Monsters (and Bloggers) Need Love

One might just as well admit that it is easier not to make a blog post than to make one (one being me).  I could go on at length about how my depression makes it difficult to do
ANYTHING, beginning with getting out of bed in the morning, and how blogging is a form of communicating and I am in a decidedly non-communicative state, but these are half-baked philosophies (I deal in no other kind) better suited for Lame Post Friday.  How about some Mid-Week Monsters instead, and apologies for not posting on Tired Tuesday (I was in fact very tired, but explanations are even more tiresome; let us get on with the blog).

I surely would have used this had I posted yesterday, and I might call you Shirley.

I had the delightful experience this morning of thinking it was Tuesday but realizing it was Wednesday, so I feel free to use this picture.  I could feel a little sad it is not Friday, but what is wrong with Wednesday? All days need a little love.

“You need room-darkening shades, by the way.”

Monsters need a little love, too.  That is all Nosferatu is looking for here.  Love, and a little nutrition.  Even vampires need to eat!

Only my hairdo is not as good.

This is my current profile picture on Facebook.  It is a pretty good description of me, by the way.

I’m sure he meant it as a compliment.

Speaking of looking for love in all the wrong places…  I’m sure Drs. Frankenstein and Praetorious (don’t know if that’s spelled right; too lazy to look it up) thought these two were ideally suited.  That is what makes me suspicious of dating services.  How do they know who is and is not compatible?

I see I am approaching 300 words.  I call that respectable, as regular readers (if I still have any) know.  Yes, my little blog is looking for love, just like these monsters.  They say you have to give it to get it, and I do love my readers.  Happy Wednesday, everybody.

 

I Bought the Book!

Yesterday I made my way to Ilion Little Theatre, where local author Dave Dellecese was having a Story Time and Signing for his new book, Lucy and the Ghost Take the Stage.  Two of my favorite things: theatre and ghosts!  And a book I think my grandniece, Evie, might like for a Christmas present (I feel free to put it here, because I am fairly certain she does not read my blog).

The author with his book.

Dave Dellecese has been a good friend ever since I joined Ilion Little Theatre. He is an excellent actor and director as well as a talented writer. I am so impressed with his prolific output!  I really must up my writing game.

I had to take the above picture twice, since in the first shot I inadvertently got Char, president of the club, in the background.  When I said I had gotten her blurry in the background, another lady said, “That’s the ghost!”

I did not stay to hear the reading or even eat a cookie, because I was not feeling well.  Nothing contagious; I just have not been eating in the most healthy fashion, especially on Sunday. In my defense… OK, I have no defense.

You can follow Dave Dellecese on Facebook or at https://davedellecese.com/.

 

At Least It’s a Post

I wanted to keep posting daily. Then I left my house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. In addition to running into Internet problems, I got a terrible migraine headache.

Now I am sitting at my parents’ house, having missed a day of posting, trying to fat finger type on my phone, and missing some fun family jokes while try to make some semblance of a post. What the hell, me?

Not the most evocative of photos.

I looked on my device for a photo to pep things up. I had a couple more photos of family but had not asked permission to use them in a blog post.

I have never made an entire blog post from my phone, but I think I am about to do so.

At least it is a post. As always, thank you for tuning in.

Did You Ever See a Fat Vampire?

I had a wild thought yesterday that I was going to make another blog post in the evening, but that did not happen.  This morning I have reason to be grateful to my slow dining-room-table-table-top, because while I waited for things to load, my coffee maker had time to brew this morning’s cups.  I was going to put “this morning’s pot” but did not want to confuse things.  It’s legal in New York State (where I am) by the way.

As you may guess, this post is just going to be me babbling on for 200 words or so.  Regular readers (if I still have any) may recall that I reserve the right to make these foolish posts, especially if I am posting every day, which I hope to continue to do.  Additionally, it has been a long time (too lazy to go back and be exact) since I have done a Monstrous Post, and I miss my monsters!  For another reason, the pictures will pep the post up.

See? She’s happy the blog is back.

