Trick Or Treat

Well, it is still Halloween for a littlemore than an hour here, so I will spend it reading. But I thought I would share a picture of all our jack o'lanterns, six of them, on display in the night. We live in a remote part of this town, so we don't see many trick or treaters. We had only five tonight: one knight, two skeletons and one vampire with some kid with a cape or an army coat or something. Better than nothing, but I daresay they must have enjoyed our spooky display. And this year, for the very first time I felt like I did it as a family, as Wolfie was very much into it. He did not want to go for trick or treat himself, but he really enjoyed the preparation and waited for our visitors eagerly. And he was so proud of the pumpkins!

Les citrouilles

Voici les citrouilles, toutes les citrouilles, creusées et sculptéespar Wolfie et moi cette année. On les a sorti durant l'après-midi et je les ai allumées (chandelles électriques) avant de prendre cette photo. Ca n'a l'air de rien, mais le soir commençait déjà à tomber. J'aime beaucoup l'Halloween à ce moment-là, quand on est encore dans l'attente. Au moins aujourd'hui, nous avons eu le temps de nous préparer et d'apprécierles choses. Il a fait soleil en après-midi et juste assez frais. L'Halloween, c'est aussi le jour que ça se passe.

Happy Halloween 2021!

Happy Halloween everyone! You see here not a Jack O'Lantern, but a banner which was a gift from Halloween afficionado Wendy the Very Good Witch. I haven't heard from her in years, so please if you are reading this Wendy, thank you for your generosity and I hope to hear from you again some day. I always put this banner up (now that we have a wall where it fits). Halloween this year is on a Sunday, a pretty good time for it, so we have a whole weekend to be spooked. I have been and will be busy this weekend, but I will try to blog again on my fabourite holiday. Have spooky fun everyone and stay safe!

À propos des "Halloweeneux"

Il y a un terme bien québécois pour désigner les enfants qui passent l'Halloween (les adultes aussi, sans doute): Halloweeneux. Ici c'est parfois "trick or treaters". Nous vivons dans une ville où l'Halloween est assez célébrée, ce qui est bien, mais notre maison est dans un coin en retrait de la ville. Ce qui fait que nous avons peu d'Halloweeneux qui y passent chaque année. Je me pose la même question à chaque année: combien en aura-t-il cette année? L'année dernière, avec les restrictions dûes à la pandémie, il n'y en a eu aucun. Cette année, s'il y en a cinq, ce serait pas mal. L'autre question que je me pose, c'est: est-ce que Wolfie passera l'Halloween cette année?

Crooky the crooked Jack O'Lantern

You see here our second jack o'lantern of the year, carved yesterday night, at Wolfie's insistence. The design was my idea, but he insisted that after the first one, we needed a jack o' with sharp teeth, looking "really nasty". As the pumpkin we had was a bit mishaped and crooked, we decided to call this one Crooky. It is my favourite so far, I think. So now I have carved four pumpkins, two yesterday, two tonight, I will try to show them all on this blog before Halloween ends. So much to blog about, so much to do, so little time. On the plus side, Wolfie is now a proper Halloween lover.

Le temps des lampions

Hier et ce soir, ce fut le temps pour petit loup et moi de creuser des citrouilles. Pas comme celui que vous voyez ici, creusé par mon père. Mais on n'en a fait des pas si mauvais. J'aurais quand même en faire un comme ça, vaguement vampirique. Enfin bref, attendez-vous à voir une orgie de photos de citrouilles ce soir et demain, quand j'aurai l'occasion de bloguer.

First of... six(!)

I had promised to Wolfie that yesterday evening, we would start carving the pumpkins. When the time came, I was tired and was wondering if we could not postpone it. Of course, this did not do at all and Wolfie was adamant that we started working on the jack o'lanterns. But there was a good reasn to start early, as this year we have more to do: instead of the usual three pumpkins, we have... six. Don't ask me how we got there, I am still trying to figure it all. That said, Wolfie was very hardworking: he chose the designs himself and did a lot of the emptying. So this is our first jack o'lantern anyway. We carved two last night, so today we have "only" four to go. I will try to show each and everyone of them.

Citrouille des grand-parents

C'est peut-être, si j'ai bien compris, une première: mes parents ont creusé des citrouilles. Je dis mes parents, parce que d'habitude, mon père s'en occupe seul. Cette année, ma mère l'a aidé. Elle a trouvé ça rough. Mais enfin bref, voici le premier résultat. J'avoue que le design est pas mal mieux réussi que les miens. Dans tous les cas, petit loup a été très impressionné.

How to spot a ghost?

You know my love and my fascination for All About Ghosts, the book of paranormal that fired up my imagination when I was a child. And made me a very superstitious and gullible child as well. But if I ever write horror stories, this book will be one of my main sources of inspiration. It also has lots of useful tips, such as how to spot a ghost, as you can see above. The last two points are rather obvious, but the first two are rather interesting, for whoever keeps in mind that ghosts are not only wearing white sheets.

Les feuilles d'automne

 Photo prise par mon père, je partage parce que, ben, l'automne...

