table with a lovely striped gourd.  Each of these was the only survivor on its respective vine, but both do the mother plant proud.  They certainly fit nicely with the Halloween decorations, don’t they?

And speaking of handsome gourds in the dining room, here’s this gorgeous  melange of orange and green.  He’s a perfect fall color!  The first gourd on his vine grew for a while, but didn’t make it.  This chap grew up next, initially hanging from the fence where the vine had climbed.  His healthy form soon brought the vine down to earth.  Beautiful color and shape, wouldn’t you say?
I have already harvested three more orange pumpkins.  I suspect they are sugar pumpkins, but they are just too pretty to eat.  Two of them, I have put by the fireplace with a white pumpkin and a green striped one.  I think they make a neat combo.  How about you?

 

The white pumpkin was actually attacked by a grub and has a hole in it, but a little peroxide seems to have ended the invasion.  I put the side with no wounding out to face the world.  Good-sized guy, isn’t it?  When we harvested it, we found it also had a local root coming off the stem.  I guess that’s how it got enough nutrition to grow this big.

 

There’s also this good sized pumpkin or squash that’s green with stripes.  I don’t know what kind it is, but it sure is pretty.  Does anyone out there know?  I’d love to hear from you so I could find out what I have.  I wonder if there was some cross pollination that created a hybrid?

 

Remember the runaway/escapee?  That pumpkin grew into a real beauty.  There’s even an almost bluish cast to it’s white skin.  Is this a Lumina or  is it another breed of pumpkin?

 

Last but not least, remember I said I’d harvested three orange pumpkins?  Well, the third one is not on display at home. Instead, I brought it to the grave of my favorite actor, Claude Rains and left it as a token of esteem.  Presents you work to create yourself are usually the best!

 

Horrors of the Yang Manse

Autumn, Gothic, Halloween, Hallpween Decorations, pumpkins, , , ,
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So, last week, I showed you what the outside of the Yang House of Horrors looked like. party1 Here, I will give you some images of the interior decorations. How about a look at the evil bride who faced you as you ascended the stairs in the gloom of the evening?

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This creature looks especially scary, when you bathe her in a black light!

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Of course, when you look down the corridor, you want to be greeted and guided by Halloween denizens.party6

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, you defiintely need a comforting night light party20when you hit the bathroom on an eerie night like this.

 

 

 

We also have charming candles to guide you back down the stairs.party14

 

Watch out for otherworldly visitors peering in the window, maybe trying to lure you off to perdition. All I said to my friend Judy was, “Oh, Look. party18 There’s someone in the window behind you.” And this lost soul prompted a shriek from my pal. Judy still comes to my house, but she’s a little leery about glancing out the windows now.

The fireplace also has its share of holiday decor, including our home grown pumpkins! party16These bad boys/girls started growing as early as April and developed into lovely, strong pumpkins. We haven’t grown anything this big since we lived in Connecticut!

 

 

Now, my problem is going to be trying to measure dscn2498up to these decorations and those of years past. Ah well, who will I creep out this year? The trick is to place your creatures in shadows so that imagination does a large part of the work – especially when you hear sounds or glimpse preternatural beings in places where you wouldn’t expect them. Unfortunately, those kind of shadows don’t lend themselves to clear photographs, so they are hard to capture and present to you in pictures.

 

So, I’ll close with this goblin wishing you a fare thee well from atop his pumpkin throne! Enjoy your holiday, and be careful whom you invite to cross your threshold!

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Halloween, Yang style

Autumn, Cemeteries, Gothic, Halloween, Hallpween Decorations, New England, tomb stones, , ,
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I just got all the tombstones and a few  haunting creatures up in my front yard.  I still have to add several more supernatural visitors, but the eerie atmosphere is starting to coalesce.  Just to give you an idea of what things will look like, I’ll share with you some images from last year’s outside decorations.

cemetery4 Here’s a vertical shot of the graveyard in the front lawn.  Yang joined in the fun by getting the iron fencing and putting it up for me.  Mr. Bones there seems to be chuckling over something the ghoul in black just told him.  Did they see into the future for this year’s election?

I think this chap iscemetery3 recovering from one of the Halloween parties that I have every year.  Either that or he’s someone I caught plagiarizing.  See any red marks on him?

We also were visited by a few witches, ghouls, and demons, flying joyously on the fall winds.  Some of them are looking right at you,cemetery6 and they seem awfully glad to see you – for what reason, I’m not sure.  it’s probably not good for you!

