Book lovers discussion

I am curious to know how everyone celebrates Halloween! If you dress up what are you dressing up as this year? IF not, do you have camp fires where you tell scary stories? Does anyone still trick or treat? I hope so! Lastly, what is everyone's favorite thing/food/smell and so on about fall? Here in the states Halloween is the first Holiday of the great Holiday Season and I always associate it with Fall...my favorite season. I would love to hear what fall is like where ever you all live?!?!

I might dress up simple this year. Might wear white pants and a white shirt with a yellow circle in the middle of it, and devil horns and spear and go as a "deviled egg."

We carve elaborate pumpkins and decorate with all our Halloween stuff. We're lucky to live in a big, shady cul-de-sac neighborhood so TOT is safe and near the house. We open the windows and put on a spooky sounds of Halloween CD. My niece and her mom and dad come over and we'll have pizza or chili before TOT, and I'll also have punch with a frozen, floating hand in it and some Halloween-shaped cookies.

All during October we'll watch some spooky movies.

For fall I'll decorate with little pumpkins inside and big pumpkins on my front steps. We'll plant big, colorful mums in our pots. I have a flagpole and will put out a Thanksgiving or fall flag.

I love to cook things like soups and chili with Mexican cornbread, and also roast root vegetables that are in season. We have a wonderful stone fireplace in our great room and we'll light fires and watch movies while we eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate. I've also made s'mores on the fire and roasted marshmallows.

Before it gets too cold we have a chiminea on the side of our house where our driveway is, and we'll sit out there by the fire and let our son play. We're not big into raking leaves since my husband has a lawnmower that sucks up leaves into a bag.

My favorite smell of fall is ours and the neighbors' chimneys blowing smoke from their fires. I love when my house smells smoky and earthy when I enter it.

Tressa wrote: "I might dress up simple this year. Might wear white pants and a white shirt with a yellow circle in the middle of it, and devil horns and spear and go as a "deviled egg."

We carve elaborate pump..."

Wow Tressa, that sounds like a really lovely Fall/Halloween time! I used to live in a house in a cul-de-sac with a fireplace so I remember alll the smells you mentioned! I am really quite jealous! One of the reasons I posted this thread is because I live in apartment in LA where Fall isn't really Fall...it's just a bit cooler. UNlike where I have lived in the past. SO, I love reading about everyone's take on the season. Plus, I think it will be really interesting to hear how people not from the states celebrate and what they connect to Fall.

nicely done Tressa!

I live in Alabama and although it doesn't get as cool as quickly as I'd like, it is chillier October-March. This year it's already starting to get cooler. Must be that climate change I've been looking forward to.

We always get dressed up and go to a few bars and clubs in town, Halloween happens to be my friends birthday so it ends up being a good laugh. Last year I went as a Templar Knight lol.

I love Halloween, Autumn is my favorite time of year and it starts off the run of big holiday's. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite though.

I love movies like that too, Jo. Like the movie Halloween. Carving pumpkins, popping popcorn, etc.

I got my decorations out last night and will put them up this weekend. I need to buy lots of spider webs because I have big plans for them.

I want to make one of these this year.

http://www.angelnorman.net/crafts/tar...

I will. And then post a pic.

Dean wrote: "We always get dressed up and go to a few bars and clubs in town, Halloween happens to be my friends birthday so it ends up being a good laugh. Last year I went as a Templar Knight lol.

I love Hall..."

I totally agree! Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays! Christmas is pretty rad too...but then that's because my family has thanksgiving dinner on Christmas day! Thank you baby Jesus!

Jo, GREAT IDEA! WE should TOTALLY post pictures on this thread...okay...so how do you do that? ooooer.

I love fall foods and the comfort feeling you get when you bundle up in a warm sweater and head out to have hot chocolate or a seasonal coffee with friends. My family out here has family dinner every Sunday during the Holiday season and we all help cook, then help clean and then gather around the television, which is next to the fireplace, and watch movies. Around Halloween we watch really cheesy slasher movies and around Christmas we watch a lot of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kay, It's a Wonderful Life an so on...we do this at my aunt and uncle's house so it becomes a second home. MMMMMMM...can't wait!

