Trick or Treat (preparation)

 I took this picture on Halloween day 2023, this is the front of our house, in the afternoon. I think we did an okay job with the Jack O'Lanterns. Anyway, today's countdown to Halloween post is about trick or treat. Or rather, its preparation. Last year, I thought we were too modest with the amount of pumpkins we carved: not quite enough (I prefer five, at least), not enough big ones either. We bought the first one two days ago, but I will purchase more in the following days. Then I will have to buy treats. For Wolfie's treats, everything is pretty much ready: he has his costume and a brand new bag. More on that later. Anyway, my wife and my mother might think I am trying too hard: we are a bit out of the way and we don't get many visitors. But those we see, I want them to enjoy the experience.

Mortelle Adèle et l'Halloween

 Lors de mon dernier séjour à Montréal, j'ai découvert les bédés de Mortelle Adèle. Ce n'est pas tout le temps génial, mais c'est assez plaisant, dans le genre sous Calvin et Hobbes franchouillard. Mais j'ai quand même bien aimé, J'en ai acheté quelques unes, les ai lues là bas, puis j'ai dû les relire pour Wolfie, qui a décidé qu'il les aimait aussi. J'ai donc décidé de lui acheter pour sa fête le mois dernier un calendrier Mortelle Adèle. C'est un calendrier scolaire, il est de septembre à août. Pratique. Mais j'ai été très heureux de découvrir que Mortelle Adèle, pour une petite fille française, semble aussi aimer l'Halloween: la page du mois d'octobre y est consacrée. C'est vrai qu'elle a des goûts macabres.

This Is Halloween

 For today's (and this year's first) countdown to Halloween reading suggestion: This Is Halloween, by James A. Moore. "Ten Tales of Terror" as the cover says. Not all of them are explicitly set round Halloween, but many of them are. And many of them feature the sinister Bedlam Woods, where a ghostly witch and her monstrous offsprings dwell. Relatable characters are mercilessly sent to and through hell, and neither critters nor ordinary humans are devoid of moral ambiguity. Moore is great at turning familiar places and traditions into unsettling backdrops. I also loved how original his monsters often are: you have undead made of bones, shadowy female spirit that haunts and attacks its preys like lightning, a blobby shape-shifting fiend who puts on a human skin and walks among them as a... but I don't want to give too much away. This is the perfect seasonal read. Preparing this post, I learned that Moore sadly passed away in March this year. I am sad to discover a new horror writer as of late, but this will not be the last book of him that I will read. This post is a posthumous homage.

L'Halloween à Première Moisson

 Petite nouvelle bouffe trouvée sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson: non seulement ils ont des produits d'automne, mais ils ont maintenant des produits de l'Halloween. Dont cette miche de campagne avec une chauve-souris dessus. C'est tout. Pourquoi on ne vit pas à Montréal?

Brio's Haunted Train Station

I blogged before about Brio's  a Spooky Train Station. Well, I bought it for Wolfie's last birthday. My wife said I really bought it for myself, but it's not true. I mean not really: I truly, genuinely thought Wolfie would love it. And he does. He has his first Brio toy about five years ago, but he hasn't stopped playing with them since, although he plays less often.

All the same: he loved the Spooky Train Station, even though we don't, I mean he doesn't have the train that goes with it and has it doing spooky noises. My mistake, I should have thought about it. It's still fun and he made a display in the living room. I particularly like the ghost conductor. I thought he was a zombie at first, but he really looks like a ghost and a Gothic one at that. But a friendly ghost, most definitely. I love the mix of old fashioned horror and railway, as it is a staple of modernity and technology meeting the supernatural. Trains and train sations make for great settings for horror stories. Anyway, Wolfie wants to play with his set, however he said that once Halloween is over, this is it: the train station and its ghost will not show up until the next countdown to Halloween.

Le vaisseau fantôme

 Mon père a pris cette photo en septembre, je ne sais plus où. Dans une quincaillerie (Rona?) je crois. Dans tous les cas, je suis toujours heureux de voir que des commerces célèbrent l'Halloween longtemps en avance. Et dans un autre ordre d'idées, suis-je le seul à remarquer une association entre pirates et l'Halloween?

M&S Halloween Train

We went to Marks & Spencer before October and I was pleasantly surprised to see their Halloween display already. Even more pleasantly surprised to see this box of chocolates. They outdid themselves this year.

No but seriously, sometimes you buy food just for the container. A Halloween train? How much cooler can you get?

La cheminée

 Je l'avais blogué le 3 octobre, je pensais faire une mise à jour aujourd'hui: mes parents ont fait réparer la cheminée de la maison. Ils vont enfin pouvoir faire des feux de foyer, un plaisir automnal qui me manque beaucoup. Je me rappelle les soirées, parfois les journées, à s'asseoir au coin du feu. Sans oublier les vins et fromages ou les moments de farniente... Cette cheminée a une histoire et elle a été l'agent de bien des souvenirs.

Haunted Pubs

 I noticed something about the countdown to Halloween this year (so far): I haven't blogged all that much about scary stories. I am not sure wh. Maybe I have read them rather slowly this year, instead of binging on them like I often do. But horror stories, spooky stories are generally the main focus of this blog come October. It also struck me that England is maybe the best place to find inspiration for scary stories, the local folklore being often filled with stories of the supernatural and hauntings. Now I don't believe in the supernatural, but I think locallegends can make up for great starting points to write horror. I stumbled tonight on this article about South Bucks most haunted pubs. I haven't been to any of them, as far as I can remember, however some of them are not too far and I would love to go there and get a feel of the places. Maybe I could come up with my own ghost stories. Traditional pubs and inns are great places for hauntings, as they are so atmospheric to begin with.

