Longest night of the year

I love wintertime in the Pacific Northwest.

It's peaceful, doesn't get that cold, and doesn't snow much, at least where I live.

My partner and I decided to celebrate the Winter Solstice by getting up before dawn to see where the morning would take us. We've caught sunrise on the solstice for the past few years, and unfortunately for us this was the first time it was too cloudy to catch the first rays sunshine.

It didn't diminish from the beauty and peace of our morning, however. We started by heading to our favorite park in Tacoma, to spend some time in the blue haze down by the waters of Puget Sound.

...And to watch the ferry cross silently to Vashon Island.

Then we hit the road as the day took hold, headed north to Seattle. Along the way, the sun broke through the clouds a few times, sparkling gold, with a faint rainbow guiding us.

The city lights through a blurry rain smeared windshield are no less beautiful.

The hardest decision we made all morning was which amazing breakfast sandwich shop to choose. We went with Biscuit & Bean because of their incredible biscuit & egg sandwiches.

Then we meandered our way through the hilly Queen Anne neighborhood to find the mini Rosebud Motel (of Schitt's Creek fame).

Later in the evening, we lit a ton of candles, spent time enjoying the darkness, did a Zoom chat with friends, and generally had a very relaxing time. My only disappointment is that the skies weren't clear enough to see the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Next time, perhaps? I wonder what eyes will be looking to those future skies.

Ho-Ho-Horrible Holiday Collection

Now that Xmas is officially one week away -

If you're tired of all the same old holiday crap, I've compiled a playlist of quirky, odd, unusual, kitschy, and some downright BAD Xmas tunes, videos, and miscellanea for your festive listening pleasure (???). I'm always adding to this, so if you have any weird crap to add, let me know!

Merry Scary Xmas

The geniuses over at Stiltbeast Studios posted a video tutorial to make a Christmas tree costume so you can scare the bejeezus out of unwitting passersby - watch til the end to see it in action!! Brilliant!

New scents for the dark winter months

Although I kinda have a love-hate relationship with Xmas, there are definitely aspects of it I love unapologetically. One is Xmas lights (no matter how gaudy, tasteful, or anything in between), another is holiday-themed scents. Of course, this means I indulge in candles, soaps, fragrance oils, etc. with my favorite cozy smells.

Earlier this week I swapped out my autumn-themed soaps for winter ones: Bayberry from Ocean Shores Soapworks (made in Ocean Shores, WA) and Fir Needle from Amy's All Natural (in New Braintree, MA).

I got the bayberry soap shortly after New Year's this year, when my partner & I took a meandering day trip out to the coastal areas of WA. The soaps at Ocean Shores Soapworks are a bit pricy, but they did have discounts on buying multiple bars and a freebie if you spent a certain amount. The bayberry bar was my choice, and I'd been looking forward to using it all year. It's very fragrant and lathers fantastically!

I purchased the Fir Needle bar from Amy's All Natural a couple months ago when ordering my annual Harvest Bar soaps. As with her other soaps, this one is SUPER creamy and lathery, with a soft pine scent enhanced with little specks of real peppermint leaves.

I highly recommend both soaps, and both companies have online stores. This year, I think it's more important than ever to support small business, so give them a try! I've linked to their shops above.

Shudder exclusive - 'Porno'

Partner & I couldn't decide what to watch last night, but ended up with this - it's been hyped as a dark comedy, plus the promise of gratuitous gore, sex, and demons sounded fun.

Based on other reviews I've read, people seem to either love or hate this film. I'm about right in the middle. It had some funny moments, some great gore FX, a few moments of hypnotic occult visuals, and it definitely went some places I didn't expect, so it wasn't entirely predictable - but the pacing was a bit strange, and I feel there was a bit of filler as well (the group of characters getting split up and looking for each other, over and over again, etc.)

Would I recommend it? Hmmm. Maybe? I definitely do not recommend if you're squeamish about mutilated male genitalia. It definitely has its worthy moments. I'll let you decide for yourself. Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 jackos.

[ 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃 _ _ _ _ _ ]

Turkey day weekend

I know 2020 Thanksgiving was supposedly gonna suck because we'd all been asked to socially isolate within our own households and not gather in big groups for the holiday, but I gotta say. I enjoyed myself a lot and I can't remember a more relaxing and chill T-Day 4-day weekend.

Picture this:

Super easy dinner, it's just the two of you. Instant, canned, and/or frozen-cooks-in-bag fare. Nothing fancy, but decent enough. I mean, as long as there's stuffing and green bean casserole, right? Plus, there's leftovers.

Pickles the cat doin' a THANK

"D'ya eat yet? No? Lemme fix you up a plate."

Then Saturday night Friend night: meta-dinner with the BFF - video chat + virtual sushi dinner in Second Life + real-life sushi delivered + Netflix watch party (Hannibal, for the 2nd time).

What a time to be alive.