Oh I love Fall! October is my favorite month because it leads us into the Holiday season! Christmas is my favorite holiday, but Fall has my favorite scents! I love pumpkin spice and apples and leaves! I always get a couple of pumpkins for my front steps and I love lighting candles in the evenings.

In my office, everyone always dresses up and we have a fun Halloween themed potluck! I don't know what I'm going to dress up as this year. Oh, and the food!! Fall food is the best! Butternut squash soup, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin soup.....yum!! I love baking breads during the Fall season. I bake pumpkin bread and zuchinni bread!

Waou, you guys enjoy Halloween and Fall really much ! In France, we are not that familiar with Halloween. Some little kids dress up and do the 'trick or treat' thing. Halloween is mostly celebrated in bars and pubs. I might go to a party in the center of Paris myself all in black with fangs ;-)

My wife is a school bus driver, so she gets a week off for Fall Break. I take off & we take the horses some place for a day's trail ride. Last year, it was the Shaker Village, which has about 3000 acres & lots of hiking/riding trails.
http://www.shakervillageky.org

This year we're going to Taylorville Lake State Park. The lake itself is about 3000 acres & there are lots of trails to ride on around it.
http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recpark...

Jim, sounds fun. I love historic places.

Ah, I love Christmas as well... I'm a big kid at heart lol. My favourite part is probably going Christmas shopping, there is always a ton of people about and loads of decorations. I just love the atmosphere.

As far as uploading pictures, there is tinypic.com, which doesn't require you to sign up. I would go with Jo's suggestion though, photobucket is a lot better for features etc.

Hanako wrote: "Waou, you guys enjoy Halloween and Fall really much ! In France, we are not that familiar with Halloween. Some little kids dress up and do the 'trick or treat' thing. Halloween is mostly celebrated..."

Still, it's amazing that Halloween has made it so far! And I think wearing all black with fangs is definitely an understated, but cool costume.

Jo: Thank you! I will try that out once I get some Halloween pictures this year! I was going to post some from last year but I don't LOVE them. So I perhaps I will wait on that.

Dean: I love Christmas as well! Although I don't particularly like shopping myself (I usually do this much sooner then December) I like going with others to help them shop. BEcause then there is no pressure. One of my favorite things to do is wrap! My LA family gets together and we light a fire in the fireplace and drink coffee drinks with lots of rum...or rather we drink rum drinks with a little coffee...and wrap Christmas gifts. I am so excited about the HOlidays! I can't wait to see pictures!

Jim: Myy best friend is from Kentucky and she always has these amazing pictures of the lakes and so on! You're very lucky to live there! I have always wanted to go to the Kentucky Derby! Horse back riding sounds like quite a lovely thing to do during the fall season! I'm very jealous!

Thanks, Jessica. Do what we did - sell & move! It's really a great place. So much less crowded than MD was & a lot less laws. About 3 years ago, my son & his wife 'discovered' the area & in about 7 months, we made the move - just before the housing market went bust. Whew! Sold 1/2 acre in MD, paid off the mortgage & still bought a 15 acre farm outright. Can't beat that!

Kentucky is gorgeous! My Dad lives in Berea. I get to go visit in a couple of weeks! I can't wait to see all of the changing colors. My Dad moved from California to Kentucky about 4 years ago, what a smart move that was!

I love the quiet and peace that comes with darker days and cooler weather. Sitting in the living room with my husband and watching the fire and/or Christmas tree lights blinking.

I think I would become severely depressed if I lived somewhere where the changing seasons weren't obvious.

I agree that Kentucky is a gorgeous state. So is Tennessee.

I am thinking about throwing a little Halloween dinner party. I threw one a few years ago...it was nice! I had everyone bring over a pumpkin to carve whilst watching corny Halloween movies and everything we ate was Halloween themed. It just turned a little cold here and everyone is putting out their Halloween decorations! I'm so excited!

Jim wrote: "Thanks, Jessica. Do what we did - sell & move! It's really a great place. So much less crowded than MD was & a lot less laws. About 3 years ago, my son & his wife 'discovered' the area & in abo..."