Les fêtes d'octobre

Les réseaux sociaux (plus précisément Facebook) me rappellent que c'est la fête de deux amis d'enfance aujourd'hui. Des jumeaux, c'est d'ailleurs comme ça qu'on les appelle depuis qu'on les connaît. En octobre, on célèbre beauccoup les anniversaires de naissance parmi ma famille et mes amis de longue date. Il y a bien entendu la fête de mon frère PJ, puis celle d'un de mes neveux. Il a aussi celle des jumeaux, donc, et ça m'a rapplé une anecdote de mon enfance. Parce que j'ai toujours envié ceux qui fêtent leur anniversaire en octobre, étant le mois de l'Halloween et celui où l'automne est à son plus flamboyant. L'un des jumeaux ne le voyait pas ainsi: il ne célébrait pas l'Halloween et n'aimait pas être considéré plus jeune que moi d'un an dans l'année sclaire, justement parce qu'il était né en octobre. Il m'avait dit un jour: "Maudit mois d'octobre, j'aimerais mieux qu'il n'existe pas." Ce qui m'avait vraiment choqué.

The Pumpkin and the Goose

 My parents already bought their pumpkin for Halloween. They will only carve one. But how nice it looks by the fireplace, with the wooden goose they have. It looks very Halloweeny and autumnal. I need to start buying pumpkins... Maybe today.

L'automne à Chicoutimi

 Autre photo prise par mon père lors d'une promenade. Et c'est tout.

Aquila on Witches

 My son Wolfie subscribed recently to the children's magazine Aquila. It's fun, it's educational, it's witty. An boy oh boy was I excited to see the front cover of their October 2024 issue: a whole issue on witches, witchcraft and wizards. Nothing too scary, but a lot of information about witches through the ages and what it meant at a certain time, as well as old superstitions and folklore. And enough material among it to inspire him (and me), should he want to write a few spooky stories. Anyway, if you have kids, go and buy it now.

Couleurs de l'automne

Photo prise par mon père lors de sa promenade. Je la partage encore une fois. Ma chronique automnale, c'est parfois seulement des photos, mais on n'a pas besoin de plus.

Changelings and Dopplegängers

 I took this picture from Where the Shadows Stalk of the sadly short lived Forbidden Gateway  gamebook series. This is a monstrous humanoid made of vegetals that is turning into a copy of your character. A sort of dopplegänger, although they call him a Changeling. It is the first adversary you fight in the book and it truly sets the tone for the kind of horrors you will face during the rest of the adventure. I find dopplegängers and changelings scary and unsettling (you can be replaced by an usurper, someone you love and trust may not be who they are, etc.), but is it me or are they seldom used nowadays in horror? They deserve a comeback. Anyway, if you know of any stories involving them, let me know in the comments section.

Refaire la cheminée

 Nouveau billet de chronique automnale (mettons): mes parents font réparer la cheminée de la maison. Qu'est-ce que ça a à voir avec l'automne? C'est en automne que l'on commence à faire des feux de foyer, d'abord. Et il n'y a pas beaucoup de choses plus plaisantes qu'une soirée froide d'automne au coin du feu.

The Haunted Castle

 For today's countdown to Halloween post, I wanted to share a game I bought for Wolfie during one of his schools' fayres last summer. It caught both our eyes. My son seems to have a spooky mind. We spent a rainy afternoon playing it. It's called The Haunted Castle, but it is truly a vampire castle: its owner is a vampire, aptly named Lord Darkwood. The name of the place is Dreadmoor Castle. The story is heavily influenced by Dracula, especially the first part: you even use the help of a journal left there by Abraham Van Helsing, who visited Dreadmoor shortly after the events of the novel. I don't want to give too much away, but it's a great way to introduce your kid to horror stories and classic vampire tropes. It's both clever and atmospheric.

L'automne au Saguenay

 Mon père a pris des photos des arbres lors de sa dernière promenade. Je n'ai même plus besoin de lui demander de m'envoyer quoi que ce soit: il le fait de son propre chef.

Countdown to Halloween!

 Today we are the first of October, so it is our official Countdown to Halloween, b! So happy countdown everyone. I took this picture in August, in the Dollarama on the Plateau Mont-Royal, in Montreal. I was so happy to see that they were already in a Halloween mood. It may the official countdown, but of course I had started preparing for it since last Halloween or so. My personal countdown to the spooky season starts in August, sometimes even in July. Be that as it may, watch this space, I should post daily, mostly but not exclusively about horror stories.

La Citrouille chez mes parents

Bon, ben mon père n,a pas perdu de temps: il a déjà acheté sa citrouille pour l'Halloween. Avant-hier, je crois. Il en a profité pour m'envoyer une photo. Elle est vraiment belle, avec une tige encore assez grosse pour pouvoir être empoignée proprement. J'ai très hâte de voir le design qu'elle aura dans un mois. Et je dois m'y mettre moi aussi et en acheter au moins une dans les prochains jours (la première, mais pas la dernière). Je me sens fébrile.