Category Archives: Monstrous Monday

I’m In The Mood For Monsters

I’m In The Mood For Monsters

Hello and welcome to another Monstrous Monday post.  Yes, I have at least a couple of things I can blog about.  It is Veteran’s Day and would be appropriate for me to make a post thanking our veterans.  In fact, I am a veteran and I say you’re welcome.  Sometimes I say, “No problem; any time!” just to be self-deprecating.  In fact, my service was not such a much, but I did try to make my contribution.  Never mind that:  I am in the mood for monsters!

Gotta get me a jacket like that.

I open with my favorite, Nosferatu, of the eponymous 1922 silent movie.  I suppose it might have been nice to share a picture of a soldier turned monster, but I do not have one.

I have a little less brain than this today.

I am feeling a little guilty about not making a Veteran’s Day post, but I really do not have the brain power to do so.  In these cases, I always like to show a picture of The Brain from the Planet Arous.  Sometimes I felt that I had very little brain in the army, but I did the best I could.

That’s giving him the side eye!

Speaking of brains, here is The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, one of my all-time favorites.  As regular readers know, my brain would and often does die.  No matter.  It usually comes back to life the next day, sometimes in time for me to make a blog post.  In the meantime,  I am over 250 words, so I will hit Publish and call this a day.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

Frankenstein, Can You Help Me Now?

According to my calculations, I remain a post behind while still posting every day.  Quite frankly, I am tired of calculating and tired of beginning each post with an apology for being late.  I suspect it becomes tiresome for my readers too.  So let’s just say, I skipped Saturday’s post, yesterday was Sunday’s post, and today is Monday.  For one reason, about all I am up to right now is a Monstrous Monday Post.

I just spent a goodly amount of time looking for a picture I saw on Facebook this morning only to realize once I found it that I still do not know how to download a picture on my Chromebook.  I am so technologically inept.  I guess it’s back to the Media Library for me.

He looks about as brain dead as I feel.

Who doesn’t love Frankenstein’s monster?  I suppose some terrorized villagers, and little Marie’s parents.  The actress who played little Marie, by the way, loved Boris Karloff, and he was very sweet to her.  I love stories like that.

Yes, I am a monster.

I go in a different direction by including this picture of my shadow I took last October.  I believe I was in a parking lot going towards a Halloween party.  No parties for me this year, I’m afraid.  I am still on the fence about purchasing candy and greeting trick or treaters.

“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Here is a graphic depiction of my current mood.  Oh, please, nobody try tough love on me and tell me to quit whining and Do Something.  I KNOW the benefits of activity and realize motivation usually follows action.  I have a whole list in my head of things to do.  I hope to commit it to paper and begin to actually do the things.

Don’t yank my chain!

I end with Frankenstein’s monster.  I am not sure what he is doing in this picture, but let’s pretend he is pulling a chord that will release a floodgate of ambition and motivation for me.  I’ll get to work!  I’ll put up more decorations!  I’ll have Mohawk Valley Adventures!  I’ll write blog posts about them!  Do you believe me, or do you suppose it is all a monstrous lie?

 

I Need Halloween Monsters!

Hello and welcome to another late Monstrous Monday post.  It is the season for monsters, after all.  I have not been in a particular Halloweeny mood recently, which is too bad, because it is my favorite season.  Yesterday I was struck with yet another bout of Don’t Wanna Do Nuthin’.  I kept bestirring myself to At Least Do One Thing, with varying degrees of success.  Here is the result of one fairly successful foray:

My mantle.

I was happy to find the lights to hang.  They were in a bag on the knob of the door to my attic, where they have been since I took them down from the porch, an embarrassingly long time after Halloween (then again, they only went up Halloween Day; feel free to judge me).  I don’t know if you can see Santa Claus in the background.  He stays there all year round.  I always think he looks like he is saying, “Good grief!”  In this case it is probably because he is wondering why it took me till nearly halfway through the month to get a single Halloween decoration up (although in general, I think it is because that long piece of paper he is holding is the Naughty List).

The well dressed skeleton.

I looked for a picture of the mantle decorated by my late, dearly missed husband Steve but could not find one.  He had a flair for decorating.  Here is the Halloween outfit he put together for Bonita, our skeleton.  She has been embracing nudity lately, but perhaps I will help her into some seasonal duds before too long.  Bonaparte, her small, admiring friend, you may have noticed on the mantle, sitting in a mug from Adirondack Railroad.  I think he is irresistibly cute.

The Ghost of Christmas Past? or Present?

I close with another decoration of my own:  our other Santa Claus dressed as a ghost.  I purchased that Santa the first year we lived in this house, 2005, walking home from the store with him tucked under my arm and feeling rather pleased with myself.  My mother gave us the other Santa one Christmas, having purchased him at an antique store in Pennsylvania when she was visiting my sister Vicki.

I guess this post has not been particularly monstrous, unless you dislike reading about personal reminiscences and the other drivel that comes out of my typing fingers.  Sometimes one can only type what comes out.  However, if you’ll stay tuned, I hope to have other Mohawk Valley Adventures later this week.

