Blobs And Photo Bombs

During our recent photo shoot of the Witch and scarecrow, we were trespassing on a property out in Downingtown (close to where the diner scenes were filmed in the 1958 film THE BLOB).  As we were getting to the end of the shoot, there was some movement on the hill behind the scarecrow and we saw three dogs coming our way with their owner.  I figured we were about to be tossed off the property by a [rightfully] confused individual.  Turns out she was also trespassing.  And she was pretty excited seeing what we were up to.    

She was an older woman from a nearby neighborhood who told us she typically walks her dogs there.  She said she was mystified when she looked from her backyard and saw a scarecrow in the far distance.  The dogs had come running at us with one of them barking heavily at the Witch.  The others seemed to be enjoying the open space, as their owner laughed and excitedly told us over and over again that she absolutely loved these weird creatures.  She asked a ton of questions about the props and took a load of photos.  She and the three dogs posed a few times for some photos with the Witch and the scarecrow...  I snapped away using her phone as we all blabbed and spoke about the property and its history, and our strange hobby of photographing monsters.  The dogs turned out to be the sweetest animals.  And the big one eventually stopped barking at the Witch.  

We said farewell and packed up the creatures and headed to the Downingtown diner for a terrific blob-themed breakfast.  They're VERY proud of their blob there, and I'd highly recommend it if you're ever in the area.  

Willow Oaks Cider: Black Twig

In June, we had the great pleasure of visiting the Willow Oaks Cidery in Maryland.  Their process for making cider is more like the process for creating wine.  Typically, cideries make cider in three to four weeks, but Willow Oaks goes a full two years.  The result is a wine-like noncarbonated cider.  There's a dark sweetness there, but it's dry, and balanced with a powerful amount of tannin and acid.  This is definitely not the cider that you're thinking of if you buy the occasional six pack.  The owner warned us of this fact, and we assured him we did our homework and were ready for that unique flavor and tartness.  

The setting is really perfect as well...  rolling fields and meadows, and a friendly old dog named Ginny.

  

Unfortunately, they don't ship their ciders, but they take online orders for local pickups at their cidery.  

Here's a bottle of Black Twig back when it had some cider in there...

Tiki

The word tiki comes from Māori mythology, where it refers to the first man. The Māori and other Polynesian cultures carved images of their gods into wood and stone, known as tiki statues. The term “tiki” was then used in American culture in the mid 20th century to describe style and decor from Polynesia and the South Pacific.

- KegWorks

Admittedly, I didn't know very much about Tiki.  I didn't realize the Tiki "bar" culture that I had seen on TV or in the form of strange ceramic monster-faced mugs originated in the United States back in the 30's.  I knew there was a connection to the past and to the South Pacific (as I recall being spooked by the massive carvings on Easter Island (Thanks, Leonard Nimoy and In Search Of...).  Adding to the creep factor in my brain was a particular episode of The Brady Bunch, of all things.  

Vincent Price guest-starred and was something of a lunatic.  He kidnapped the Brady boys.  There were tiki carvings and a cursed tiki idol necklace.  Greg Brady nearly died whilst surfing.  

Tiki designs are spooky, and to this sheltered guy - they were mysterious.  And tiki mugs, oddly enough, always seemed to be where Halloween stuff was.  There were mugs and similar tiki designs at horror conventions.  They'd always pop up in my searches for Halloween and horror merchandise.  You'd see tiki designs at the shore in the summer, on the boardwalk and in shops.

Strangely, I never owned a tiki mug, despite being into weird designs and odd stuff.  And despite always wanting one.  That changed this past weekend when we went to a cool Tiki event at a local brewing company.  Vendors were selling food, beer, bottled spirits, and mixed cocktails (I had my first Zombie).  There were tables with small shop owners offering tiki-designed mugs, clothing, and jewelry (at really great prices).

And the music.  Being extremely new to psychobilly and all the related forms of the rockabilly/punk genre offshoots, I was thrilled to hear similar-sounding tunes as we approached the venue and started to see people wearing Hawaiian shirts and colorful leis.  There was a record label there called Hi-Tide Recordings and the music they were playing was absolutely perfect (apparently, there's a genre called Surfabilly [apparently, I'm a square]).

We walked out of there with two tiki mugs, a sugar cane liqueur called Falernum (made with lime, ginger, and cloves), and a pair of coffin skull earrings from a cool shop called Retro-Verte.

This will definitely be an annual tradition (and my quest for a haunted tiki idol necklace has officially begun).

Below are some photos and music links...

Click below for Surfin' Spooks:

Click below to hear Cha Cha Challoween:

Click below to hear Cemetery Beach:

Some more Tiki information at the always-awesome KegWorks blog.

The Cult Of The Evil Puppy

Another amazing year from CreepYard.com.

More cool images here.

Beware Of Ghost Dog

Images by Gregory Wendt.

Salt & Pepper (And Our Dog)

Definitely the earliest Halloween costume photograph in the family albums.  No clue how old we are here.

Click here for the previous Family Photo Albums blog entries.

Hell Hound

Image from The Skeleton Key blog.

Sand People

Best In Show

The pumpkin.
Not the dog.

Image by girl6.

Hell Hound

Image by thatjonesgirl.

Eternal War

When There's No More Room In Dog Hell

Zombie Walks seem like an extremely fun thing to do.

Canoe

I love canoeing. It's quiet and peaceful and you end up in locations that humans don't normally occupy. Like in the middle of a huge smooth lake early in the morning. Turtle heads peeking out for air. Fish making small splashes behind your back (mind games). And ducks floating by wondering why humans have to be everywhere.

I was thinking about the first time I canoed. My father took my brother and I to the canals of Bucks County. There was a small rental place there and I guess my dad was thinking "It's not deep, no waves, we're in and we're out, I go home and watch the game."

It seems canoes are always stored belly-up. Makes sense. If it rains they stay dry inside. And they're stackable. And spiders dig it too. Infesting every crevice and crack of an overturned canoe. I don't own a canoe and every single time that I rent one, I share the ride with at least ten spiders. Big spiders.

So that day we had our impatient father and confused spiders looking for new places to hide. We shoved off and headed up the narrow canal. The water was mud-brown and we sailed towards a clump of men fishing. Fishing in the canal. Not sure what sort of fish lives in a canal, but we floated right between their nylon fishing lines. And they looked annoyed. Like they wanted to sink us. Being boys, we wanted to steer the canoe up to logs and sticks and branches floating in the old canal. My father ordered us to avoid them. Helm to 108.

Boredom probably led my father to eventually acquiesce and we set sail for a fat log to investigate. By then we had mastered steering the canoe and navigated the craft alongside the log. My brother raised his oar and brought it down on the log with a solid quick jab. The bloated dog rolled over and four rigid algae-covered legs pointed up at us. The fur was gray-green and smelly and all the little bugs that had been flying around us started dancing on the slick wet clumpy water-fur.

Then the sea beast rolled back under.

We probably threw out the lunches we brought with us.


This is pretty accurate.

Image source.

Man's Best [Halloween] Friend

What a handsome dog. Amazing photo.


Image source.