My Frightful Sewing . . .

Last week I mentioned my sewing had been mostly Halloween costumes that were unfinished - and promised pictures this week.  Well, that is not to be.  Here's the deal:  

Dave is registered to legally perform weddings, so he was asked to marry some friends ... on Halloween ... in costume.  For his costume, he chose to be Alice Cooper.  He found a tailcoat on ebay and we added sequins on the lapel, replaced fabric-covered buttons with flasy gold and silver, and added red leather cuffs,  chains and other bling.  A "bedazzled" top hat and some make-up and he was good to go.  

The Bride & Groom

For my costume, I planned to make myself a red faux-leather tailcoat and a gold brocade vest to be worn over a straight black dress, black tights and boots - a steam-punk rocker to compliment Alice.  I haven't sewn clothing for many many years, but I figured it was like riding a bike.  So I purchased a pattern and all the necessary notions and jumped in.  I cut the pattern one size larger than I usually wear, just for good measure.  When I got the first couple pieces together and tried it on, it was obvious;y too small, so I took it apart and re-assembled with the narrowest seams I could manage and it was much better . . . until I put the sleeves in.  I was actually proud of the coat - lining, tails, etc - and proud of the finished look - but I couldn't raise my arms. 

I scrapped - literally - the jacket and threw together a "fortune teller" costume which was passable, if not elaborate.  And my costume was the least important part of the evening.

 This wedding was undoubtedly the most original I've ever attended, but also one of the most fun.  It was exactly what the bride wanted - she's as nutty about Halloween as I am about Christmas.  The decorations, cake and music were wonderfully spooky and everyone had a blast.  

Mx3 - Week 2

I hear tell the road to hell 

is paved with good intentions, 

but Mama, my intentions were the best...

Merle Haggard and Randy Travis must have been window-peeking at my house when they wrote those lyrics.  I really had good intentions of reviewing one book and one movie per week during Mx3.  And I made it one week - but then life crept in and I didn't quite finish the book and I didn't find/make time to watch the movie.... and I have all kinds of excuses, but truth is, I just didn't get it done. However, the book is short stories and I did read SOME of them so I'm going to share my favorite - so far.

Ghosts of the Missouri River is a volume of "real" ghost stories collected by a local author.  We live along the "Big Muddy", and these tales were repeated to her by long-time residents who heard these stories from their grandparents or who just know them because  "people say..." It's not a particularly well-written book, but the idea of passing along with tales handed down over years is good.  My favorite story is The Bells of St. Deroin.  We recently visited what's left of that small town and saw the school house where the  story takes place.

The story tells of Haggai Craterman - "a river rat, a rough and bearded codger who worked loading and unloading the river barges...[He] stood about 6'7", a whale of a man who could pick a 300 lb. hog above his head and toss it, oinking and squealing, onto a barge" - who was killed inside the school, supposedly by a frightened school marm who bashed him with the hand bell she used to call the students from recess, then disappeared. An unlikely scenario considering Haggai's size and strength, but that's the legend.  People say that "on many dark nights the bell in the schoolhouse tower dongs loudly."

St. Deroin is now located within Indian Cave State Park and Dave and I were at the park to hike.  You may recall from my earlier post about that trip, that when we reached the bottom of the trail, I asked Dave to snap a picture, using my cell phone, to commemorate the moment.  We stood in front of a log cabin just across the road from the St. Deroin school house.  When I downloaded the picture to computer, it was slightly dark so I began mess with the brightness and contrast.  The instant I did, this image appeared.

No, the scary part is not that my make-up has sweated off, my hair is flat and I'm *gasp* wearing a tank-top in public.  It's the shadowy image behind me. 

  

Is that Haggai Craterman, biding his time in the cabin across the road, waiting for the school marm to return so he can exact his revenge?  If you asked me on any random day if I believe in ghosts, I would answer with a quick and decisive "of course not".  But that picture's just weird.

As for this week's movie - I was scheduled to watch Murder on the Orient Express, which is waiting patiently on the DVR, but it just didn't happen.  The one evening that we found time to watch a movie, Dave requested a movie a friend had loaned him and I agreed, assuming I would find time for my movie during an afternoon.  However, the movie we did watch turned out to be even scarlier.

Taken is the story of a 17-year-old girl who takes a trip to Europe against her father's better judgment,  Sure enough, she's kidnapped and sold into prostitution within the first day and Daddy has to go to her rescue.  Fortunately for this girl, she has a father with an extreme skill set - detection, computers/electronics,  survival, and multiple ways to murder people without rumpling his shirt.  Normally, I would have seen this movie as just another shoot-em-up thriller, but with a son set to go to Europe next summer, it hit a little close to home.  Although, as our 6'3", 250 lb. son is fond of saying "Fat kids are harder to kidnap."  So maybe I don't have much to worry about.

My Spooky, Scary Halloween Post About Witches...

I'm not a fan of Halloween, or of scary stories (excluding that brief foray into Stephen-King-land in high school) So, my list of favorite Halloween books contains only three titles - all purchased from Scholastic Book Club during grade-school in the 1960's.  

The Witch Next Door by Norman Bridwell was one of my first read-alone books.  It's the story of a brother and sister who discover a witch has moved in next door.  She does things a little differently - like the way she shops, or moves her furniture, or the fact that all her clothes are black (Personally, I think that's just a fashion plan.  If everything's black, mix-and-match is a cinch.)  But they soon discover that just because someone is different, it doesn't mean they're bad - it means they're interesting.

 Some years ago - 10? 15? - my mother sorted through all her pictures and keepsakes and created albums for each of her daughters.  Included in my album was a letter I had written to my grandparents who were spending the winter in Arizona.  I tried to photograph the letter so you could read it for yourself, but it's written in faded pencil on yellowed Big Chief Tablet paper and no matter what I tried, it wasn't legible.  You'll have to take my word for the contents:

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Debbie (little sister) and I stayed at Bernice's (aunt) yesterday.  I would build up blocks and Debbie would laugh when I knocked them down.  It was lots of fun.

I ordered a book at school and it came today.  I payed for it with my own money.  The name of it is The Witch Next Door.

Love, Tami

I think my natural writing talents were obvious, even at that early age.

My next two Halloween favorites are from the Chapter Book era of my reading history.  Between 1969 and 1998, Ruth Chew wrote dozens of books featuring witches and magic.  Yes, I had outgrown Mrs. Chew's books by 1998 (at which time I had an 8-year-old of my own), but when The Wednesday Witch was published, I was eight and it was an instant favorite.  I really wanted a witch to show up at my house on her flying vacuum cleaner and shrink herself to live in my dollhouse.

What the Witch Left came out a few years later.  I can't remember the details of it quite as clearly, but I know it was well-read and my copies of both books still exist....in a box....in the basement....somewhere.... Again, you'll just have to take my word for it.

What are your Halloween favorites - childhood or current?