Hallowe'en is coming!

Although it feels more like November, this has been a great Hallowe'en season!  Our Monster March on October 20th was blessed with one of the few nice days and the turnout was awesome! 

And our Elora Center for the Arts has been very generous with its treats:  a whole selection of Hallowe'en inspired workshops and talks!  I was able to take part in two workshops:  

and they were both great experiences!  I have to admit that this year I've scaled back on the decorating because we adopted a pup (more on Zorro in a later blog post) and instead of shopping I made these two awesome decorations!  

I'm also aiming to finish the paper maché pumpkin I started ten years ago (gulp).  

Judy Anderson gave a lively, fun workshop on a dark and dreary evening and everyone was able to complete a unique centerpiece.  

It was rather thrilling to accomplish so much in so little time!  Bravo to Judy for presenting such an organized and well-planned event!

And on the weekend, it was Tim Murton's turn to guide us on the creation of a Twilight Zoo skeleton!  We had to work hard and fast to finish a full skeleton in two days, what a ride.  It took a week for my hands to recover after twisting wires all day, then paper maché-ing for a whole day!  

In the end I decided to spend more time on the head and forget about the legs, which worked out fine (although Tim gave us whatever we needed to finish our projects at home).  "TZ" is my pride and joy, but I'm so nervous about his weathering that I haven't put him outside!  He's enjoying his "life" in our sunroom, peeking out the windows at everyone passing by.  If it's not raining, he will go outside Hallowe'en night!  

3 days to Hallowe'en!

The most wonderful time of the year!  Hallowe'en is almost here and we're super excited!  Hopefully the weather will be fair so we can set out our cemetery on the front lawn for the first time ever at this house!    

Inside we're properly spooky, to the delight of our guests.  (Okay, maybe the corpse bride standing in the entryway made a few of them jump!)

Here's my wee Halloween tree! 

And in the kitchen:  has anyone tried these new silicone chocolate molds?  WOW!  They work super easy, I'm really impressed!  Look at those screamers!  (They're screaming because they're not long for this earth... dark chocolate with raspberry swirled in guarantees a pretty short life-span!)

Last Saturday, October 24th, the monsters paraded in the 8th Annual Monster March down Metcalfe Street.  The rain held off just long enough for the parade, which was pretty spectacular with about 100 participants and full sidewalks of spectators.  Sadly my camera doesn't take night-time photos very well, but here are a few of Tim Murton's Twilight Zoo critters!  They are roaming about all over Elora and are just amazing!  

Here is the giant Demon King, at least 1 story tall!

You can see much more detail in this daytime photo... what a scary fellow!  

The dancing demons!  Each demon is at least 8 feet tall, very impressive!  Love the motion captured in these critters.

  

This monstrous lizard is on the side of the Elora Legion, look at those teeth and claws! 

Post-Mortem

I haven't even posted pictures of Scare Fair yet, but here are images from today's Post-Mortem gathering for the volunteers who made the Twilight Zoo and Scare Fair a reality.

What can you say about volunteers other than that they are AWESOME and crucial to the success of any big undertaking that exists solely because of the love and devotion of its creators and the volunteers. So it was my pleasure to open up my Hallowe'en collection of recipes and create a sweet feast for all to enjoy!   (Mom had the tricky task of packing everything so it could be transported by car with the least amount of damage!  Thank you, MOM!!)

 

Tim and Julie's home was warm and welcoming and this huge long table with its rustic surface was perfect for displaying the treats, along with some Day of the Dead creations.

In addition to the 6 different sweets to choose from we were treated to cheeses and crackers, fruit and a nice selection of beverages.  The apple cider smelled wonderful.

The apricot cake with peach Schnapps and cream cheese icing turned out better than planned, with chocolate Monarchs, white chocolate skulls and sugar rosettes. 

 

We "buried" a chocolate coffin into this pumpkin cake and frosted it with a pecan/coconut icing which looked like very rocky dirt!

And the chocolate skulls, some filled with raspberry sauce, disappeared faster than you can say "BOO!"

 

Mom and I are not people-people so it means a lot to us that we never felt out-of-place or on the side-lines.  Everyone was welcoming and full of the Hallowe'en spirit and just thrilled that the Twilight Zoo and Scare Fair exists for them to take part in and enjoy!

So, perhaps I should celebrate a success: I did create 3 rat silhouettes out of fiberboard with battery tea lights for eyes! I left the fiberboard white so they would show more in the dark and also had an extra tea light behind each one.

Here they are on their big night, pretty cute I think!

Also, visiting Elora during "Monster Month" was a highlight. At the Twilight Zoo during Scare Fair (love these names!), we met Tim Murton and Julie and I very much want to be part of this amazing Hallowe'en event in 2012. There are lots of possibilities, from helping set up to having a booth to perhaps supplying treats for an opening or closing party?? They need volunteers, so if you can help, scream it out! Visit http://www.twilightzoo.ca/ to see some of the amazingly beautiful and spooky paper and fiber mache creatures.
Look at the joy in these dancing demons! Who would not want to join in?!