Here is a nice vampire to brighten our morning, of the Hammer Horror variety.  I’m not sure which film this picture is from, or even if it is a still or a publicity shot.  It appears her pinky ring is a little big for her.  I hope she doesn’t lose it.  I lost a pinky ring once after losing a considerable amount of weight.  I would just imagine the liquid diet of the vampires would have a similar slimming effect.  Think about it, did you ever see a fat vampire?  I just now thought about it.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with weighing whatever you happen to weigh.  I do not believe in fat shaming, and any remarks about fat vampires are not in any way meant to do so.

What’s he looking so annoyed about?

This, of course, is who many believe is the quintessential vampire, Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula.  Lugosi had many other delicious horror roles.  I loves me some Bela.

I always think he looks startled here.

I can’t close without including my favorite, Nosferatu, from the 1922 silent movie of the same name.  He is fine, yes.

I see I am over 350 words.  I say very respectable for a foolish post.  Now I have two in a row. Let’s see if I can keep this good habit up!

 

Walking Back to the Blog

I have not posted in two weeks (I did the math: 14 days, then I looked at a calendar).  It just got easier and easier NOT to post!  And here is a philosophical question (whose answer will be half-baked, no doubt) suitable for a future Lame Post Friday post (if I can manage to keep posting that long):  why are good habits so hard to get back to and bad habits so easy?  I can go a week or two without eating chocolate (I can’t tell you the last time I actually did that, but I’m sure I can), then one little bite and I’m all, “YUM!  Why did I ever stop this?”

Full disclosure:  right now as I ten-finger type on my dining-room-table-top, I am a bit,  “This is awesome!  Why did I ever stop this?”  Yet I cannot guarantee I will be here tomorrow morning at this time doing the same thing.  But, as I said, these questions are for Lame Post Friday.

The current state of my blog.

As I often do at these times,  I throw in a picture to pep things up.  On Sunday (today is Tuesday, but the way; I mention it because my WordPress timestamp does not always jive) I took a walk with my camera, taking a few pictures, thinking to make a Pedestrian Post.  These rotting pumpkins caught my eye. I thought it was a brave smile, such as I feel myself giving these days (my teeth are in about as good shape).  At least this one has not started molding on the inside.  I once saw a really scary one with its mouth wide open to a black interior.  Alas that I had no phone or tablet with me at the time.

A nice place. I should join.

My walk continued and eventually I went past the Herkimer Elks Lodge, the site of my recent theatrical triumph (I feel I do not flatter myself as I give most of the credit to my fellow actors), Lights, Camera, Murder!  Imagine my chagrin when I discovered there were several other murder mysteries with the same title.  These things happen, I suppose, and I have heard you cannot copyright a title.

Why isn’t he in his cell? Is it a jail break?

Because I am still (let’s face it: almost always) in Halloween mode, I took a shot of the ghost of Chester Gillette peeking out of the 1824 Jail.  I guess it is not technically a ghost, but I think it has a nicely creepy air to it.

I see I am over 400 words.  That is long for one of my posts!  I hope I can get back into daily blogging. I may even waste a post detailing why I was away for so long, but as I often note, explanations are tiresome.  I sincerely thank you for tuning in.

 

Congratulations, Renewed and Rescued!

Saturday marked the fifth anniversary for Renewed and Rescued, one of my favorite Herkimer businesses.  Naturally I went down to celebrate with them.

Renewed and Rescued is the anchor store and the founder of Mohawk Community Market, a wonderful vendor market in the old Munger’s Department Store on North Main Street in Herkimer.   They feature a wide variety of items ranging from repurposed vintage furniture to local artisan products and even including some food!

Getting ideas for Christmas!

I wrote my congratulations on a poster board they had set up, following my name with “aka Mohawk Valley Girl” but foolishly did not take a picture.  After looking through the room with clothes (I could use a new fabulous outfit), I went on to the food samples.

Good stuff!

I sampled some cheeses and a delicious pumpkin butter while chatting with some of the people who worked there.  They were very friendly and kind.  I was especially fascinated by some flavorings you can add to water.  Personally I drink plain water all day every day and love it, but I was just talking to a co-worker who can’t stand it plain. I will have to recommend these to her.

