Category Archives: Monstrous Monday

A Flustered Monday Post

Oh dear, look at the time.  This is what I get for not making my blog post first thing in the morning.  In my defense, I did not have much to blog about and I had an appointment to get to.  Now I still do not have much to blog about and very little brain to blog with.  Additionally, I have probably waited too late in the day to make the post, and WordPress will not give me that encouraging little notification about how long of a streak I am on.  There is a lesson there in requiring outside validation when I know damn well I have been making blog posts every day for the past week.  Do I ever learn my lesson?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

They’re just hanging out.

I delved into my Media Library for a picture of monsters in hopes of making this a Monstrous Monday post, and came up with this one from Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit, taken in 2016.

As a side note:  as I typed the previous sentence I heard a neighbor rolling a trash or recycling container out to the curb (it makes a lovely thunder-like rumble) and remembered I have not yet put out this week’s trash.  Yes, yes, I have plenty of time.  However, I also have to get to the Herkimer Town Board meeting by six.  This is what I do.  I spend all day telling myself I have plenty of time, then do everything at the last minute.

I CAN’T CHOOSE!!!!!

Indecisiveness also plagues me at times like these.  I could not decide on another monster picture to round out the post with, then this one asking me to choose a favorite struck me as apropos.  Although as regular readers may recall, I often refer to Nosferatu (lower right) as my favorite guy.  Well never mind, it is just to make a point.

This has become kind of a flustered blog post, but you’ll have that on occasion, especially with me.  At least I am posting something, and by My Rules For Me, that is a good thing.  Is it a good thing for my readers?  Feel free to comment with your opinion.

 

In the Midst of Writing, I Blog

Thunder outside reminds me that I have not yet made my Monstrous Monday blog post.  It is Tuesday, not so early in the morning (for me).  I am actually in the middle of writing my article on the Ilion Village Board meeting for the Daily Sentinel, and I am having trouble with it, so thought I would take a break.  I do enjoy the thunder, but I think it is going away.  Now I can hear the rain, because I have both doors open.  Ooh, no, another rumble.  Yes.

Oh, sure, that’ll make a good blog post.  Just talk about the thunder, Cindy.  They’d never guess you already had some coffee!

It’s this dark in my head.

This was my attempt at a shot of a full moon one early morning some time ago.  I have not been out walking in the dark in a long time (and regular readers know running is way beyond my current abilities).  It is dark in my house now, but not that dark.  I just grabbed the picture, because I did not want to waste copious amounts of time scrolling through my Media Library as often happens at times like this.

Great movie!

In the spirit of not scrolling, I grab this picture which just happened to be right there.  This is a really fun flick, featuring a really creepy performance by the inimitable Peter Lorre.  Actually is it correct to say “featuring” when he is the star?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

As for me, I approach 250 words, and I must go back to struggling with the activities of Ilion Village Board.  I have dealt with the Mayors Comments and the Public Comments, now I am on to the 2026 Organizational Meeting, Department Reports, and New Business.  Does it sound exciting?  It’s not bad.

 

Monsters and Memories

Hello and welcome to another Monstrous Monday blog post.  My Monday became rather monstrous this afternoon for reasons it is too tiresome to reiterate. Suffice it to say, I will be largely immobile for the foreseeable future.  But never mind.  Monday is a day for monsters, and I will indulge in monsters.

Well, here is a cheery skeleton.

These are our skeletons Bonita and Bonaparte.  Bonita is wearing a summer outfit which my late, dearly missed husband Steve put together for her.  It is his shirt and my headband.  He purposely left the tag of the headband showing, because he was going for a Minnie Pearl look.  Minnie Pearl, in case you do not know (she was before some people’s times) always wore a hat with the price tag conspicuously dangling. She was on HeeHaw, a show which was also before some of your times.

Another bony friend.

And while we are on monsters around the house, here is a delightful fellow who used to lounge around at our friends Phyllis and Jim’s house.  Phyllis sadly passed away in 2021.

He was not a monster.

Now that I am feeling melancholy, I do not feel like looking for another monster.  I will instead share a picture of Steven doing one of the things he liked to do best: dancing.  We were dancing to our favorite band, The Posers.  I must see when they are playing again.  Some good music would undoubtedly cheer me up, even if I couldn’t dance.

 

Monsters I Have Never Known

This will be a Monstrous Monday post.  I still recline on my couch (which is almost as good as a dramatic swoon), waiting for the health care system to work me in.  But no more about my physical woes.  It would be a HIPAA violation, not to mention dull and boring.  I would rather see what I can come up with using a few fiends from my Media Library (and, yes, autocorrect, I mean fiends, not friends!) (stupid computer changed it on me twice).

That’s a scary looking guy!

