Round Robin Challenge: Spooky Effects!

"A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night."

~J. M. Barrie

RRC: Spooky Effects

I love Halloween, it's my favorite holiday! So, I was thrilled when Karen chose this topic for the challenge! The photos below are some of my favorite ones from my archives, and a few new ones I took this month! Like the one at the top!

Enjoy!

Clearly A Witch Has Been Busy!



Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty...



A Haunting We Shall Go...







"As spirits roam the neighborhoods at night, let loose upon the Earth till it be light..."

~Nicholas Gordon

Okay, are you ready for the spooks and hobgoblins later this month? Do you hear chains rattling or disembodied voices? I did, just today in fact! Then I realized... I had left the TV on! LOL. Halloween is just around the corner, isn't it exciting!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now that you have read my Spooky Effects post, be sure to visit all the participating the Robins to see what they have haunting their blogs! Simply click the link at the beginning of the post to be redirected to the official Round Robin blog!

Mood: Happy! :)

~Me :)

Do I Spy With My Little Eye, Sky Ghosts Or Jellyfish?

"We pledge to fight blue-sky thinking wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at at cloudless monotony day after day."

~Gavin Pretir-Pinney, The Cloudspotter's Guide

The sky was filled with beautiful clouds the other day, but I couldn't make up my mind if they looked more like ghosts or jellyfish!

What do you think? 

Ghosts?

"Maybe all the people who say ghosts don't exist are just afraid to admit that they do."

~Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

Or Jellyfish?

Jellyfish are 97% water or something, so how much are they doing? Just give them another 3% and make them water. It's more useful."

~Karl Pilkington

Please, if you like, share your thoughts in the comment thread. Tell me all about it!

Mood: Inquisitive

~Me :)

Such Days Of Autumnal Decline

"Such days of autumnal decline hold a strange mystery which adds to the gravity of all our moods."

~Charles Nodier, Smarra: &Trilby

Leaves As Flowers

I always feel a bit melancholy when I see a tree begin to go bare. I swear, just a week ago that tree was glowing with bright yellow leaves, so bright and delicious, you almost could imagine the leaves were actually lemon drops. But now it is only reminding me that autumn will once again end, and take the colors with it. And really, almost nothing makes me sadder.

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

Brains... BRAINS Err RRR... Or How The Republican Party Ate Itself!

 "Okay, it's pretty obvious what we're doing here, people. If it's dead... fucking KILL IT!"

~Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead, Vol. 14: No Way Out

 

Brains, brains, brains, BRAINS, BRAINS... BRAINS

The United States Congress... You gotta love 'um!

We have very little time left, the Republican Zombies are at the door, and it seems we are out of brains. What to do, what to do? I guess some brave soul... (cough Boehner) could act selflessly and do the right thing, by offering up his substantial brain in order to save the world economy, but somehow I doubt that's going to happen. What to do? What to do?

"... they come to us, these restless dead,
shrouds woven from the words of men,
With trumpets sounding over head
The walls of hope have grown so thin.
And all our vaunted innocence
Has withered in this endless frost
That promise little recompense
For all we risk, for all we've lost..."

~Mira Grant, Feed

And Now A Joke...

Q. What's the difference between a starving zombie on his own, and the Tea Party?

A. No matter how hungry for brains the zombie becomes, he won't eat his own!

"There is nothing so patient, in this world or any other, as a virus searching for a host."

~Mira Grant, Countdown

Senator John McCain (R- Arizona) unleashed a virus upon the earth back in 2008, and her name is Sarah Palin. She is the genuine article, a zombie of the truest form, but she is also a carrier of the zombie ideology of selfishness, ruthless ambition, and inability to learn. She looks all crazy and stupid, but make no mistake she is the Zombie Queen that created the Tea Party. Zombie Tea Party zombies are no ordinary breed, they have special powers to simultaneously rule the world, and at the same time bring about complete Armageddon. But don't fear the reaper boys and girls, these zombies feed on their own, and without enough brains between them to sustain even one single of their brethren, they will become extinct.

The End.

"Little old ladies speed away in their wheel chairs, frightened meals on wheels."

~Ryan Mecum, Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry For Your... Brains

Mood: Irritated, But Hardly Surprised!

~Me :)

Slurpppppp...

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."

~Ernest Hemingway

I am exhausted tonight. You see, some people who engage in the domestically traditional self abuse that is called Spring Cleaning, do it in, oh, say... April, perhaps May. But I am a nonconformist, so I engage in that form of self abuse in October. Every October! Without fail! And in the case of this year, that day was yesterday, so I am exhausted today, which is how Fibromyalgia works... it gets you 24 hours after you spend the day cleaning. I am okay mind you, sometimes being exhausted is a very good thing! This Friday... Spring Cleaning In Autumn Part 2! So until tomorrow, I will leave you with this...

I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I am under the table,
After four I'm under my host.

~Dorothy Parker, The Collected Dorothy Parker

Mood: Really Tired/Happy

~Me :)

Life As Fine Wine...

"Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle."

~Paulo Coelho, Brida

As Alan and I sat at dinner last night, on our 23rd anniversary, we did a lot of reflecting on how our marriage has taken twists and turns over the years. A lot can happen in 23 years! Thankfully, we have done a lot more laughing than crying. But don't get me wrong, we have had some dark days among all the joy. But that's just life. We are the lucky ones, we have held onto each other at all costs, and at all curves in the road. I suppose we needed some of those low points, to realize just how amazingly wonderful our love story really is! We have similar sense's of humor, and we share the same values, so that makes us great partners when things get rough! I am thankful for him... and for us. And I know, he feels the same.

 How you ask?

He tells me, and shows me, every single day!

Like he did yesterday, on a very long drive from vineyard to vineyard in Sonoma and Napa.

 

Life is a fine wine, and it's good to have the right person to share it with!

"I would pour you a glass of wine, but wouldn't it be more romantic if you sipped it from my armpit?"
~Jarod Kintz, A Story That Talks About Talking Is Like Chatter To Chattering Teeth, And Every Set Of Dentures Can Attest To The Fact That No...

~

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Happy Anniversary Alan :)

"Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end."

~Author Unknown

Where has the time gone? It doesn't seem possible that I have been married to my best friend for 23 years! I am a very lucky woman!


"Infatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Conners.  Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway."

~Judith Viorst, Redbook, 1975

Happy Anniversary Alan! I love you!

By The Way, The 23rd Anniversary Is The Silver Plate Anniversary!

Mood: Very Happy

~Me :)