If The Hat Fits By jackie: October 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Set A Spell

Park Your Broom at the Door and Set a Spell....

Thank you Fanciful Twist for this Wickedly Delightful and Oh! so Hauntingly Magical Celebration.

Happy Trick-or-Sweet Everyone.

Always a pleasure to have visitors and Followers Welcome!

I hope that you will enjoy what I have to share here and please take the time to comment.

This Halloween party is hosted by A Fanciful Twist. Be sure to check out all of the wickedly delightful shops and blogs. The addresses can be found here. Party On!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins; they're climbing the fence, the walls and usurping the entire yard of our home, attracting Valley wide attention as it did every year when Dad, aka "The Pumpkin Man", would transform the lowly vegetable into resplendent and ingenious works of art.

Dad's creations departed from the traditional Jack-o-Lantern, with its candle flickering through triangular eyes, nose and grinning mouth. In designing his pumpkin faces, he used autumn vegetables instead.

The eyes were usually gourds or turnips; parsnips for the mouth because they were easily bendable, and squash in assorted sizes for the ears and nose.

After everything was fastened in place with nails, a properly wielded paintbrush added more distinction and expression to the pumpkin face features.

Dad truly gave Halloween a new look! He would concoct anywhere from 100-175 pumpkin heads as part of a huge display on our front lawn that included a variety of scare crows, witches and a smoking cauldron.

His out-of-this-world treatment of the pumpkins not only thrilled the 4 of us kids and the children for blocks around, but children from all parts of the Valley who were brought by parents to witness the annual display.

On Halloween night, first-comers who rapped on our door, were favored with a gift of one of the elaborately decorated pumpkins as long as the supply lasted!

Every year, Dad would also turn his work to good purpose, or a purpose above that of delighting the hundreds of youngsters who visited our home.

He would deliver them to local hospitals, schools and churches. The Optimist Club would use them for money-raising projects to help the YMCA, Little League and Home for Boys, just to name a few.

The 'Before & After'

Dad At His Work Bench

All of the Neighborhood Kids

Mom being 'scared' by Dad. lol

Oh My Gosh, My Parents were Lucy and Ricky?!!

Hospital Visits.

Cool Looking Nurses, huh? And those were NOT costumes!!

No Explanation Needed Here!

Ah, yes. The funny pumpkin on the right is your's truly

Mom 'n Dad....

The Best Pumpkin's in the World!

Thanks for the most wonderful Trick-or-Treat memories a kid could ever have.

And that's how I celebrated Halloween, circa 1950's

Friday, October 16, 2009

Some Interesting Guests are Beginning to Arrive, Oh My!

Oh My! All sorts of guests are beginning to arrive for the Hauntingly Magical Celebration, I'd better go and prepare the wine!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Fabulicious Photos by Pied Piper Photography

Fabulicious Photos by Pied Piper Photography of a few of my 'Baby Photo Props' ...

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

My Grand Cat

Meet 'Woody' my sweet, adorable Grand-Cat. He lives in Plymouth MA where he was rescued [with his brother and sister] by my sweet, adorable Granddaughter, Skylar, after being abandoned in the woods. Thus, the name 'Woody', a much more appropriate name than the one my sweet, adorable daughter-n-Law, Faith, came up with, which was 'Brian'. What?! I think her biological clock was ticking or something, but that's all good because she is VERY pregnant with my soon-to-be, sweet, adorable granddaughter, Tatum! You don't even want to know the name that my not-always-so-sweet, adorable Son, Shanen, came up with. Sometimes I think he may have been raised by aliens when I wasn't looking. And guess what, the cat LOVES him the most!
Anyway, here he is...my inspiration for thinking that I could actually become a cat-owner or owned by a cat, some day. I love this photo, it has made the perfect Halloween Card, an hypnotic face you just can't resist....