Dang it. Rain started falling late last night and washed the snow away. Woke up today to find the snow corpse surrounded by grass.
Snapped this photo before heading off to bed.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Thaw
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Yule
My parents resisted a real Christmas tree for the entire length of my childhood, claiming they were too expensive and too much of a hassle. So that meant I grew up with an artificial tree back in the days when a faux Christmas tree looked like a mass of greenish-black industrial test tube cleaner brushes - huge test tube cleaner brushes.
I've mentioned my cheap father in previous blog entries and he's in rare form during the Christmas season. If the tree lights are on too long, he shuts them off to conserve energy and save money - even on Christmas day. Well, the year of the real tree caused my father to invent a wasteful situation - regarding a tree on which he didn't spend a dime. "Don't throw it out! We'll put it in the yard!" So we dug a small hole and plopped the tree into it. And there it stood for months. Like it had always been there...growing. Their home is a brick row home attached to many other brick row homes. The backyards are as small as the front yard you see in my Halloween photo galleries. The tree took up a nice percentage of the space.
Then one night in April or May, right after sunset, my father came into the house and asked me and my brother if we wanted to light the tree on fire to dispose of it. You can't ask two boys in eighth grade if they want to light something on fire. The answer can only be yes.
So there we were, standing in a small yard with a tree that was insanely dry and brittle. And my father had the matches. And we were all standing too close. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we weren't expecting THIS:
Because that's exactly what happened. Almost before the match even touched it. I can remember leaning way back and feeling and tasting the bright white heat. Like fuel-truck exploding heat. Like running-for-your-life heat. And the flames whipped up and the wind changed direction and the fire headed for the houses. The fact that the tree was totally void of any moisture probably prevented a Christmas Tree Catastrophe. THE Christmas Tree Catastrophe. The fire only lasted about two seconds and just sort of flashed the bricks and windows with flames.
And the tree was gone, except for an ugly black spine still sticking up from the hole. We didn't say a word and we honestly have never brought it up again. My brother and I shared a bedroom growing up and I can remember laying in my bed that night and whispering across to him, "I still see the flames when I close my eyes." He replied "So do I."
We had a real tree for the years that followed, but as soon as the kids moved out, my folks bought a new artificial tree. Nicer and a little more accurate than the previous fake, and pre-strung with lights.
Spoke to my mother this week and she informed me they didn't put the tree up this year. It was too much of a hassle.
Then one night in April or May, right after sunset, my father came into the house and asked me and my brother if we wanted to light the tree on fire to dispose of it. You can't ask two boys in eighth grade if they want to light something on fire. The answer can only be yes.
So there we were, standing in a small yard with a tree that was insanely dry and brittle. And my father had the matches. And we were all standing too close. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we weren't expecting THIS:
Because that's exactly what happened. Almost before the match even touched it. I can remember leaning way back and feeling and tasting the bright white heat. Like fuel-truck exploding heat. Like running-for-your-life heat. And the flames whipped up and the wind changed direction and the fire headed for the houses. The fact that the tree was totally void of any moisture probably prevented a Christmas Tree Catastrophe. THE Christmas Tree Catastrophe. The fire only lasted about two seconds and just sort of flashed the bricks and windows with flames.
And the tree was gone, except for an ugly black spine still sticking up from the hole. We didn't say a word and we honestly have never brought it up again. My brother and I shared a bedroom growing up and I can remember laying in my bed that night and whispering across to him, "I still see the flames when I close my eyes." He replied "So do I."
We had a real tree for the years that followed, but as soon as the kids moved out, my folks bought a new artificial tree. Nicer and a little more accurate than the previous fake, and pre-strung with lights.
Spoke to my mother this week and she informed me they didn't put the tree up this year. It was too much of a hassle.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Blood Splattered Candle Holders
Or, rather, Witch Jars.
Remember that post a while back on Integrity?
Someone was cool enough to email me a link to a blog where my Witch Jar design was being shared as the blog owner's original design. After 23 comments from people admiring her work, I was a little surprised to see not one comment from the blogger saying something like "Thanks! I based it on a design I saw on the Pumpkinrot blog!" But nuthin. So we figured we'd post a comment saying something like "Great to see you dig my Witch Jars! Yours look great!" and we provided a link to my Witch Jar blog entry from back in July.
The comment was never posted, but a disclaimer was suddenly added at the bottom of the post:
*Please note that this craft was inspired by another blog, but for the life of me, I don't remember who's it was. If you recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!
Pretty shameful. And fun to call her out on it.
My pretties.
Here's her original cached post without the disclaimer.
Here's her revision.
Now Playing: Elegies For The End [Samples]
Ordered this cd last night - Elegies for the End by Svartsinn. Cyclic Law has been a great source of dark ambient for my collection (Kammarheit, Sinke Dus, Northhaunt). And their customer service is absolutely fantastic.
Image source.
Listen to samples here.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The Tree
Where were you 10 years ago? That's how long this guy took to grow from a seed. The average Christmas tree (around 7 feet) takes between 8 - 12 years to grow.
Demon
It was a colossal and nameless blasphemy with glaring red eyes, and it held in bony claws a thing that had been a man, gnawing at the head as a child nibbles at a stick of candy. Its position was a kind of crouch, and as one looked one felt that at any moment it might drop its present prey and seek a juicier morsel. But damn it all, it wasn’t even the fiendish subject that made it such an immortal fountain-head of all panic—not that, nor the dog face with its pointed ears, bloodshot eyes, flat nose, and drooling lips. It wasn’t the scaly claws nor the mould-caked body nor the half-hooved feet—none of these, though any one of them might well have driven an excitable man to madness.
Image source.
Now Playing: Halloween II [Samples]
Going to be ordering this today. I own the original release on cd, but it's one of those cds from a time when not all cds were engineered equally - this one needed to be cranked way up.
From BuySountrax.com:
For this special 30th Anniversary Edition of HALLOWEEN II, the original 1981 album presentation is included, newly remastered. In addition, a special suite of seven tracks has been prepared, consisting of the entire film score sequenced in chronological order and including previously unreleased music. In addition, Alan Howarth has contributed exclusive notes for the booklet.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
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