halloween movies

i love halloween
it is such a happy holiday
no pressure for single folk like valentines.....
no expectations and uneasy family relationships to live up to......
or cry about later
and NO ONE in my circle DIED on halloween!
( can you spell ironic?)

ok part of halloween is the specials......
and the pumpkins...don't forget the pumpkins

so while i rarely watch tv..... and have serious trouble sitting through a movie
there are some movies and specials i would love to have a back to back marathon on

here is a partial list and i think i best add to it here and there huh?

• the worst witch- this was so campy it was great
• the addams family- both the series and the two movies with raul julia
• casper- the first movie (christina ricci is wonderful in this and the addams family)
• it's the great pumpkin charly brown ...... naturally
• harry potter.....all of them....one after the other
• the others- ok this was pretty scary the first time around, after that it's just cool
• edward scissorhands
• sleepy hollow- johnny depp VERY atmospheric~christina ricci again as well
• the nightmare before christmas
• the corpse bride ( we may as well get johnny depp out of the way
• the witches- angelica huston should only play morticia or a witch or both
• the witch's sister..... campy 70's fun
• witch's night out-little known but really interesting
• interview with a vampire -while we hate vampires messing up halloween, i gotta admit...this one is good
• bednobs and broomsticks.....witches never looked better
• the woman in black this one is from 2012 with 'harry potter AKA daniel radcliffe'
• paranorman (just get this one.... seriously do yourself a favor and just get this one)
• beetlejuice
• the haunted mansion-just cause i loved that scene of the coach with the ghosts
• bewitched-the SERIES
• hocus pocus......are you kidding me.... watch this a couple times
• the witches of eastwick
• disney's halloween treat
• practical magic-that house and that BOOK
• Canterville Ghost (1986)
• high spirits
• i married a witch
• mists of avalon
• bell book and candle
• narnia
• the adventures of ichabod and mr toad
• merlin
• the haunting
• the lady in white
• the watcher in the woods
• the ghost and mrs muir
• child of glass
• ghost story
• topper
• truly madly deeply
• the gift
• elvira mistress of the dark...campy fun
• the black cauldron
• halloweentown
• haunted history of halloween
• blithe spirit
• heart and souls
• the ghost and mr chicken
• blackbeard's ghost
• the frighteners
• chitty chitty bang band......oh come ON a flying CAR...i love it
• beyond tomorrow
• a christmas carole, (get the one with jim carey for the FX)
• coraline
• something wicked this way comes
• gremlins
• the halloween tree
• saint ange
• the woman in black
• mr. boogedy 
• when good ghoules go bad
• sweeny todd
• what lies beneath
• excalibur
• the sixth sense
• stardust
• the bridge to terabithea
• the pirates of the caribbean if you are inclined to pirates, the special effects rock
• ALL of the harry potter movies, do them back to back, start in july when it's raining out-YES this bares repeating.....oh man yes it does

ok that is part of a list.....i would love more movies like these. I highlighted my favorites for you all but really getting a bunch of these and watching them one after another with glowing jackolanterns and whispery 'cobwebs' all together is a wonderful family night that shouldn't give anyone nightmares
i have a lot of these on vhs but would dearly LOVE to get them all on dvd ( i have the corpse bride on dvd)....just cause i don't ever want to be without them on halloween
i wish that the folks that did sleepy hallow and the folks that did hocus pocus would do more although sleepy hallow was pretty gory.....it was just so perfect that i can accept the gore
i would love to see some more witches and ghosties.......
i also love a good ghost story...... preferably a real one....but a really good one is ok real or not
til next time
vi

must haves and security blankets

it's almost winter,
we started the heat here
saturday night we did the yearly break in firing of the woodstove

canning season is still going but for me not quite at the frantic pace of before

i have been having a good time making some pear preserves, each batch lowering the sugar
i would like to get to the point where there is NO sugar in there
just pears and juice
we'll see
the sugar draws the juice of the pears out and helps preserve them
and then you reduce the juice to syrup
it's really quite good

but i am thinking
if i simmer the pears in say.....pear nectar...until tender
then reduce the juice to syrup
same deal right?

ok to the original point of this post

what are your 'must have's'?

