HALLOWEEN 2021
The year that was supposed to be the biggest, but ended up almost not happening at all. I worked hard this year to get the house ready, fixing things, planning, etc... only to have my world turn upside down on September 30 (things have been resolved and are okay now), and I cancelled the party because I just couldn't handle the stress. Halloween almost didn't happen here at all either, but I couldn't let the neighborhood kids down, and my kids helped to keep me focused, so I got it done and even an hour before my first ToT! Goliath and Bird Girl are still unfinished from last year, but I did managet to get Goliath a new smattering of contour paint so he looked a lot better. I put out a couple of props that I haven't had out in several years also, so there was a bit of stuff out for those who haven't seen them before. I got probably about 75 people or so, same as last year. Many folks told me they come every year, and now their kids have kids and they bring those grandbabies down to see my display. It's a good feeling to know I do something that people appreciate. I even had one young man that has lived here since he was 2, and is going away to college soon, that came down just to see my display one last time before he left.
Next year, NOTHING will deter me from enjoying my favorite time of the year. I WILL have a party, unless I'm dead... and even then....
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Peter, Peter, Trick-or-Treater Eater had to get another new pair of hands. His body spends all its time outside on top of my lawn mower shed, so it is falling apart. I think the old hands fell off again and got run over by said lawn mower. Again. Anyway, I had a spare pool noodle left, so I fashioned him some quick and dirty hands and painted them up. His body is in such bad shape and broken that I had to put him in the tree again, and only his arms and neck were noticable, and the head had to be held up by fishing line on a higher branch. Not the sinister look he had last time, this time he looked more like part of the actual tree. I really need to work on fixing a more sturdy body for next year. He did not get displayed with the purpleish blue light, I just needed something on him for the moment.
I really tried to layer light colors this year. I've been seriously lacking in my attention to that kind of thing the past few years. All of my old spots and floods have died, and I'm having to resort to the new LED lights, and I do not really care for them and the washed out colors they seem to shed. The amber one on Peter and the purple/blue one on Goliath were pretty vibrant though. I will most likely experiment with the spots during that "other" holiday as I only do lights and no decorations outside, if anything at all. One of my last red spots was on Bird Girl, but the paint on it is coming off, so the red only shone around her and the clear part directly on her. She didn't get painted this year, so she is still stark primer white. She popped though!
I had to rebuild part of my fence this year, and my kids repainted my columns for me. Next year, Tom wants to rebuld the fence and make it better. I just want to make a cemetery arch and an actual gate for the columns and I'll be happy. I hate having to use beef netting as a barrier to keep people from walking through it. It doesn't look right, and I hate having to put a sign in front to TELL people "DO NOT ENTER". It just looks so unfinished.
Goliath looks MUCH better this year, though I haven't worked on making him actually LOOK like Goliath at all since last October. I did give him some shadow and highlight paints, so he looked a lot better than the monochromatic man of 2020. The purple/blue light on him was extremely vibrant, and it actually looked pixellated in real life. Very interesting look, so I ran with it. Some noticed the tail and that he was a gargoyle, some called him an angel.
The Wailing Tree took a bit of damage this year, even though he lives year 'round inside my house in the formal dining room. I used some real bark off a pine tree and some vines to patch one of his arms where he has a really big crack, and some air plants and other assorted things I found on tree limbs in my back yard to fill in some other spots where he is damaged.
Helena and her crypt also need some serious work. I really miss having crypt walls. The camo netting I got from my old Army Ranger neighbor has come in really handy for giving her a closed in home, but it just isn't the same as the original crypt. I did manage to get her some more cheesecloth, she was looking very skimpy and stringy, but I didn't have any Rit Whitener to freshen up her glow ability under the black light. I want to make her look better for next year also, and rebuild the crypt. Her motor and assembly are still working like a champ. I may use one of the other motors I still have and make another FCG to go out there too.
Edweirdo is definitely looking a bit worse for wear. His arm and leg are somewhere in my garage. I use him as filler for the space near the green spot on the columns, to deter kids from walking too close to the spotlight or the cord. I put a couple of the small skeletons that my husband bought for me on top of my columns since I didn't have an arch, just to add something visually up there. The columns also got some air plants and vines to cover spaces and gaps.
Daisy also made an appearance this year. I don't think she has come out since like 2017. I did not get a chance to fix her, I just kind of put her out there in the branches of a crepe myrtle next to a column.
Since I was alone this year for ToT, I had Chucky come out and hang out with me to greet the kids. He had a lot of fun.
Below are some daytime shots before we took it all down on November 2. Goliath does not have blue paint on him, the light was still plugged in and shining on him.