You could also add them to coffee and other beverages.

I wandered around looking at the other vendors’ wares and on into the basement, which now includes Mungers 1918 Luncheonette.  I mean to go there for lunch one day soon.  That will make for a delicious blog post!

Renewed and Rescued and Mohawk Community Market are located at 124 North Main St., Herkimer, NY.  They are open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

 

This Blog Needs a New Plot

Well, this is embarrassing.  It seems I have had almost an entire Blogger’s Sick Week.   In my defense, I have been ill with some unnamed, unhappy malady (oh, come on, autocorrect!  “ill” is a word; you don’t have to change it to “I’ll”!).  However, my purpose today is not to get bogged down in my tiresome ailments but to get back to blogging with a Late Lame Post Friday post.

That was as far as I got on my Tablet, curled up comfortably at the end of my couch, pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus.  Now I am ten-finger typing on my dining-room-table-top and kind of missing the predictive text thingy.  Oh well, one can’t have everything after all.  I do have coffee and that will have to suffice me.

Aren’t they cute?

I thought I would throw in a picture to pep things up.  These are some of our fall decorations from November 2017, ones that can count for Thanksgiving as well as Halloween.  The two larger scarecrows are sweethearts, and the little one is the younger brother of the boy scarecrow.  The big boy scarecrow wishes his little brother would go away so the sweethearts can be alone, but the girl scarecrow thinks the little guy is adorable.  See, I make up plots for everything.  I have probably shared that one before and ought to make up another one for these three.  Incidentally, they are not out this year, and I have no idea where they are.  That is the kind of year I am having.

Looking behind to look ahead.

You can accuse me of rushing the season all you like; I will admit the fault.  This is a shot of my late, sadly missed husband, Steve’s nutcracker collection in December 2019.  The collection has grown since then.  The reason I wanted to share a picture of the nutcrackers is that they are still on the buffet and I can look straight at them while I type.  I have thought about packing them away any time since last January, but now it seems more appropriate to let them stay and perhaps be my only Christmas decoration this year.  Um, except for a couple of thing we keep out year round.  Full disclosure:  I do not remember if I put those nutcrackers out in 2022 or an earlier year.  I daresay regular readers will not be surprised.

A toast is always seasonal!

I looked around for a good picture to end with, and this nice shot of Steven caught my eye.  It is one of our many happy times hanging out on the front porch.  In the background, you can see another scarecrow peeking around the post.  I suppose she is spying on the neighbors, but I do not judge her for that.  I love hanging out on the porch, but it might get boring for a scarecrow to be there 24/7.  Full disclosure:  she is there 24/7/365.  She is out there now.  I may make up a new plot for her later.

It is good to be blogging again.

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  I continue my plan of early morning posts although this morning it is over an hour later than yesterday.  I took the day off because of a doctor’s appointment.  I won’t say much about that, because, you know, HIPAA (however you spell that) (is it spelling when it is an acronym?  Oh well, you know what I mean).

I typed that much (pecked one letter at a time with the stylus, I add, catering to my overdeveloped sense of accuracy) on my Tablet, curled up on the couch, waiting for my coffee to perk.  Now I am sitting up at the dining room table like a respectable writer, ten finger typing and feeling SO HAPPY for my coffee.

My cup is appropriate to the day, yes?

I have a number of things I must get done today, but one essential is to get at least one light on my front porch for the trick or treaters.  I normally have a porch nicely decorated with colored lights, sometimes appropriate for the season, but as with many aspects of life, I have dropped the proverbial ball (I have not done this in a while, but in the past I have mentioned, if you add the “the proverbial” to a cliche, it turns it into a self-deprecating cultural reference) (or do I flatter myself?)

Witchy says “Happy Halloween!”

I threw in a picture before I got bogged down in parenthetical comments or worse.  Witchy is still on my porch but not currently plugged in.  I unplugged her when my Dad was here and needed to plug in his compressor to pump up my tire.  Since most of the light strings that were also plugged in were burnt out, I just threw the extension cords into the house, figuring I would fix it later.  Obviously I did not specify how much later.

A Merry Halloween!

