Halloween Saturday 9

Hi friends and if you celebrate Happy Halloween.  

 Welcome to Saturday: 9.    What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

  I've Written a Letter to Daddy (1962)

Unfamiliar with this week's featured song?        Hear it  HERE.

1) This song is from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, which was released on Halloween Day, 1962. Do you like scary movies?

 Not at all.   I don't need it in my life. Too much of real life is scary, escpecially today..

2) The "Baby Jane" of the title is Baby Jane Hudson. Jane was a child star, singing and dancing in vaudeville. She was so popular that Baby Jane dolls sold well at her shows. Tell us about one of your favorite childhood toys.

 I really enjoyed paper dolls very much.

3) Baby Jane's career hit the skids when she hit her teens and audiences no longer found her cute. Adolescence can be a tough time for many of us.   Did you ever go through an awkward phase? 

I think the time between 13 and 15 can be a bit trying as a young teen trying to figure it all out.

 

4) Meanwhile, Jane's older sister Blanche blossomed into a beauty and became a major movie actress. Her career was cut short when, at the height of her popularity, her back is broken in a car accident involving a drunken Jane. Most of the movie takes place in the mansion Blanche bought back when she was a star. Blanche is confined to a wheelchair and completely dependent on Jane, who is bitter, jealous, and well, bonkers. Very bad things happen. Can you think of another movie where scary things happen in a big old house?

• Home Alone 
• Practical Magic

5) As a (crazy) older woman, Jane convinces herself she can relaunch her career and recapture the love of the public. She dresses like she did as a little girl and makes up her face to look like those Baby Jane dolls that were sold long ago at her childhood performances. Then she rehearses this week's song. The result is so memorable that now, more than 60 years later, you can still find "Baby Jane" Halloween costumes online. Tell us about a Halloween costume you really enjoyed wearing.

My mother once made me an authentic Martha Washington dress and mob cap for  a dress up. She was a very good seamstress.   Another time I was dressed as Queen Esther and I really liked that.

 

6) Which kind of spooky movie villain do you find scarier: supernatural monsters (Dracula, Wolfman, ghosts, etc.) or human monsters (Baby Jane, Michael Meyers from the Halloween franchise, etc.)? 

I think the ones from the gory movies  which is why I just won't watch them.

.....Questions inspired by Halloween ....

7) Orange and black are the traditional Halloween colors, with orange representing the autumn harvest and black symbolizing all things scary and mysterious. Are you wearing either color as you answer these questions?

Yes.  I have on a Led Zepplin tee shirt which has black and a dark dusty orange in the logo.

It's now a work shirt for around the house as it's seen better days.

8) Jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland, though instead of pumpkins, they carved gourds. When Irish immigrants arrived in the US, they used pumpkins because they were more readily available. Did you decorate your home with a jack-o-lantern, or anything else, for Halloween?

I have a wicker pumpkin with twinkle lights in it and I see it more as an Autumn decoration than Halloween.. I just like it.

9) Think back to your trick-or-treating days. Which candy were you happiest to find your bag?

 I am a Snickers fan.  I also like Baby Ruth.

 

Golden Autumn

Friday is the 6th day of the week and the entrance to the weekend. It's like an open door leading to rest and peace after a busy week.

It's football season too and high schools and universities are high on excitement. Bonfires crackle on campuses the night before the big games. Everyone brings wood of one kind or another , even chairs, until the pile is well over a story hight.

And, it's sweatshirt weather. Nothing is more inviting and cozy than jeans and a sweatshirt.

New Jersey is awash with colors that deepen by the day.  Orange, reds, plums , yellows are all on display now.   Days are cool and nights are downright cold.

The open bay is at the horizon, not that far really.

Sunset sends a golden glow over everything.  They don't call it the  Golden Hour for nothing.

  No one travels
Along this way but I,
This autumn evening.

Haiku by  Matsuo Basho

In the backyard the trees show off.  Soon enough the leaves will be gone and skies will turn silver.

The old pump sputters
then bursts to life.
Moss is grateful for a drink.

Happy Autumn

Goosebumps

The weather has gone full on Autumn and the temperatures are low. Tonight it is 39°F and the other night we were down to freezing.    The pond is being readied for winter. The new leaf net arrived and last year I bought a super heater that kept the entire pond completely warm and ice free.  The fish are still eating but that will soon stop as they go into hiberation once the water temperatures lower to below 50°F. 

Well Halloween certainly is Goosebumps time. It is the night before what is called All Saints Day when martyrs are remembered and honored.           Do you remember the Canadian show Goosebumps?  Most of the really great kids/teen/young adult programs were from Canada.   

                                   From this Side of the Pond

1. What most recently gave you goose bumps? 

Tonight  a draft from the window next to my desk gave me a chill and goosebumps.  It's getting very cold outside.

2. What does Halloween look like in your home and/or neighborhood these days?

Homes with children are decorated. A family  on the corner go all out for every holiday and their home is always one of the best decorated.

 Do you participate?  I hand out bags of chips and Doritos to kids who come by.

3. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia...your favorite seed on the list? What's something you like to make/eat that calls for one of these seeds in the recipe? 

  I love hemp seeds in soup, stew, sandwiches, etc.  I make homemade soft pretzels and put sesame or poppy on those too.   And below is the recipe for a good Hobbit lemon poppy seed cake.

Belladonna Took-Baggins

 Belladonna Took-Baggins Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (the Hobbit)

1 box of lemon cake mix... follow the directions but add 2 Tablespoons of poppy seeds to it.

Prepare a bundt cake form and pour the mixture into it after oiling and flouring.

Bake at the time and temperature on the package.

Serve with lemon frosting or sprinkle on confectioner's sugar.

Lemon Frosting

1 cup of butter

5 cups of powdered (Confectioner's ) sugar

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 Tablespoon of lemon zest ( grated lemon peel)

yellow food coloring ...but you don't need it.

 Mix the sugar with the butter until completely mixed.

Add the lemon juice and zest and mix it in.

If you need to stiffen up the frosting you can add more sugar as you need it stirring in until you get the right consistency.

Frost the cake when it is cool and sprinkle with more Poppy Seeds.

4. What's the most (or one of the most) 'fall photos' you've ever taken? Share it here. Just one. 

One of the most fall photos I have taken.  This is the scene behind my house through the woods and is  one of the hundreds of creeks that stream into the bay.

5. Somehow we're rolling in to November next week. If your October were a chapter in a book, what would the title of this chapter be? 

                                                 "The Gentle Amber Days of Autumn"

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

US Homeland Security News

@defense_civil25

·

22h

Commentary account

Daylight Savings Time was created during World War I to give farmers and workers more daylight to work. The government kept it when they discovered it causes heart attacks and strokes in the elderly, and during the time change people had more car accidents, falls and injuries. Our bodies have an internal clock that is damaged during every clock change. Today we have universal electricity and lights. We have no need for DST anymore. It’s time to stop the madness! End DST clock changes forever!!