Spooky Animated Halloween

If the Bates Motel* isn’t animated, click on it…

If you don’t see the horrifying specter in the cemetery above, click on it.

Sinister…

Even a happy jack-o-lantern is eerie…

Click on the pumpkin to be scared!

If there isn’t something terrifying in the upstairs window of the haunted house, click on it.

Have a Spooked Halloween! ←If you’re not frightened yet, click there.

*Disclaimer: the Bates Motel is from a postcard ©Universal Studios.

Harvest Time

Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest.
~Douglas Jerrold, 1803-1857

The harvest is really Trader Joe’s…

The “fancy” pumpkins…

The two I came away with…

Happy Harvest! And Happy Almost-Halloween!

In the Mood…

Okay, cemeteries creep me out a little but I know not everyone feels that way so I didn’t want this post to be unnecessarily spooky as that seems disrespectful. However, I, personally, would never hang out in a cemetery in the middle of the night alone or anything. Uh-uh. I’ve seen way too many movies that started out that way and ended badly.

This one is large and pretty and has an older (for Phoenix) section, which is where these photos were taken. Over 20 years ago, I lived a mile or so from this cemetery and occasionally rode my bike through it. There was a sign posted that it closed at either dusk or sunset, I can’t remember which. So one late afternoon, I was riding around and suddenly realized it was getting late. When I went back to the entrance gate, it was locked! And the fence was way too high to jump. I can’t tell you how horrified I was. I did get out a few heart-thumping minutes later after being toyed with by a couple of snarky guards driving by.

I don’t think I had gone back there until today…when I had my car and cell phone with me and watched the time carefully. The fact that I seemed to be the only one around did make me uncomfortable and I was glad to leave. Incidentally, the closing time is now listed as 6 pm which removes the ambiguity of dusk or sunset. And the fence is now definitely hoppable, if necessary. Maybe I wasn’t the only one trapped in there…that is spooky.

Oh, and the mausoleum with the barred window? Is that to keep someone in or someone out? And why does it seem to be a bit ajar?

If it makes you wonder, then Happy Early Halloween.

More Autumn Stuff

These petunias are on my front porch now. Remember when I posted the postcards I received as part of the Liberate Your Art postcard swap? Well, I exchanged a couple more photos with some other participants so I thought I would show them to you, too, since they’re so pretty.

This one above is from Natasha. She’s a henna artist and this is made with henna, can you believe it?

*Oops, see disclaimer below in the comments, I got it a little wrong.

Anna is a talented artist whose blog I’ve been reading for some time. Look at the beauty in those water drops.

This autumn equinox card is from my cousin, Deborah, and has a Mary Oliver poem inside.

I have autumn leaves in my yard, too…

…but they’re fake. I guess you knew that. Hmm, maybe it’s time for a little roadtrip up north? This should be peak fall color season up there.

This is the time of year our pomegranate bush has fruit.

I baked pumpkin bread…from a mix…that’s pretty good for me.

“We got a new rug and matching giraffe. Mom says it’s hers but we almost never see her laying on it.”

All the Cool Pollinators

…hang out in my lantana.

I finally was able to digitally capture one of the big orange butterflies I’ve seen swooping around our yard lately. And it wasn’t a Monarch, after all, but a Gulf Fritillary. I’ve photographed Variegated Fritillaries before but not this kind which, apparently, are not very closely related to the true fritillaries.

So, want to see who else has been dropping by the last few days?