the things you must have in the house before winter?
i have a list

• honey-we need a fresh jar of raw honey for the winter for colds etc
• candles, and oil lamps- i now have 5 oil lamps with enough oil for probably 10 years, as well as 2 boxes of 36-15 hour candles
• wood-we have 10.5 cords, which i am hoping is enough if we have a bad winter
• 200 pounds of potatoes-direct from the grower
• a fully stocked pantry-all the basics plus what i canned all season
• new prodjects for the winter ( yes virginia, this is where the yarn would come in)

now with my canning and drying, i found a few new ways to put the staples we use up, things like mushroom concentrate to replace mushroom soup for soups and sauces and gravies.
( i love my friends on the canning list......we bounce ideas off each other all the time.....)

i also have to have dried sweet red peppers on hand.....and little jars of sweet roasted red peppers..... they are the best
the upcoming weeks i will be canning kidney beans, and pinto beans.....potatoes....etc
also stuff that is on sale that i didn't get to grow this year......
such as sweet potatoes..... chestnuts

i will hand wash all our woolen or acrylic sweaters,
and lay them outside to dry on the patio table

i have already planted the garlic...... it is tucked all snug in the little divided beds in the garden.
i planted 12 new varieties this year.....and will put in, i think three of the older ones
by the time i really find out what variety works here......we'll move!

oh well it is fun to plan and try the different garlics

i want seeds for the heritage 'long pie pumpkin'
i have found them on line so this coming season.....i will grow pie pumpkin and long pie
along with long NECK butternuts
i hope we do move before this gardening season next, as i want to expand the garden
and with jackass and his ongoing juvenile vandalism i can't
somehow...... the plastic 'tent' that i put over the peppers got folded back....
but ONLY the side we can't see from the house......
and tucked between the garden fence and the hoop that supports the peppers......
neatly tucked no less
that is pretty hard for the ME to do let alone the wind don't you think?
thankfully it was still enough to protect the peppers
so no harm
but that is what we live with daily
we are going to get cameras and put them in

now back to my garden
if it were larger i would have a longer list for next year
as it is
i would like to be out of here by next year
into a larger property and slightly larger house......
i wouldn't mind building
as we would then build around the woodstove and with added solar-greenhouse etc.....
the first floor would be a HUGE keeping/kitchen
the basement one huge storage room
(and real dirt floored root cellar)
the second floor......bedrooms and studio.....
bernie wants me to have a seperate canning/soap kitchen.....
that is doable fairly easily i think


anyway....... i wandered around as usual

sooooooo what do YOU do to prepare for winter?




til next time

vi

october blue skies

there isn't anything like an october blue sky
the color is sharp against the brilliance of the trees
if the weather is 'pretty' we try and soak up every last ounce of it before the cold winds
and the snow flies

so what am i doing?
CANNING
in the HOUSE

oye
ok today i canned mushrooms
sauteed in butter with garlic and onions and a severely reduced stock......
in little cute 4oz jars
not all of them sealed
that pissed me off highly......

now i had actually made the mushroom base on sunday...... lightly pureeing it
i put it in some quart jars in the fridge until i had time to can it

and i have to tell you
as good as it is.....mmmmmmm
and it IS good
it looks like swamp witch potions

ewwwwwwwwww
it really does
i kept expecting eyeballs and disembodied digits to turn up in it
told you.....it really looks THAT BAD

next halloween
serve a homemade cream of mushroom soup in CLEAR glass jars
you'll see


ok now...... duck eggs are excellant for baking
most excellant
and i am going to get a second female duckie for this
wow

falstaff will think he died and went to heaven
ha
little does he know......
HIS serves are no longer needed

hmmmmmmm
i also got ORANGES......................


well canning season is starting to wind down.......
ha
at least i tell myself that
i got blisters on my fingers from peeling pears but I LOVE these pears

i didn't tally what i canned this year.....not as much as last year but
i still have a ton from last year......(not that i went overboard mind with the canning, but if i could even think of eating it......i canned it)

i plan on hobby canning of artisianal jams etc all winter
oh and buying a half a cow and canning THAT


i got the bug you know


til next time

vi