I'm Back.....

well, sort of. I was getting tired of the comment spam that I finally had to install a captcha thing-a-ma-jig.
Hopefully it will deter the spammers and not irritate my blog readers.
If I ever start posting again. I'm trying, really.

Merry Something To You!

Another post beginning with an apology....! I cannot seem to get it together to write posts lately. Lots of stuff happening to share but I just never get around to writing it all down. I think that may be one of my things to do in 2010....more posts.

The image here is from the cover of the 1958 edition of the Cookie Book, which has been put out for the last 80 years or so by Wisconsin Electric Power Company--now called WEnergies. My mom had this one I remember. I got a .pdf copy of this year's edition.

I did make a few batches of Christmas cookies, not as much as years past and in fact, I had one cookie failure. I was trying to make soft, cake-like molasses cookies and followed the suggested substitutions and ended up with a big mess. I made Ribbon Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Sugar Cut-Outs and Apricot Rugelach.

Tomorrow I'm traveling to Austin to have Christmas with my Dad, sister and niece. If all goes well, I may get to see Brave Combo while I'm there.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and warm Christmas...or like the boys from Devo say: Merry Something To You!

Here's a little something to get you in a festive mood!

Halloween 2009 Review

It's about time I posted a recap of The Legend of Real Spooky Place--2009.

This year's haunt was another success. About 270 souls passed through the gates of Fartwood Cemetery on Halloween night. Even though the weather was great and the holiday fell on a Saturday, we didn't see the numbers we thought we would. Our friends in other neighborhoods said they weren't very busy either. It doesn't make sense to blame the economy--I would think more people would be out trying to score free candy--but who knows?

As usual, we had a "dress-rehearsal" on Friday night in order to make sure the foggers were OK and to fine-tune the lighting and other things. A few friends stopped by and I made some goodies to munch on.

Meringue Bones

Cat Cookies
Green Slime and Cyanide Cider
Hazmat Chili
Braaaaiiiiinnns!

(actually lemon panna cotta and raspberry coulis!)

Dale has more and much better photos and video on his site. Click here to check it out

Black Sunday

Remember that guy or girl in ninth grade who dumped you for your best friend? It's kinda like that.

Or what about that nice guy you worked with for ten years who turns out to be selling secrets to the Chinese? Kinda like that, too.

Mr. Crip doing a little drive-by in Mr. Blood's 'hood? ....yeah like that.

The prodigal returns...except not in a good way. Not to repair the damaged relationship, but instead to break it some more.

What ever way you look at it--Brett Favre returning to Lambeau Field in a purple jersey is just wrong, wrong, wrong. You know it has to be a wrong of epic proportion if Bob Harlan isn't even going to WATCH the game.

The greatest player ever, the storied Green Bay franchise, the amazing 16 year road, with all its twists and turns....should be adding up to a fairy tale ending, not a bubbling cauldron of hurt and animosity. It didn't have to be this way and there is plenty of blame to go around on all sides. I don't think we'll ever sort out the "who did/said what to whom" part of this drama. The reality is that the NFL is a business--a high-stakes one--run by human beings with big egos, agendas, and plain-old human failings. It is just sad that this is what it has come to.

So, is Brett going to be cheered then boo'ed when he comes out of the tunnel? Boo'ed only? It will be interesting to see what happens. My primary care physician tells the story of when he was a student at Michigan and Bush the Elder came to speak....all the students stood and turned their backs to him. I kind of like that expression of displeasure.

Let's hope the Bad Brett shows up--the one that throws all those interceptions, and not the Good Brett that seems to pull something out at the very last second to save the day.

Getting in the Halloween Mood

A scene from Fartwood Cemetery.

This is totally embarrassing.....my last post was over a month ago! I swear there is some cosmic phenomena that is deleting hours from the day.

The haunt is complete--everything is out and set up and waiting for Friday when Dale will fire up the foggers at the pre-Halloween party. We have held off carving the pumpkins and will do that tomorrow and Thursday in the hope they won't completely rot and disintegrate before Friday night.

To get you into the Halloween mood, here's the podcast I made last year. It still works!
This is the scene in the front window--the pumpkin totem with spiders.

The Return of "The Legend of Real Spooky Place"

September is almost over and October is just around the corner. To most people that means back to school, a heavier blanket on the bed at night, colorful leaves to rake, wild fires and football.

Here at Fartwood Manor it means that we've (well, mostly Dale) been fast at work on the yard haunt: The Legend of Real Spooky Place.

This year we are sticking with the Fartwood Cemetery theme and there won't be anything majorly new.....just a lot of tweaking of the existing props. Right now Dale is changing the fence from wrought iron to be more rusty and crusty. The Wailing Tree from last year needs a little patch job from when it blew off the roof where it had been stored over the summer.

We're expecting a big night since Halloween is on a Saturday this year.

If you would like to keep an eye on the progress of the haunt, check out Dale's site, The Gate.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

It's football time again! Yahoo! A lot less drama this year compared to last, that's for sure. This season will be extra special at Fartwood Manor since we finally joined the 21st century and got an HDTV. I have to admit is pretty incredible for watching sports.

This season I have also joined a fantasy football league for the first time--that should be interesting. I'm not too sure how it works, but I hope I can figure it out before I get too far behind.

The little guy pictured above has graced the top of the tee-vee set every fall at my parents' house for something like 45 years. If there is anything like the "family jewels" in my family...this is it.

Imagine my delight when I spotted these shoes in the window of the Vans store! I had to have them. The weird thing is that even though I've lived in SoCal for 29 years...this is my first pair of Vans.

GO PACK GO!!