Shivers of Delight

I wish I could have sent every one of you a Halloween card this year.  Thank you for reading my blog. It makes me so happy that there are others like me  who love Halloween with a passion. And, if you're in the area, stop by and say "trick or treat" tonight  because rain only enhances the mood and the candy is waiting for you. I'll be back with another post tomorrow! If you're a new follower, I post Monday through Friday with my latest Halloween finds and other spookiness that captures my attention. Tonight is not the end. It's just the beginning.

The night before Halloween is called Devil's Night in some communities and mischief is the prime activity. As I was thinking about what (the hell) I was going to post about today (i'm just about Halloween brain dead) it occurred to me that the last two books I've read centered around the devil coming to call. Three books, actually, if we go back a few months. I just finished reading A Head Full of Ghosts (2015) by Paul Tremblay. I've been wanting to read one of his novels for awhile and this book is on Hoopla (you can read it online for free!) The story takes place in current time (there are cellphones and reality tv) and is about the suspected possession of a fourteen year old girl told through the memories of her sister who was eight years old at the time of the event and is telling the story to a best-selling author writing a book about it. The story focuses on the dynamics of the family and how that changes when a reality tv show becomes involved. There are t...

There are so many great spooky pins and patches for sale. I've really tried to resist buying them because I don't wear a jean jacket (where everyone else seems to put them) and while I can occasionally put a pin on a jacket or sweater, what do to with the patches?? It finally hit me. I need to adopt a rhinestone cowboy mentality. Hear me out. I do wear black suit jackets fairly often. I thought about loading the collar of a jacket with all the pins as if they were rhinestones. Then adding the patches to the jacket just seemed natural. I headed to our local thrift store where I found a beautifully made men's suit jacket just my size. I present to you my new pins & patches jacket. I intend to add pins and patches as I find them. I've been collecting these for years, but if you see something you're interested in, let me know. I may be able to tell you were I purchase it.

I showed you our back porch and Halloween collection room a few days ago. Today I have pictures of our Halloween decorated living room and dining room. Don't look for the television- there isn't one. I watch all my scary shows on my iPad. They're less scary that way. The Living Room Jojo and Scooter insisted in being in the photo. The bookcase holds scary books, skulls, and alcohol. Cotton, our black cat, is curled up. The Dining Room If you're wondering how much of the decor stays up all year, well, a great deal of it. Thanks for stopping to take a look today! 

There are just four days left before Halloween. Let that sink in. I've been noticing a lot of panic around that thought. Costumes aren't finished (or even started), favorite horror movies haven't been watched, and the spooky events we were making lists of in August somehow passed us by. Is your heart racing? I think we all need to pause and take a deep breath. Now, I want you let out a loud moan that will rival the un-dead. Feel better? People always ask me if I get depressed after Halloween, but for me, the truth is that Halloween is just a moment. Writing the blog allows me to experience the atmosphere of Halloween almost everyday. It's true that the month of October gives us lots of opportunities to shop for costumes in our local stores and attend parties and visit haunted houses, but you can find those things all year long if you look hard enough. So don't despair! You haven't missed anything yet. Halloween hasn't even arrived. Once you accep...

It's Saturday and we all have so much to do, but if you can spare five minutes I highly encourage you to watch (or re-watch) the haunting short film The Lady ParaNorma written and directed by Vincent Marcone. Peter Murphy (of Bauhaus- you know him) beautifully narrates the story. If you love it, like I do, you'll want to check out My Pet Skeleton .

Whew! I finished my miniature haunted room just in the nick of time. I guess I work better under a deadline or maybe it was the embarrassment of not finishing my own challenge? After months of contemplation, I decided to do a miniature room in honor of Edward Gorey. I love his drawings and wanted to replicate a room as he might have drawn it. When you look at the room you're probably going to think "Why did that take so long?" Well, I spent a lot of time convincing myself that less is more with Gorey. I wanted to add in every Gorey-esqe detail I could list: the chaise lounge, the wood paneling, the patterned wallpapers and fabrics, tufted ottoman, urn, heavy drapery, swooning women, a spooky fern, bookshelves, cats,.... the list goes on. I spend hours searching online and in shops for each of those items only to realize that when you look at a Gorey drawing they're really rather sparse in items. So I've put my pencil down. I present to you a room haunted ...

It's the sixth day of Halloween! I hope you have your decorations up by now so that you can enjoy them. I know, I know, they're never completely finished until it's time to put them away. Still, light a candle and sit back and enjoy your hard work. Most People Enter Through the Back Porch The cabinet under the windows was built specifically for the the cats to lay on.  This is my "tip of the hat" to Ray Bradbury Before we moved to Connecticut, I lived in Georgia and collected lots of folk art. The skull curtains are mantel cloths that I sewed loops to for hanging. Some people do actually enter through the front door. This is a family portrait from my dad's side of the family.  I believe she died very young. This is our Halloween gallery where my collection lives most of the year. Read more about the cat bed coffin here . The shrine is for our family members that have passed away. You c...