Then, hopping in the car with your partner & chasing around fog til the wee hours in the muffled night, because why the hell not.

Then finishing this book, which you finally got around to reading, in the even later hours of the evening, and waking up tearfully and dreaming about Patti Smith & her life all night long, as if she made a psychic visit with you in the dream world.

Then waking up peacefully, and sharing a simple breakfast with coffee & some fancy pastries from a bakery in Seattle that your partner picked up the day before. And lounging around, and eventually making your way to a local park to walk around in the magical sunset mists.

And then, deciding to pick up a few groceries at Fred Meyer so you can come home, make a simple dinner, then watch a movie.

And then, deciding to take a pit stop at the cemetery where your partner's mother is buried, because it just feels like an opportune time and mood to do it.

And watching the foggy sunset over the town below, as Mt. Rainier watches all.

And then the moon rises, and that's something that the mountain & the moon have in common, is that you'll never cease to gasp in wonder whenever you see them. Even if that means you're a sentimental and/or romantic old fool.

* * *

I have very mixed feelings about this holiday - especially this year. But I am still grateful for many things. And I really enjoy winter in the Pacific Northwest and I'm looking forward to it this year.

Anaconda

For some reason we watched this last night and it was even more ridiculous than I expected.

Best part: J-Lo punching Jon Voight in the face, 10/10.

Rest of the movie: 6/10

[ 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃 _ _ _ _ ]

Sleepy Hollow hearthside vibes

This brief video shows how to make ginger cakes similar to ones that may have appeared in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, as they would have been made in the early 1800s. They sound like the perfect sort of thing to make for autumn and winter holidays.

Although, you should stay safe and celebrate at home this year with your quarantine companions rather than risk contacting/spreading Covid. Anyway, baking is one of those pandemic hobbies, right? Enjoy!

Spooky story for a rainy day

Halloween itself may be over, but we're still in the thick of the darker half of the year. Cuddle up with a cozy sweater and a cup of hot coffee and enjoy this ghost story, narrated by the legendary Jackie Torrence.

Halloween 2020 wrap-up

Well, it wasn't the ideal Halloween, but it certainly wasn't my worst one.

(screencap from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown")

Where I currently live, I'm already very limited on what I can do, re: decorating & stuff, anyway. We're in a small apartment near busy roads and we don't get trick-or-treaters. My partner likes Halloween, but not to the extent that I do. It's something I tend to revel in, while my partner just kinda goes along for the ride, but wouldn't put any effort into it otherwise.

Friday night I spent some time with friends back east on a Zoom chat to have a mini long distance Halloween/Samhain party & read Tarot.

On Halloween itself, we had beautiful weather; my partner & I got sandwiches and coffee and went for a walk.

Stunning foliage in Wright Park, Tacoma WA

The mountain was out!

Other stuff that I did over the weekend:

Carved a pumpkin
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Made a jello-mold brain
Stared at the full blue moon for a few zillion hours
Made barm brack bread
Lit LED candles on my ancestor altar

And that's about it for my Halloween weekend 2020.

I'll still be posting here, tho less frequently during the off-season.

Halloween memories

Things are pretty low-key here this year on the High Holiday, so I'm reminiscing about one of my favorite Halloweens & also one of my favorite costumes ever, the two-headed monster, back in 1995.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Cabbage Night

You can tell a lot about a person based on what they call the night before Halloween.

Well - at the very least, you might be able to tell where they might live in the US.

(photo courtesy of Pixabay)

Where I grew up in Connecticut, we called it Cabbage Night, but other regions refer to it as Mischief Night, Devil's Night, Trick Night, Gate Night, and more. It's a night of tricks before the treats -- around the time I grew up, it wouldn't be uncommon to wake up on Halloween morning to see evidence of minor vandalism, like broken pumpkins, toilet-papered trees, and smashed eggs. It's older tradition that is becoming far less common, however.

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

You can see an interactive/zoom-able version of the US map with regional terms for it here.

You can read more about the folklore and history behind Cabbage Night here and here.

What do YOU call Halloween eve?

Halloween ambience

Are you in need of a little something extra to amp up your Halloween mood? I have compiled a playlist of 80+ autumn, haunted, and Halloween related ambience videos on Youtube.

These would be great as a background for a party, or while carving pumpkins, or whatever! I am always adding to this list as I find new videos, so continue to check back on this playlist.

My favorite haunted attractions - Haunted Happenings in Hartford, CT

In this post about my favorite Halloween/haunted house attractions, I'm featuring one in my top 3:

Haunted Happenings in Hartford, CT.

T H R O W B A C K T H U R S D A Y

TBH, for me, Haunted Happenings was one of the best things that happened in the 90s.

In the mid-90s, Hartford-area millionaire and philanthropist Arnold Chase got to live every home-haunter's dream - he loved Halloween and had the means to build the haunted attractions of his dreams without limitations. It was a pure labor of love for him. He had done haunts at his own home for about 10 years until the crowds became too large. His first off-home Halloween event that was titled as Haunted Happenings was in an old roller skating rink in East Hartford in October of 1993.

