Hallowe'en Howl

 

The Autumn colors were lovely this year and a little late so the colors stayed almost until Hallowe'en, which was a treat.

Decorations seemed a bit lacking this year, or subdued even at houses that go all-out.

But there were some great ones!  Hi Sam!

We visited Elora and thoroughly enjoyed the weather and the Twilight Zoo invading the village, along with a giant Jack Skellington!

Hallowe'en night proved to be a little less friendly, with a downpour and rain from 6:30-7:30, just when the trick or treaters were out!  They were soaked, and yet they came:  in the end we had 72 soggy souls!

Our yard looked good, even though we didn't set up the cemetery and the extras.  

We ended the scary season with a lovely Day of the Dead altar.

Unexpectedly, though, this wasn't the end as we stumbled upon the Pumpkin Parade when attending a fibre event at the Museum on November 2nd.  The pumpkins had not yet been cleared away so we got to enjoy all the creative and creepy pumpkins!  

Here's my favorite!

Until next year, BOO!!

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!  

By the light of the Hallowe'en moon

Since it's over, I won't be spoiling anyone's fun by sharing these awesome photos of Tim Murton's "Twilight Zoo: Back from the Dead"!  It took place here in Elora at our Elora Centre for the Arts from October 12-31 and was eeriely beautiful and spooky.  

There photos were all taken by my sister Doris, and I'd say she did a pretty awesome job at capturing the beasts and the atmosphere!  

Not only were the beasts awesome but the hand-painted backdrops were gorgeous, really adding to the whole experience.  Not to forget the sound effects:  the original sound effects were perfect, especially the multiple whispering voices in the Tunnel!  The lighting was also just perfect, with just enough to cast eerie shadows everywhere.  In the Tunnel, the lights even went fully OUT! for a few seconds at intervals, leaving you utterly alone in the Tunnel with its many creepy flora (I'm sure man-eating) and fauna!

Sorry you missed it?  Tim has been doing this for 17 years, always making it a bit different, so plan to visit in October 2017!

Boo season is here!

My favorite time of year!  Finally cooler temperatures and, like magic, everything goes from green to yellows and oranges and coppers and reds overnight!  

Magnificent!  WOW!  Mother Nature is awesome!  

Before we get into the fun of October, though, we have some seasonal house maintenance to take care of, like fixing up our balcony.  The outside door frame and balcony rail needed scrapping, sanding, priming and painting before the weather turned too cold.

I did manage to start the Hallowe'en baking, though.  Here are the dogs' treats... yes, I have my priorities in order and the dogs are first!  Peanut butter bones and ghosts, and the ghosts still will get a white Merkins coating to be extra yummy.  (Also, dog cookies store really well so they're good to make in advance.)   

And I'm thrilled to say I've been invited to take part in the Twilight Zoo!  My bat conservation display will be part of the October 22nd after-Monster-March fun on the Elora Centre for the Arts grounds.  This photo is from the Twilight Zoo website, where you can read all the details about this month of spooky activities!

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! 

Dodged a bullet

So this red building in the downtown core is going to be demolished.  According to the local paper, the owners asked for and received a permit to demolish it after discovering extensive rot from water and termite damage.  They were planning to restore the building and open it as a tea house but ran into these insurmountable issues... Funny thing is, Mom and I were looking at this house last summer and wondering if we could open a doggy bakery or other little shop here.  The upper floor is where the owners could live and there's a yard.  For some reason, after contacting the realtor, we never followed up... PHEW!!!  What a disaster that would have been!!!  

(Note the adorable critter clinging to the light pole?  That's an escapee from Tim Murton's Twilight Zoo!)

Update, March 30th:  The old red building is now entirely gone, there's a huge hole where it was once, and this is a visual of the building that soon will replace it:  The Secret Garden Tea House!

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!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N in Hallowe'en time!

 

I took two vacation days this week and guess how I spent Vacation Day #1? Setting up the cemetery in Elora for Scare Fair! Yes, I'm fully aware that this is not what most people do with their vacations but it was the perfect Autumn day, the colors are glorious and Mom and I got a lot of work done in 6 1/2 hours! Plus we had Willow along so we didn't have to watch the clock. Plus it was far, far away from the computer!!!
  It's certainly not finished but we got the path and 23 graves mapped out and set up some stones and the area is cleaned up and ready for the extra goodies still to come.  Vacation Day #2 will be spent... decorating tombstones!  I love it!

Look at those trees in the last sunlight of the day and all the Zoo critters in waiting!  It's going to fun, hope you can join us Oct. 19-21 for the Scare Fair!