I would love to move somewhere like Kentucky because they really have the best weather (if you like seasons). And the neighborhoods are 'safe' so there are actually children that trick-or-treat and so on! Here, kids go to the mall to trick-or-treat...which is sad to me...

It's finally raining here in LA. IT has been for two days...aside from that there is little evidence here that it is fall. A few trees on my streest are starting to change colors but it will still look nothing like fall in Georgia or Kentucky...

I work for a school district and sometimes the kids will come through our office for candy, so I dress up during school hours, but not usually at home on Halloween night. Last year no one came to my door trick-or-treating, so I will probably just go to my sister-in-laws and watch movies or something.

We never get Trick or Treaters here either, but that's because it is so far between houses. We buy candy, just in case, but eat it ourselves - like I need it!

Here's a picture I took about a year ago from our front porch. Now this is a Halloween moon!

http://www.wysiwygwood.com/images/081...

Oh, that is lovely! It always seems like the moon on Halloween hear is dark orange! That's the only night it ever looks like that too. I noticed it a couple years ago and always look for it now. I always find myself wondering why it's like that, but maybe I just don't notice the moon often enough.

I love the change of seasons. England really doesn't get much of a winter... so it's more like 3 seasons over here lol. We need more snow! Autumn over here is really nice, all the trees are starting to change to orange's and browns and the leaves are falling and you get that crisp, country air. I love it.

Jo wrote: "I can tell that you aren't originally from England! It feels like its always winter to me lol. I do love it when all the leaves turn orange but i hate the cold. I admit it all looks pretty though. ..."

It's just started to get cold around here and I love it! It was freezing today, and really windy as well. I prefer Autumn/Winter to Spring/Summer. I hope we get a good snow this year, maybe we'll get really lucky and get a white Christmas.

Yes, well here it is either summer or fall. Nothing else. And it's a load of crap. No snow, the coldest it gets here is in the low sixties and only for a few weeks out of the year. Three years ago it was 95 degrees on Christmas Day! NO THANKS! I grew up in the snow and I can tell you it was lovely!

Jim, Beautiful pictures! You clearly live a charmed life! Lucky duckling!

I have to say, I only lived in London for a little while but Englad has the coldest, wettest winters I have ever seen. Wet and cold, cold and wet. It's beautiful! But it's friggin COLD. AND WET.

Thank you, Jessica. I have more pictures on my website:
http://www.wysiwygwood.com/pictures.html
if you're interested. I put up one series of the horses playing last winter & our ice storm in Jan09. I HATE ice storms. We lost power for 6 days & have an all electric house. I'm ready for it this year, though.

I'm not much into winter. I prefer Spring & Fall. I do like getting rid of the bugs though. In MD, we had a couple of mild winters & the ticks got incredibly bad. Since they're deer ticks, they carry Lymes disease & we had a terrible time of it. 2 horses got, one twice. A couple of the dogs & one of the kids.

Treating dogs & kids is no problem, but they don't make pills for the horses. You have to grind up 50 human pills twice a day & make them take it. Expensive & hard, since the pills are bitter. Why don't they make a horse pill? I wrote to a drug company about it, never even got the courtesy of a reply.

Our Fall trail ride on Sunday was a bust. We try to do one while Marg is out on Fall Break. Last year we went to the Shaker Village & it was beautiful. This year it rained all week, so we finally tried on Sunday. We drove all the way down to Taylorsville Lake State Park, an hour one way, only to find all the trails were closed due to mud. Doh! Never even thought about that happening.

We drove home & rode around our fields. Not as much fun, but possibly as interesting since the other horse, Blue, & pony, Speedy, were thrilled to see us & came along for the ride. Must have been an interesting sight with 4 dogs & 2 riderless horses in a pack gamboling about us. Speedy & the dogs kept up a running battle at the same time.

Jo wrote: "Lol wet isn't beautiful. I like snow and i like it when things turn white from frost but constant rain that turns all grass into mud and makes everywhere all dirty isn't beautiful "

True. THe streets were postively gross! But I took pictures from the windows of buildings and up, to cut out the ground, and the pictures all looked really snowy and lovely! I do have one picture of my boots after walking to a coffee shop in London. The bottom of my pants were covered in chunks of icy snow and my boots were soaked through and through...yuck.