I never saw Lady Frankenstein, but I appreciate this poster.  I did not know Joseph Cotten did any horror movies.  I can’t find any older horror movies on RokuTV, although I will probably continue to look.

He looks scary.

Here is another movie I have never seen. I do not even know what movie it is.  It is some picture I found scrolling around Facebook back in the 2018.  Back then I found it easy to steal photos from the internet for blogging purposes.  I do not know how to do it on my Chromebook.  I am SO twentieth century!

All-time best ending for a horror movie.

Too bad StraitJacket wasn’t made by Twentieth Century, or this would be a perfect photo to follow that last remark.  This is a movie I have seen many times, a heartwarming film starring Joan Crawford as a mother reunited with her daughter after 20 years in a mental institution. In the prelude, we learn Crawford chopped her husband’s head off.  These things happen.  In the movies, at any rate.

I see I am over 250 words.  I fear these foolish posts will continue for the foreseeable future.  However, it helps me to make them, and I hope it entertains somebody to read them (that wasn’t blatantly fishing for compliments, was it?) (I know, if I’m going to fish for compliments, I ought to find better bait).

 

No Excuses, But Monsters

Well, it’s Wrist to Forehead Monday, because I neglected to make my Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  I am quite mortified, as you may imagine, especially as I have no good excuse.  I am also a little shame-faced, because I am making a Monstrous Monday post.  I just don’t have it in me to write about any of the Mohawk Valley Adventures I have been having recently.  In short, I am tired.  Could I be too old for all the running around I have been doing lately?  SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!!

Me, aghast at myself for missing a day’s blog.

That is from the silent film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1920.  Very atmospheric.  I must watch it again.  I rarely watch silent movies, because it is difficult for me to knit or crochet and watch.  I like to run in place on the mini-tramp while I watch, although that also has its drawbacks.

Not the cure for insomnia.

Here is Vincent Price with the eponymous Tingler, a William Castle masterpiece.  I kind of identify with this picture, because I had the weirdest post-apocalyptic dream this morning.  It just kept getting stranger and more scary.  That is what I get for trying to get back to sleep after my body said, “I’m wide awake.  Let’s get up now.”  In my defense, it was two in the morning.

“I told you to blog about the Mohawk Valley!”

I finish with this scary guy from Carnival of Souls, a low-budget masterpiece from 1962.  When I DuckDuckGo’d the movie to see what year it was, predictive text suggested “Carnival Cruises,” and I thought, “How about a Carnival of Souls Cruise?”  Passengers can spend the whole time running from the undead.  In luxury conditions, of course.  I hope some entrepreneur jumps right on that idea, because that is a cruise I might actually save my pennies for.

 

Mondays Are Murder

I resort to a Monstrous Monday post, as I am short on Mohawk Valley Adventures.  Well, I did participate in A Revolutionary Murder Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion, NY on Saturday, but I did not get any pictures.  I felt quite exhausted by the end of the evening, then I could not sleep, because I had drunk two cups of coffee to help me get through the evening.  Well, that is more than enough whining. On with the blog post.

Here’s a monster for you!

This is pretty much how I felt and feel, and yes, I am laughing at myself.  As I say, it’s not always easy being me, but it is usually entertaining.  This is me at the tail end of our performance of A Revolutionary Murder at Herkimer Elks Lodge in April to benefit Herkimer County Historical Society.  I played the evil Amaretta VonSchnapps, who perished in an accident involving a cannon.  We thought it would be funny if I showed up at the end looking “cannonized.”

The picture was taken by an Elk friend who Facebook messaged it to me, and I was able to download it to my Chromebook.  I have not yet figured out how to steal pictures directly from Facebook for blogging purposes, so I cannot show you a “Before” picture of Amaretta, nor any any of my fellow cast members.  As regular readers know, technology eludes me. Perhaps I could move to another device (preview of coming attractions).

For right now, however, I see I am over 200 words.  I say that is good enough for a Monday.  I must strive to get some things done while yet recruiting enough energy to cover an important Herkimer Town Board meeting this evening (regular readers may remember my side hustle freelancing for Sentinel Media).  I hope you all have a delightful Monday.

 

Vincent Price Helps Me Out Today

It is late in the day (for me) and the only thing I can manage is a Monstrous Monday Post. After a lovely Easter holiday, I had rather a blah day today.  I guess I partied too heartily.  You’ll have that.

This is kind of how I feel right now.

Here is a guy whose name escapes me from House on Haunted Hill.  The original, Vincent Price version, directed by William Castle.  I love that movie.  I guess he’s not a monster, but he is in a monster movie.  It will have to do.

You’d scream, too!