Santa is also still on my porch but out of costume.  Perhaps I can fix that today as well.

It may seem silly to light and decorate my porch the day of Halloween, but I think the trick or treaters will appreciate it.  I usually get quite a few.  Additionally, if I put up green lights as I intend to, I will only have to add some red for Christmas in a few weeks (hopefully before Christmas Eve).  I will un-costume Santa and put an angel costume on Witchy.  I think I will have to make her a new halo, though.

Preview of Coming Attractions.

I couldn’t find a picture of Angel Witchy, so a picture of Elliott Ghoul in a Santa Hat will have to do.

 

About That Party…

I guess workday mornings before work are my times to make blog posts these days as my Tablet continues to foil me and my body rebels from sitting up at the dining-room-table-top.  What’s up with that, body?  My mind seems to be giving me a few problems too.  Just now the word “sitting” was underlined in blue and it took me a few minutes to figure out where the extra “t” was (I had typed “stitting”).  Then I left out one set of “in” in “dining room” and I had to ponder which “in” it was, the one in “din” or the one in “ing.”

Be all that as it may, here is some semblance of a post to try to start my week on the right foot.  In my last post, I was requested to share pictures of my costume from Friday, when my friend Kim and I went to a Halloween party featuring our favorite band, The Posers.  I had a little problem there and this is the best I can come up with this morning.

I think it is a kind of a cool shot.

This is my shadow in the parking lot of Ilion Elks Lodge, before we went into said party.  You can at least see that I am wearing a cape and have a bat on my head.  I only got one picture of the band.

They are awesome, yes!

We had a fun time at the party, dancing to a lot of great tunes.  I had not brought my Tablet with me, because I did not want to worry about it when I was on the dance floor (it is still taking OK pictures for me at least).  I had my phone in a little bag looped on a scarf around my waist.

And I see I am up to 300 words (more with this paragraph!).  I call it respectable for a Monday morning.  Once again, I will strive to improve as the week wears on.

 

What Am I Supposed To Be?

Prior to 5 a.m. and prior to work is not the appropriate time to make a Lame Post Friday post.  I’m just saying.  However, I am sitting here, grateful for my first cup of coffee, and determined to make a blog post so it will be at least three days in a row.  Yesterday in my title I threatened to make this blog All Lights, Camera, Murder! All The Time, but I am not yet ready to actually do so.  For one reason, I neglected to take any pictures at last night’s rehearsal.  It was not really all that memorable.  Speaking of memorable, I need to get to work learning my lines.

 

It’s hard to get a shot of the whole band.

My dilemma today is what to wear tonight.  My friend Kim and I plan to go to a Halloween Party at Ilion Elks Lodge, featuring our favorite band, The Posers.  That shot is from an evening they played there last January.

I usually have little problem coming up with a costume.  I have a large collection of costumes and costume pieces from previous Halloweens and plays I was in, in addition to a lot of stuff I have picked up along the way, just waiting for the opportunity to use them.  Tonight, however, the temperature is supposed to be unseasonably warm.  The Elks Club, with all the people sure to attend the party, will probably be steaming.  Even if not too bad, once we start boogying down to the great sounds of The Posers, I will no doubt begin to sweat.  The black velvet gown and red-lined cloak, which is my go-to costume as a common or garden ghoul, will not be that comfortable.

If only I had a long enough blond wig, I could go as Lady Godiva (I just said that with the devilish intention of giving some of you an unfortunate mental image) (you know who you are).  I suppose I could wear what I wore to the DooDah Parade some years ago.  As I recall, I mentioned in a previous blog post that I put that outfit together merely with the intention of keeping cool.

Bonus! I could wear my tiara!

My problem with that is, people would ask me what I was supposed to be, and I do not know what I could tell them.  On a float in a parade (I always insist on riding in the Doodah Parade), viewers are forced to draw their own conclusions.  Being me, of course, I suppose I could make something up.  So my assignment for today is (1) figure out what I am supposed to be in the above get-up or (2) come up with something else.

In the meantime, I have (pre-1) come up with a respectable-length blog post for the third day in a row.  I like to celebrate every small win.