The Howling Torch

For today's countdown to Halloween's post, I am blogging about what is probably Wolfie's favourite Halloween toy. It is a sort of torch, or dynamo, which when you press it has a jack o'lantern that spins around emitting little flashing lights. Not enough to lit much, but anyway. It also has a scream that sounds a bit like a half plaintive, half menacing howl, as if the jack was warning you of his presence. I bought this torch at Morrissons (I think) and Wolfie adopted it as one of these fun toys that parents find extremely annoying. Unfortunately the globe already broke a bit and the lights don't work all the time. But he still likes to use it to scare his mother.

Halloween Gnome

Sometimes there are things I wish I could have bought and carried home when I saw them. It happened last year when I walked to the Morrissons near my then working place in my previous job (it seems like ages now). I used to like that Morrissons, in fact going there was often the only thing I liked about my working day. It always had a thing or two to discover, whether it was food or, well, something else. So anyway, last October I walked into Morrissons and the first thing I saw next to their flower bouquets was that garden gnome. Except that it was a Halloween Gnome (the Halloween Gnome?). I did not buy it, albeit at £30.00 while not cheap it was not grossly out of price and I kind of regret it. I could go back there and check if it is still on sale, but I fear I could bump into one of my ex colleagues and I'd rather avoid it. But what a very cool gnome.

It's clementime!

Sorry for the atrocious pun, but I thought it would make for a remarkable title. I haven't blogged yet about clementines, and I thought I had to before the end of November. It is one thing I always loved about the month, even when I did not like the month much. I have been eating clementines and sharing them with Wolfie (well of course, he loves them as much as I do) since the beginning of November. It's a great source of vitamins C and they taste delicious. For a full post on why I love them, please read this one from 2011. I bought these ones at Morrison's. Not my favourite, but they it's kind of nice to have thhe leaves still on. And you, do you eat clementines this time of year?

The Mask of Jack O'Lantern

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I have decided to blog about a simple disguise I found yesterday in Morrisons. It's only £5.00, a cheap plastic mask with a hood to hold it on the head, yet I really loved it. Because it's a big, nasty, demonic pumpkin head, with fangs in the mouth. I mean how cooler can you get? I asked my wife if I should buy it, she said no, that it looks far too nasty. And she did not add that it would scare Wolfie, but I'm sure she thought about it. All the same, there can never be too many Jack O'Lanterns for Halloween and this one would be great.

Crâne à sonnette

J'ai pris cette photo l'année dernière, quand je cherchais à Morrison's des décoration pour l'Halloween. C'est un crâne qui est en même temps une sonnette de porte qui dit des choses bien sinistres quand on appuie sur le bouton rouge en dessous. J'ai finalement opté pour une autre sonnette, qui avait l'apparence d'une citrouille. Je ne le regrette pas trop, mais le crâne aurait pu apporter de la diversité. Ce que j'aime dans les crânes et les squelettes à l'Halloween, c'est qu'ils apportent une touche de macabre sans pour autant sombrer dans le gore et le dégueulasse. Ils sont sobres et élégants, tout en étant terrifiants. Qu'en pensez-vous?

Signs of Halloween

Well, it took a little while for English shops to get into gear, but they are finally showing signs of the upcoming Halloween. I was walking around Morrissons yesterday when I saw these artificial pumpkins and other decorations and accessories. There was an alley full of Christmas stuff, which got me a bit grumpy, but at least we had an Halloween aisle. It is not the first Halloween display I have seen, but so far it is the biggest one. Obviously, I got quite excited. I even bought a thing or two. Just a start, you know. I try not to blog too much about my favourite holiday until October, so I have things to blog about for the official countdown, but I thought I would share that tonight.

Rambling about werewolves

I took this picture in Morisson's. Not the best image to accompany my post, but there you go. So I was recently thinking writing a post on werewolves, when it struck me that I have not read that many stories about them, and most stories I read are fairly recent. Werewolves seems to be the poor relative of all the Halloween and horror critters. He has been overshadowed a long time ago by the vampire and more recently by zombies. Even the way a human becomes of werewolves in modern fiction is rather reductive: it is more often than none through contagion, by the bite or clawing of another lycanthrope. In folklore, there were many different ways to become one and contagion was not even one of them. A werewolf could owe his condition to a curse, the alignment of stars in the sky at birth, to witchcraft, to a magic ointment, etc. It would be interesting to revisit this character of horror stories and these methods of infection. The werewolf could benefit from a bit of variety.

Proper signs of Halloween

My readers know my love, no my obsession for everything Halloween. I have started getting into a Halloween mood and preparing myself to the holiday since August or thereabout. Come September, I am in a spooky state of mind and always on the lookout for the first signs of Halloween. I had seen some before, but they were fairly discreet. It is only this week, when I went to Morrisons on my lunch break that I saw proper ones: a whole alley full of Halloween decorations, costumes and practical stuff. Displays like I love them, and that early. It made me very happy. And yes, I started buying a few things.

Sparky the Easter Dragon?

It is Good Friday today and that means Easter is almost here and that means we are preparing the day... By buying lots and lots of chocolate. I found this Easter chocolate figure in Morrisons, which I found strange. I guess they have all sorts of things for Easter chocolates nowadays, all sorts of animals and things that are not animals. I did not always go for the traditional rabbit and often went for squirrels, bears, owls, but I never went for critters such as... a dragon. Yet I bought Sparky the Dragon. Because he is very cute and I thought it would be fun for the family to eat it. So it had been added to our stocks of Easter chocolate.

Earliest sign of Halloween

This picture was taken during my holidays in Devon, in the Morissons in Totnes. I saw this magazine. It was near the two thirds of August. Well, what can I say? It got me in a good mood. I wouldn't buy such magazine, and indeed I didn't buy it. I love Halloween, but I cannot see myself being to make these cupcakes. I do not have this talent. But in August, to see such sight, I always find it encouraging. Yes, it is awfully early, but maybe not so much. Of course, magazines are prepared and published months in advance of the holidays/seasons they feature, as they want to cash in early. But I am happy with this one. Because it is Halloween, my favourite holiday and because I am already getting in a Halloween state of mind. So this was the earliest sign of Halloween I saw this year. And just for this reason, it deserved to be remembered.