 

 

Back to those pesky skeletons again!  They’re worse than cemetery5ants in the summer – and just as hungry.  Heh, heh, heh!

 

 

And lest I forget, Here are some shots of our homemade dancing ghosts!  cemetery8These guys (or gals) usually go up closer to Halloween because if there’s too much rain and wind the ground gets too soft to support them and they become staggering, collapsing ghosts.  As Quentin and Beth say, there’s  nothing worse than cemetery7when your ectoplasm starts to sag!

 

 

 

 

 

So, I’ll just close with this nice horizontal shot of the whole front yard, to let you drink in the entire spooky panorama.  Try not to be too scared as you drive up the street.  This year, I have even some new tomb stones!  It may not be Mt. Auburn or Hope Cemetery, but it’s home sweet creepy home to me!  cemetery1

Yang Speaks!

1940s mystery, Bait and Switch, cats, Dusty, Film Actors, Film Noir, Gothic literature, H.P. Lovecraft, Hallpween Decorations, Horror films, HPLHS, mystery, Smart-Talking Gals, suspense, World War II, , , , , , , , , ,

So, to keep you entertained while you breathlessly await the forthcoming blogs on my appearance at The Book Lover’s Gourmet and my adventures at the Shakespeare of America Convention in New Orleans, here’s a link to an audio interview with me by Pat Driscoll for The New Worcester Spy.  It contains more details on my interests in film noir and horror, on film and on the page, and even a little more on my background. Just click here.  It’s what Dusty would want! Dusty reduced1

 

 

Halloween on Beacon Hill

Autumn, Beacon Hill, Fall, Halloween, Hallpween Decorations, Trick or Treating, , , , , ,

This year, like many others, we went to Beacon Hill in Boston for Halloween.  I don’t know how many years the residents have been celebrating with elaborate, creative, undeniably SCARY decorations, but we have been enjoying their eerie creative edeavors for  close to ten years.  This year was, Wait For IT! – SPOOKTACULAR!  BeaconHill7Forgive my channeling Shawn and Gus from Psych.

 

 

 

The picture above doesn’t give you an idea of how packed the streets are with people of all ages, most in some form of costume.  You wouldn’t believe all the Imperial Troopers, Princess Leias, Spocks, robots, zombies, witches, vampires, Stay Puff Marshmallow Men, etc. we saw. The picture below gives you a better idea.

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That’s me in the gold coat and a sparkly green witch-hat fascinator.  The little kid in the tiger costume was too quick – I couldn’t take a snatch at her candy bag – Heh, heh, heh!

 

People also elaborately, artistically carved pumpkins.  Here are some of my favorites.BeaconHill8

You never knew what you’d see peering out a window

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or climbing out grates:

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arms, legs, projections of ghosts and zombie.BeaconHill12

 

 

 

 

 

All that tramping around worlds of terror BeaconHill5requires a moment to relax my tootsies.  I hope that hand coming out the window isn’t going to push me off the steps!  Or worse, grab something out of my wallet.

 

The prime display was in a courtyard between two buildings.  You need to stand in line to get in and look around.  BeaconHill9This family has projections on the walls, fake fog, human-sized creepy mannequins, and folks dressed in scary rat costumes (including one “caught” in a giant rat trap!)  Natasha and Rosalind would have been terrified! BeaconHill10These folks even give candy to adults!  Unfortunately, this was the last year they will be doing the super display.  Will someone else be able to “resurrect” such creative horror?

 

People giving out candy also get into the “spirit,” with elaborate costumes.  You see witches, mad scientists, zombies.  One year, a woman was Cruella Deville.BeaconHill14I love this woman’s Snow Queen or Fairy Queen ensemble – complete with a matching (real live!) poodle on her lap! She was kind enough to let us take her picture – and her dog agreed, too.

At the end of this journey into terror, we bopped down the street to our favorite restaurant Caffe Bella Vita.  It was fun seeing all the folks, young and old, pass by the window, some greeting Yang and I with mock threats of horror, while we returned the favor by responding with playful terror.  BeaconHill13As usual, Yang finished off my sandwich – my chai was all mine, though!  How do you like my little green fascinator? Can you see Yang reflected in the mirror, taking the picture?

 

 

At the end of the evening, we turned to a designated driver we found onBeaconHill1 Beacon Hill to get us home.  As the Three Stooges would say, “Nyaaaaaaahhhhh!”