(I didn't go to that one, so I can't speak to what it was like or how good it was, and internet searching brings up almost nothing about it other than it existed: no pictures, no video, no news articles describing it.)

In October of 1994, also the first year I went, the Haunted Happenings I knew and loved so much was relocated to the former luxury department store G. Fox, an historic 11-storey Art Deco building that was a crown jewel shopping destination for not only Hartford but the entire state.

As I mentioned above, Chase loved Halloween, had money, and wasn't afraid to spend it. I don't know how much he invested in the attraction, but the entire thing was filled with state-of-the-art animatronics, lighting, special effects, and costuming in an over 100,000 square foot space. Even by today's standards, this shit was amazing. Chase was far and away ahead of his time, and went to conventions like Transworld to find the best effects and people in the industry. He had a Hollywood/theme park caliber attraction in a relatively nowhere location on the east coast. Even today, Haunted Happenings (a name now used by Salem, MA as the title of their general Halloween season events) is ranked as one of the best and most influential haunted attractions to have existed.

The best and purest creations are the ones done for love and not money, and Haunted Happenings was a prime example. Chase took a personal interest in how the attraction was planned & built, and worked on some of the construction himself, as he had a talent for electronics. He didn't intend to make a profit from his event, instead using the attraction as a fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association, a cause near and dear to him as he and at least one of his children were diabetic. He also was one of the first haunt attractions to also offer a Christmas/holiday themed attraction the Nov/Dec after his Halloween event.

And the love & enthusiasm he poured into Haunted Happenings was obvious in the sheer explosion of attendees that came out to see it. My first time seeing it was in October of 1994, its first year in Hartford. It was early in the month, and my friends and I hardly had to wait in line to get in. Each time we went after that, however, there was a multiple-hour wait. (If only we had the contemporary timed-ticket admission system back then...) And of course, the info about the haunt was all word of mouth, no internet and social media as we know them today. It was just that amazing.

Here's some of the things I remember most about the experience:

When you arrive, your journey began queuing up outside. As Haunted Happenings got more popular, the line would extend down the whole block and wrap around, so you might be waiting awhile.

(huge skull hanging on the side of the building's exterior)

Once you make it into the building, you find yourself in a wide open area with massive pillars, the remnants of G. Fox's glory days. It has that odd, eerie feeling of an abandoned building, even though there's a lot of activity bustling around you. Rumors abounded that the building was actually haunted, for real; I could absolutely believe it. When it's finally your turn to enter the haunted house, you're taken down an escalator to a lower floor by your group's tour guide, who remains with you throughout your journey. I don't remember these in the correct order, but some highlights are:

A "subway" ride with a simulated train - basically, a facade that looks like a subway car, but rocks back & forth to make you feel as though you've gone on a journey
A mine shaft full of black light with shifting floors and neon glowing orange ceiling supports that moved as though everything was about to collapse on you

A catacomb with glass floors, showing the restless dead writhing below your feet
A mad scientist/Dr. Frankenstein-esque character with real Tesla coil, Jacob's Ladder, plasma tubes, and other electric effects, plus realistic monster animatronic
A cornfield full of scarecrows and animatronic werewolves that would jump at you
A medieval style torture chamber
A gory dinner/cooking scene
Gas chamber and electric chair execution scenes
Copious amounts of fog machine fog - ahhh, how I'll always love that scent
Few, if any licensed characters - everything was original.
And -- the best ending to a haunted house that I've ever seen. The tour seems to come to an end and your guide brings you to the elevator to bring you back up to ground level. However, once activated, the elevator begins to shake, and the room around you crashes and bangs as though you are plunging down the elevator shaft, the emergency lights are flashing and alarms blaring. Suddenly it stops, and the doors open to reveal a vast red room: you've arrived in HELL with the devil there to greet you. THEN you're finally lead back upstairs, where you can peruse their well-stocked gift and Halloween costume & prop shop before you leave.

There were definitely tons more scenes and details that I'm forgetting, no doubt. Most of our visits there ended in a night of drinks and pub food at the now long-gone Brown Thompson bar & restaurant, which went out about the same year Haunted Happenings did.

Sadly, Haunted Happenings lasted only four years. Halloween 1997 was its last run (also the last of Chase's holiday attractions, too). The city of Hartford had made a deal around that time with a development firm which had plans to renovate the G. Fox building into other businesses. Chase hoped he would eventually be able to continue at another location, but that sadly never came to pass. All of the Haunted Happenings assets were eventually sold at auction.

Weirdly, a video surfaced last year or so, labeling itself as an auction video, but has (very low res) video that's almost a complete walkthrough of the entire tour - which you can watch below. It also contains TV spots and ads for it at the beginning of the video. Needless to say, I was pretty much beside myself when I first found it - so many great memories.