 

One Monster for Good Measure

Hello and welcome to yet another late blog post from me, Mohawk Valley Girl.

Having typed that, I feel myself disinclined to type any more. If I was not ten-finger typing on the Chromebook, I would be tempted to give it up as a bad job.  I know, I know, one must not wait for inspiration.  Sometimes one prefers to at least wait till the coffee kicks in.

Picture to denote passage of time while I get another cup of coffee.

That is one of my favorite pictures.  I have seen some really gruesome rotting pumpkins but have not had anything to take a picture at the time.  The scariest are when the inside starts to mildew and the mouth becomes a black hole!  Not the most sanitary decoration, but I must appreciate beauty where I find it.

I hope to take a drive to Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit, NY tomorrow (preview of coming attractions).  I can get a pumpkin, maybe some lights for my porch, and at least I can walk around and enjoy looking at everything.  I have a bit too much to do today to contemplate the expedition.

A veritable Halloween Mecca!

I can’t say I have made strides in getting my house decorated for Halloween, but I have taken steps.  Maybe they were baby steps, but one does what one can.

I see I am over 200 words.  I guess I can bill this as a Monstrous Monday post, since it is a lot about Halloween.  I’ll just close with one monster for good measure.

 

 

Don’t know who he is, but I like him!

Once Again, I Get By With A Little Help From My Fiends

I am feeling rather monstrous this Monday.  I am looking pretty monstrous as well, but I will spare my readers the sight of that.

Not me.

I am wondering if it is a sinus infection that plagues me lately.  However, other people’s health issues are rarely of interest to the general blog reading public.  Then again, I feel my readers must be people of uncommon taste and discernment, not at all general.  Then again, all my aches and pains are probably not of much interest to you either.  Let’s get back to the monsters.

I positively must go back on the South Beach Diet.

This is a decoration from Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit, NY, one of my favorite seasonal places.  I hope to be making a trip there soon for blogging and Halloween shopping purposes.

He seems nice.

Searching my Media Library for other monsters, I came across this picture I downloaded in March 2017.  I didn’t worry too much about where I found pictures in those days.  Full disclosure:  I don’t get too exercised over it now, either.

Friendly? Or about to fight?

Continuing the non-movie monster theme (if this silly post can be said to have a theme), here are a couple of bugs we used in a murder mystery.  I like fake bugs much better than real ones.

“I still don’t know why they wanted me to be in this blog post.”

OK, one movie monster to end with:  my beloved Nosferatu from the eponymous 1922 silent. The caption is a reference to a light beer commercial from the 1070’s.  “Tastes great!” yell half the people at the bar.  “Less filling!” yell the other half.  Then some guy at the bar says, “I still don’t know why they wanted me in this commercial.”

 

I Stress, But I Post

The question is: do I have time for a Monstrous Monday post early this Tuesday morning (but not as early as I had hoped)?  Yes, yes, I have been promising and promising to make real blog posts.  You didn’t think I meant every day, did you? (Oh, don’t say YOU did; you knew I didn’t and you’re just happy to shame me now that I haven’t!) (Did that make sense?  I really have had coffee this morning.)

Yes, this was the mug I used. It IS Halloween-time, isn’t it?

I am feeling perhaps more stressed these days than my life events justify.  I can’t help how I feel, but I am trying to get my stuff done and not run around waving my arms and making b-b-b-b noises (I would scream, but my throat is so sore from my allergies, it hurts) as I feel inclined to do.

Most people would find this stressful.

A lot of people are quite creeped out by spiders.  I, on the other hand, am not.  It is interesting to me how I can be squeamish and/or screamy about some things and not at all about others.  I shan’t tell you my phobias, in case local readers see this and want to torment me.

You see how little I fear spiders.

Can you tell that’s a spider on my hat?  I wore it on Kentucky Derby Day one year, and to a tea party last year.  It is one of my favorite garage sale purchases.

And now I am over 200 words.  Score!  Still feeling stressed?  Yes!  But that’s not your problem.  Do you have any problems?  If so, I am here to listen.  It will take my mind off mine.

 

Early Morning Monsters

As I embark on my second cup of coffee early Monday morning, I faced a decision:  take a walk or make a blog post.  Sitting the couch ten-finger typing and continuing to sip coffee won.

Aaaahh, coffee!

This is the mug I am using.  I was using it yesterday, too, and wanted to put it in the blog post.  I find it appropriate for the time of year (aficionados know the Halloween season begins the day after Labor Day) and for a Monstrous Monday post.

Scary? Or just old?

This picture was in my Media Library near the picture of the mug.  I use it to keep the post local, since I took the picture on one of my walks around the neighborhood.  It is, perhaps, a little in advance of the current season, but I like it.  It isn’t as scary as other rotting pumpkins I’ve seen; some of them mildew inside and the mouth becomes a rotting black hole.  Nice!

I think she’s pretty!