Here is a monster from that same movie.  He is terrorizing Vincent Price’s wife.  She has the line, “Darling, the only ghoul in this house is you,” but I think she is a little monstrous herself.  Watch the movie for yourself and see if you agree.

Talk about don’t let the bed bugs bite!

And here is Vincent Price himself, in The Tingler, another William Castle thriller.  I think I have a picture of Vincent in House on Haunted Hill, but I feel too tired to look for it.  Or perhaps I am too lazy.

I confess to feeling down today.  Post holiday letdown?  Still disappointed because I did not get cast in the play I auditioned for?  Just sad because the weather turned cold again?  I don’t suppose it matters.  On the brighter side, I made a blog post of at least 200 words.  I’ll hope for a better day (and blog post) tomorrow.

 

Late Monsters, But It’s a Post

It looks like I am entering another time of late posts and not very exciting posts.  I’ll be honest: my depression is getting me down.  BUT… there are things I can and will do about it.  I will get exercise every day and strive to NOT sit on the couch and do nothing (a favored activity for many depressed individuals).  I took a nice run yesterday so could have made a Running Commentary post, but for some reason did not.

Here’s a cheerful fellow.

I was looking for a picture to pep things up and found Nosferatu, from the eponymous 1922 silent movie.  Regular readers know he is one of my favorites.   I do enjoy a Monstrous Monday post, even when I wait till Tuesday to make it.

Looking ahead into the day and the week, I see a few opportunities for Mohawk Valley Adventures.  The basket I won at the HALO Lucky Paws Auction was from Phoebe’s Florist in Mohawk, NY.  I would like to go there, spend a little money, and make a blog post about it.  Maybe I could buy myself some flowers.  Maybe I can clean up my house a little, so I will be able to see the flowers.

Preview of Coming Attractions?

I may also try to make a Running Commentary post, if any of my runs seem memorable.  The above picture is from October 2020, when I was doing a challenge of exercising for at least 34 minutes for 34 days to call attention to 34 million people with diabetes in the U.S.  The challenge wanted you to post a selfie each day.  I did a few with my monster friends.  Maybe I should do another challenge like that.  Any thoughts?

In any case, I have made another placeholder blog post.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Can I Manage a Monday Post?

If I want to continue (return to?) being a daily blogger, I must admit that some posts will be less worthy than others.  I have fewer Mohawk Valley Adventures these days, despite having more time on my hands.  Yet I want to post something, anything.  Quick, throw in a picture to pep things up.

“A little busy here.”

I might as well make it a Monstrous Monday post. Regular readers will recognize this as my favorite guy, Nosferatu, of the eponymous 1922 silent film.  He is scary, yes.

And it is winter.

This is a picture from some years back, but just to show you I am also dealing with quite a bit of snow.  I have help from a nice neighbor on my driveway.  I confess to ignoring my back deck at the current time.  This particular year we cleared all the stuff off the deck, which is obviously a wise thing to do.  This year, I was not so wise, nor so ambitious.

Resting peacefully?

Here is a picture that combines Monstrous Monday with Winter Woes:  a skull on my deck last winter.  It is part of one of those skeletons you can make look like it is coming out of the ground.  I have a picture of it doing that, but I am too lazy to search my Media Library for it now.

Another skull angle.

Here instead is another picture of my snow skull.  I see I am over 200 words, so I say it is OK.  I thank you for tuning in, and once again, I will try for a better blog post tomorrow.

 

Still Feeling Monstrous.

I am still feeling pretty monstrous (I use the adjective purely to fit in with Monstrous Monday) yet feel I must begin to creep back into the land of the living.  I did not post for the last two days, because I felt it was too many posts about how rotten I felt.  Today I will try for a transitionary post (what? transitionary isn’t a word?  Where’s my dictionary?) (Yes! transitionary IS SO a word!  what the hell, Chromebook? Why are you underlining it?).

Oh dear.

The fact is I am sitting here with a vague headache and not many thoughts in my head.  Yesterday I thought as how I had done nothing but lie around for four days I ought to try to exert myself a little.  Accordingly, I stood up at the sink for a while and did some dishes.  Not all of the dishes, but you can’t have everything.  Later on, I  mustered up enough oomph to go out and shovel the driveway.  There was not a lot of snow, and I did a lousy job, but I felt I had accomplished something.

Not much snow, not much driveway.

This is a picture from a whole different year, but I wanted to add an illustration.

Today my main concern is to make it to the Herkimer Town Board meeting, which I must cover for Sentinel Media.  I do not know what else I ought to demand of myself.  Like I said, creep slowly back to the land of the living.

Creeping back to life among the living?

I thought I’d throw in one monster.  I was looking for The Blob, which I certainly feel like, but I find The Tingler will have to do.