Jim: When I lived in Georgia there was a blizzard in the nineties and the power went out for about four days and we were trapped in our house. I had no idea! My family and I had such a blast! We lit allll the fire places in our house and cooked in the fireplace and slept in our living room in sleeping bags and it was sooo much fun! However, as a side note, I should mention that my father LIVES for disastors. He prepares for EVERYTHING. Including the Apocolypse. So, when the power went out he just strut about saying things like "Told you so" and "...see! This is why I bought a mini generator!" and "Hey Ween (my mom) remember when you told me it was a waste of space to make that storage area downstairs just for canned foods and candles and so on? Not such a waste after all is it?" My mother hates remembering those four days as 1)she never heard the end of it. 2) My father still brags about it and 3) he now uses that ONE example as an excuse whenever he comes home with strange purchases. Like ladders he attached to the third floor bedrooms and the water proof, thermal lined sleeping bags that cost a small fortune that my father now stores in the cellar. :\ He even got thermal lined vests for the dogs...

I've had friends who owned horses and always wanted one...up until I grew up and realized how expensive they were! Their medication and housing and maitenance is EXPENSIVE! You're very lucky to have them though!

Jessica, I LIKE your dad. A man after my own heart. I'm now prepared, feel I've spent too much, so I'm hoping this creates some sort of spell that means we won't have it happen again. I wish we had a fireplace, but there isn't room for one. Maybe someday when I can build an addition for my books...

As for the horses, they are a black hole to toss money in, but people who have the craving can't help it. It's an addiction. Years ago, my wife & I had a huge argument about it & arrived at the compromise that my paycheck pays for the family, hers supports her menagerie. We pretty much stick to it, although this year has hit us hard with vet bills & then my daughter needed a new saddle - $900, used. The other one they were looking at was twice that. Others were 4 or 5 times as much.

My daughter has been horse crazy since day one, though. Twice, before she could walk, she crawled out the dog door & made it to the pony's paddock where she hauled herself up to stand by clinging to one of their legs & tails. (Yes, we had heart attacks!) She disappeared at a show when she was 3 or 4 & was FINALLY found asleep in the trailer laying on her pony's back.

I blame it on my wife who rode in a race when she was 3 months pregnant with Erin & then almost had her prematurely because she was riding a bucking horse at 7 months pregnant. The horse had been giving my son problems, so she was riding it out & teaching it some manners.

Jim wrote: "Jessica, I LIKE your dad. A man after my own heart. I'm now prepared, feel I've spent too much, so I'm hoping this creates some sort of spell that means we won't have it happen again. I wish we ..."

Wow! Your daughter sounds like she was born to ride! Does her horse absolutely loooove her? I bet yes. My friend, Gina, and I used to ride but although Butterscotch (the horse I rode) was a very docile creature her horse, Sonny, LOVED her best. It was like he had a crush on her or something. Whenever we would let ourselves into the gated are where the horses fed Sonny would almost sense Gina's presence and come running to greet her. AND he would completely ignore me! Pfft. I can't believe your wife was taming a horse at seven months! I am rather impressed. As much as I am sure she drove you crazy doing it sometimes you just can't tell a woman what she can and can't do...

Jo: Trust me on this, if there is a zombie apocolypse I think it will be YOUR house we head to. I have NO idea what a bunch of canned food and some nice sleeping bags will do in the face of a zombie but I DO know that YOU will be able to teach us how to defend ourselves! The MOMENT i Hear of a zombie attach I am buying tickets for my friends and fam and we are showing up at your doorstep! And you can count on that! But I reeeeeally hope we never get attacked by zombies ever. Strange that I am worrying about it now that I KNOW YOU! What have you done? ;)

Jo wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Jo wrote: "Lol wet isn't beautiful. I like snow and i like it when things turn white from frost but constant rain that turns all grass into mud and makes everywhere all dirty isn't ..."

It rained all day today non-stop. I got back from town and my trousers were soaked at the bottom. It's so annoying, and I couldn't find an umbrella so I ended up getting drenched.