Red Death

For today's countdown to Halloween post (my second one in fact), a little bit about one of my favourite towns, Wallingford. They seem to celebrate Halloween more there than anywhere else I have been in England. We went there recently nd we saw lots of decorations. Including this deliciously spooky Grim Reaper, which of course reminded me of The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe. I read it for the first time last year. I haven't read enough Poe, I don't know why. Be that as it may, you can find the short story here. It should give you a few chills, especially in a year of pandemic. On a side note, I want to find and buy this Red Death for next year's Halloween.

Une sorcière et des fantômes

J'ai pris cette photo dans la petite ville de Wallingford, l'un de mes endroits préférés en Angleterre. On semble y fêter l'Halloween un peu plus qu'ailleurs, en tout cas j'y ai vu plus de décorations qu'ailleur. Et surtout, j'y ai vu des décorations beaucoup plus impressionnantes. Donc, en voici une autre: une sorcière laide et verte, avec un sourire aussi laid que malveillant, ainsi que deux fantômes. Ilfaudrait peut-être célébrer l'Halloween à Wallingford, maintenant que j'y pense.

Treats for Trick or Treat

For today's countdown to Halloween post, a picture my mother sent me. You see here that she organised the treats for Halloween. My mother is not into macabre and the scary aspects of the holiday, she leaves this aspect for the male members of the family (did I ever tell you that she is completely outnumbered?). But treating people, that she loves and any excuse is good for her. So she made these fancy bags, filled with goodies, mainly chocolate. Generous sizes too. Not many people come on my parents' street for trick or treat, from what I understand, but there are always a few, the children of the neighbours and some friends, and she prepared the orange bags especially for them. I look at this and I think I need to work on my presentation skills.

L'automne, toujours

 Bon, je publie une nouvelle photo de l'automne, rien que parce que. je n'ai pas d'autre raison.

"Soul cakes"

For today's countdown to Halloween post, an old, old, old seasonal tradition, often forgotten, that I have never practiced, until now (sort of). I read before about soul cakes, small round cakes given to children going door to door (in a primitive version of trick or treat) to pray for the dead. And it struck me recently that the pictures I have seen of soul cakes look a fair deal like the family's galettes aux raisins. Which we often bake around this time of year. While we don't add spices and they're not really round, there's still dry fruits in them and it would not take much to make this a proper soul cake. So anyway, I made a batch of galettes aux raisins a few days ago and for all practical purposes they will be this family's soul cakes.

Fantôme hurleur

Je publie encore une fois une photo d'une décoration d'Halloween prise par mon père. Je sais pas qui à Chicoutimi a fait ça, mais si jamais d'aventure il tombe sur ce blogue: j'ai un immense respect pour vos goûts en matière d'épouvante et de macabre. Il nous faut toujours quelques fantômes à l'Halloween et au moins certains doivent être terrifiants. Celui-ci est parfait et j'aime les fantômes hurleurs.

Halloween Season

For today's countdown to Halloween reading suggestion: Halloween Season by Lucy A. Snyder. She's a Bram Stoker Award-winning AND Shirley Jackson Award-nominated, so you know you can't go wrong. In any case, it's maybe my favourite horror discovery this year, even though not all the stories are centered around Halloween. There's a lot of direct Lovecraftian influences here, as the Cthulhu Mythos is often explicitly mentioned, or even integral to the plot (in fact I had read the short story Cosmic Cola in this book), but Snyder has a far more optimistic approach. Often evil does not triumph (although it sometimes does) and mankind's struggle against the Forces of Darkness is not ultimately doomed to fail. Or at least, there is some hope that we will overcome. There's often a surprisingly not irritating dose of humour. Also, you will find a few non horror stories and some others that are practically Christmas stories. I could have done without then, but then again I'm a purist. And on a side note: what a cover!

Question existentielle (374)

J'espère ne l'avoir jamais posée, sinon, je m'en excuse:

  -À quelle date creuser les citrouilles de l'Halloween?

Halloween Magazine (£1)

 Sometimes, I stumble on something that I can buy on the cheap and it stays with me forever, turning out to be a great return on investment. This was the case for this Halloween Magazine, which I got for one quid in a corner shop, back in 2015. Sure, a lot of it is coupons and advertisement stuff for various brands (see on top), but there is so much more in it: Halloween recipes, an article about witches in history, another about haunted places and of course party ideas. There is even a few Halloween stickers, which Wolfie hasn't found yet. I made a few recipes in there and I will make more this year if I have time and the articles on the paranormal are great inspiration for a few scary stories. So this magazine sits with my pile of Halloween books.

L'Halloween avec Gousto

Depuis l'an dernier, à cette date environ, ma femme cuisine des recettes de Gousto. Ca a vraiment amélioré nos habitudes de vie: nous mangeons plus de légumes, nous prenons le temps de cuisiner et nous avons ebaucoup, beaucoup plus de variété dans notre assiette. Vous voyez ici le tout premier repas de Gousto qu'elle a préparé, bien entendu un repas de l'Halloween. Je ne sais pas encore ce que l'on va avoir cette année, mais j'ai vraiment hâte.