THE FRIDAY FUNNIES - HALLOWEEN EDITION

To all of you people who noticed the first fake skeletons and evil witch costumes in your local stores back in August, you may now celebrate.

It's finally here.

Halloween.

Skulls and bats and vampires and witches and werewolves and monsters and...and...and...

Uffda, as we used to say in North Dakota, I'm overcome.

So let's delay no longer.

Let the howling begin.

You may have noticed, if you didn't have your head in the grog, that this edition of the weekend hilarity was slightly longer.

I guess the spirit moved me.

Now enjoy your Halloween festivities and all the rest of your weekend (including the leftover Trick or Treat candy! Yay!) and you suckers on Daylight Savings Time, don't forget to turn your clock back an hour on Saturday night.

But always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . ooooohhh, look out . . . )

GETTING READY

In case you thought I'd forgotten, tomorrow is Halloween.

Decorations are going up everywhere and our home is no exception.

Yes, it's the one night of the year you can dream up your silliest costume and go door to door with "the littles" trying to grub the neighbors out of free candy.

Actually trick-or-treating seems to be going out of practice with towns like mine sponsoring one big gathering place where the kiddies can be brought for treats and games.

Anyway, if I was going out on the night prowl, I think I know what my theme costumery would be.

THE PROBLEMS OF AGING

This cartoon perfectly shows my current level of competence.

To wit, confusion piled atop confusion.

For several days, off and on, I've been trying to find a site on YouTube for a live streaming in a few days of a celebration of the life of a dear friend, who passed away awhile back.

I can bring up the site on my desktop computer.

I can bring up the site on my Android phone.

But for some reason I can't seem to bring it up on my television in the living room.

Even though the teevee is now synched to my camera phone.

 ====but wait, he had another idea====

One hour later, I think I've solved it.  The tv is now saying it's linked to my phone and it will play whatever I pick there.

Since the celebration isn't going to be live until Saturday, I guess it won't show up on the t.v. until it begins.

I'm holding my ancient breath and crossing my arthritic fingers.

In other news, my good friend Jeanne sent this picture from Colorado.

It's her dog Tillie and Jeanne says she has to use the leaf blower on her before she can come in the house, now that it's fall.

Jeanne and Timmer, her husband and my long-time-ago colleague in the Phoenix t.v. biz, have always had, shall we say, l-a-r-g-e dogs.

Jeanne says this one is a Landseer, which is a black-and-white Newfoundland, and it tips the scales at 95 pounds.

I sure hope it likes that leaf blower.

Oh, and by the way, I DID turn out a wonderful Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread this morning!

THE SMELL OF AUTUMN

I baked a loaf of Pumpkin Bread today.

Here's the loaf, still resting in it's parchment paper lined pan.

Warning: that white stuff that may look like mold to you is actually a topping of cinnamon sugar.

It was a long time till it became cool enough to lift out of the pan and slice but the smell of that pumpkin baking was enough to make me think of joining those of you who think Halloween should be a National Holiday.

Later . . . too much later for me but I do (sometimes) take instructions from the publishers of recipes . . . I got my faithful wife to do the initial carving.

It was pumpkin beauty.

And it tasted and smelled even better than it looked in the first photo.

The taste and smell of Autumn.

(Do I rhapsodize too much?)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Lords and Ladies of Darkness, I hereby serve notice that today is one week from Halloween.

Some have already begun their decorating (see Wednesday's post) but others, including yours truly, have only just begun.

So let's take a look at my first efforts and other attempts to lighten your moods.

And that's all, witches and warlocks.

I promise, Halloween will be a day to remember . . . or forget?

At any rate, brace yourselves (as the retired dentist always says) and in the meantime, have a sugar-filled, deliciously ribald weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . I knew it, I KNEW IT . . . )

DIRECTION

This compass belonged to my adventuring uncle.

He moved from his home in small town North Dakota to the metropolis of San Francisco, California in the 1920's, I believe.

I know he lived in the heart of the city and worked as an accountant for the city water department.

Here's that serious young man, caught by a street photographer, back around 100 years ago.

It may have been that same artist who made a pastel sketch which hangs over my desk today.

Some time after Pearl Harbor he joined the army, though he was then in his early 40's, and spent his wartime years as a supply sergeant in Burma (now Myanmar) and India.

He was an award winning long distance swimmer and handball player in his Olympic Club, spent many happy years with a group of friends on overnight weekends on a beach while watching the nearby Golden Gate Bridge being built, once told me had swum in San Francisco Bay every day of at least one year, and enjoyed camping trips in Yosemite National Park, where he crested Mount Lyell.

 Yes, my uncle Zenas Taylor was an adventurous man.

But he always knew where he had come from and where he was going.

BUT IS IT ART?

I have written on this godforsaken blog many times about the BAD (Beautiful Artistic Daughter), formerly the BRD (Beautiful Rich Daughter), which she could return to if she'd ever sell any of her amazing art output.

But never mind that typical daddy growse.

What we have today is a confluence (wow, he used a big word!) of several thoughts.

One is the fact that I married into a very artistic family.

SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed), whose art you've occasionally seen here.

(She could do wonders with that big ol' black border wall!)

Then there's the BAD, who dabbles in genres on genres, and succeeds beautifully in all of them.

She has a brother who has a long career of doing beautiful cabinetry, kitchen work and makeovers.

(He has been hired to do several Ruth's Chris Restaurants around the country.)

There's another sister who lives far away but whose abilities at sketching at near lightning speed are legend.

There's a niece whose skills and beautiful creations as a tattoo artist have led her to fame, if not fortune.

So anyway, as you can see, there is art all around me.

So today I brought home from the grocery store a Butternut Squash and noting it's shape, I idly said to SWMBO that if one painted a pair of button eyes on it, it would pass for a shmoo.

If you're unfamiliar with a shmoo, it was a character created by the cartoonist Al Capp for his comic strip, Li'l Abner.

Behold!

Okay, if you've been following along I think you can see where I'm coming from.

Or going to.

Judy (SWMBO) took the bit in her teeth, or the marker in her hand, if you must insist on correctness here, and sought the Gods of Creation for advice.

One little warning: Halloween is approaching!

(I may never eat Butternut Squash again without feeling just a tad bit guilty.)