Jessica wrote: "...sometimes you just can't tell a woman what she can and can't do..."

You're joking, right? "Sometimes"! Hah!

I've been married for over 27 years. I always get the last words in - "Yes, Dear." - almost every time.

;-)

It's funny you mention a zombie attack. My daughter was just asking me if climbing a tree was a good idea in case of one on Facebook. Is it some sort of game there? I told her no, because she'd get trapped, but her boy friend & I agreed that they couldn't climb trees...

Guys, I think it might be a good time to mention The Zombie Survival Guide Complete Protection From the Living Dead. You never know when a breakout could occur!

This talk of zombies makes me want to read it sooner than I planned lol.

Want to get creeped out for Halloween? Take a look at these pictures. Joshua Hoffine specializes in pictures that scare him. These do & are!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/200...

Jim wrote: " Want to get creeped out for Halloween? Take a look at these pictures. Joshua Hoffine specializes in pictures that scare him. These do & are!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/200...
"

I think I'll be sleeping with the lights on and one eye open tonight...

Dean wrote: "Jim wrote: " Want to get creeped out for Halloween? Take a look at these pictures. Joshua Hoffine specializes in pictures that scare him. These do & are!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/200......"


Whoa. Damn my curiousity. :\ as God as my witness, I shall not sleep a wink tonight.

Jo: I will come bearing supplies and gifties...namely, every book I own. Zombies can't read can they? Hm...best to bring em.,..just in case.

Jim: That is an excellent question! Jo, can zombies climb trees?!?!?!

Zombies can't climb trees, well according to google anyways.

Jessica wrote: "I am curious to know how everyone celebrates Halloween! If you dress up what are you dressing up as this year? IF not, do you have camp fires where you tell scary stories? Does anyone still trick o..."

for my Halloween i am going to dress up as a witch (like i do every year) n i want to make a caldron cake n some cookies with a Halloween theame then i think i will watch a lot of creepy films (not sure what) n read a creepy book
n just relax n enjoy Halloween for its meany mysteries

I didn't think zombies could climb trees, either. No coordination. But my daughter's question was whether it was a good place to hide from them. I thought not, because even if they can't climb, she'd be exposed & they'd congregate. Unless the limbs allowed access to a building or something for escape, you'd be trapped!

Great minds think alike, Jo!

Dean wrote: "Zombies can't climb trees, well according to google anyways."

God, I love google. Okay, so I can build a treehouse and everyone I invited up would survive an attack? You better be right Dean! Lives hang in the balance!

I dressed up for work today and guess what? I'm the only one!!! I feel so special now! lol I dressed up as Minnie Mouse with ears, an apron that looks like her dress, a Minnie Mouse shirt, and red sparkly shoes! :) I love dressing up. I can be a kid again.

Haha sounds awesome!!! Yeah, I used to just wear pjs to work and say I was a baby just so I could be in my pjs and slippers all day. lol

Haha yeah very fun.

Linda Grace wrote: "I dressed up for work today and guess what? I'm the only one!!! I feel so special now! lol I dressed up as Minnie Mouse with ears, an apron that looks like her dress, a Minnie Mouse shirt, and red..."

We are having a contest here at work for best costume and I am dressed as a fifties housewife in authentic fifties clothes (I used to work at a vintage clothing shop). I hope I win! I even have the undergarments and you know what?!?! I AM SO GLAD THIS IS ONLY MY COSTUME FOR A DAY! Pointy boobs is not my thing. :\

Linda Grace, I am so glad to hear you dressed up! I can't believe you were the only one! Pfft. Why must people be soo dang...un-fun. That's not a word but roll with it. :)

HAPPY PRE-HALLOWEEN!

Haha well good luck Jessica! Your costume sounds amazing! :D

Happy Halloween everyone! I'm getting it in early cause I'm at work all day tomorrow and then it's straight into town for a night I'll probably not be able to remember >__<

Jo wrote: "Hope everyone had a good halloween! Feel free to post pictures in this thread! "

How was everyone's Halloween?!?! How do we post pictures on this page? Something about photobucket yes?

Or tinypic. Just upload to tinypic.com and then copy the direct link and paste it here.

Haha, that costume is excellent!