For another local photo, here is my skeleton Bonita, wearing a pet mask I picked up at a rummage sale and holding black tulips a fell0w cast member gifted me after making them for a prop in a murder mystery.  I never put her in her summer outfit this year; it was a kind of a bad summer, but that’s a long story, not very interesting.  I have yet to dress her for Halloween (yes, she is naturally dressed for Halloween, but since she is a year-round skeleton, I like to give her a little something extra).  In fact, she is sitting on a chair almost buried in some costumes I need to return to another fellow murder mystery actor.

Now I am over 250 words and have three pictures.  Score!  And my Monday blog post is done!  Could this be the start of another streak?  I can only hope!  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

It’s Not Fall, and It’s Not Friday

We had a hint of fall in the Mohawk Valley today.  I enjoyed it, but unfortunately as soon as my body feels that cooler breeze, it says, “Oh boy!  Allergy season!”  As if the sinuses don’t give me hell 24/7/365.  Shouldn’t that be 24/7/52?  Twenty-four hours, seven days, fifty-two weeks?  I think I should just say all year round.

As you may have noticed, my decongestant makes me a little punchy.

They look evil.

I missed my Monstrous Monday post, so I feel free to make one now. Here is a young Christopher Lee with two actresses I don’t remember (too light-headed to look it up) in Horror Hotel, as it is called in my DVD collection. It is known sometimes by a different name, but I have talked about that before in this space.

An oldie but a goodie.

Just a reminder that it is not really Monday.  I can easily put myself in a time warp, and that would not be a good idea.  I have a thing on Thursday and it would not do to show up on Wednesday or Friday.

Anybody can lose their head once in a while.

Note to self:  Make blog post before taking decongestant.  However, I have long maintained that a bad blog post is better than no blog post at all.  Is it true or am I kidding myself?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

A Few Vampires Never Hurt

Once again, I eschew writing about Mohawk Valley adventures for a Monstrous Monday post.  Full disclosure:  It has not been a particularly monstrous day.  For one reason I took off work for a couple of VA appointments.  I will not elaborate on that, because, you know, HIPAA (if I have that acronym right).

The Shadow of the Vampire?

Why not start right out with my favorite, Nosferatu (1922), that silent horror masterpiece.  I love the use of shadows.

For many the quintessential vampire.

Here is a busier illustration, the 1931 Tod Browning produced film.  My late, dearly missed husband,  Steve, was not especially enamored of this movie, but he occasionally consented to watch it with me.

Another favorite of many.

One might argue that Christopher Lee revitalized the role in the Hammer Films Dracula movies. I am not sure which film this picture is from, but I enjoy watching all of them.  Christopher Lee did not confine himself to Dracula, of course.  He memorably portrayed Frankenstein’s monster and other horror parts, both villainous and heroic.

Very atmospheric. I loved it.

To include one more vampire and get to at least 200 words, I share the poster of Dracula’s Daughter, a worthy addition to the pantheon.  Is pantheon the word I want?  Perhaps I should look it up.

Random vampire picture while I grab my dictionary.

Hmmm… doesn’t seem quite right by the definition, but it is used this way in the example.  On that note of grammar, I see I am over 200 words, so I sign off.  I hope you enjoyed another vampire post.  I will try not to let Tired Tuesday get the best of me.

 

Late Monsters, Love Coffee

A late post is better than no post at all.  This week I am either back to late posts or no posts and I choose late posts.  Hello and welcome to a Monstrous Monday post made early Tuesday morning.

Random monster to denote passage of time while I go get coffee.

Everything is less monstrous with coffee.  Coffee drinkers will agree; non-coffee drinkers may substitute the beverage, comfort, or wake-up aid of their choice.  I am feeling a bit monstrous this morning for no particular reason.  At least, there may be reasons, but it would be dull to get into them.  Could I be getting old?  SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!

At least I am not toothless. Yet.

Yesterday I heard music wafting up from Meyers Park, where the Herkimer Downtown Chowdown was taking place, just to give a shout-out to a local attraction.  The Chowdown is the food truck event that runs Mondays in Meyers Park in Herkimer, NY.  They have some great musical entertainment.  I did not walk down yesterday, though.  I may stay home all week.  Judge me if you are so inclined.

He is watching you.

However, I do plan to go for walks this week.  I went for one yesterday morning.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, because I am feeling tired and lazy), it is raining this morning.  I hope it will not be too hot or raining this afternoon when I get home from work. If I do walk, there is a good chance I will walk by my beloved Herkimer Historic Four Corners.  One of the corners is the 1834 Jail, seen in the picture above.  I feel free to include it in Monstrous Monday because of the cut-out of Chester Gillette, a real life monster.  He only committed one murder in his short life, but if he had gotten away with it, I’m thinking he would have done away with other inconveniently pregnant girlfriends.

Ooh, look, I am over 300 words.  Score!  Let’s see if I can do my Tired Tuesday post later on ON Tuesday.  I am pretty sure I will be tired, but thank you for tuning in.