Since the roots of Halloween go back as far as there were Pagans, lets look at what there was last year, as people prepped for their costumes, or did it late by the seat of their pants, literally. And what about this holiday?
Sam II, the sequel? Would that be Son of Sam? Sam at Green Mill said she (so daughter of Sam?) wouldn’t decide on a party until the-day-of-or-so, but it would include a superhero theme. “I’ll probably go downtown,” she said, a full week before D-Day. Her look must have took, as she’s now working up the management track at The Mill. And across the street, at BWW, someone with a similar server status described a similar outfit. Something with a shield of armor or such across the chest. Look for them on Sunday. But right before that, take in a shirt saying you can Rest In Pizza. In pieces? Or zest? Because pasta has holes.
However, this boat does not. Just before Lake Mallalieu is what looked to be, at first, another huge pumpkin, with the oblong and tapered appearance like that of a squash. But no, it really is an actual wooden (or least that’s what it looks like because of realistic detail) Pirates of the Carribean sendup, complete with anchor hanging at halfmast, all kinds of cool conquer-the-sea gear, and multiple creatures for crew, one of them waving his arms. In a landscape that has now valued the efficiency of fitting smaller creatures into a small space, rather than the old more-then-an-acre monstrosities in some yards, this is the most elaborate and creative display out there, and has got to be a breath of stale air (Addams Family reference).
Want more Austin, and are floating it past the powers that be, (and am I one?) I did my part to start by taking about an-up-and-coming guitarist by that name, see Picks of the Week, and now with costumes Being There, Here’s one more reference to Austin Powers, including someone whose an up-and-coming politician. In a big picture on her candidacy-for-School-Board-flyer, the big glasses and facial characteristics of Molly Powers looked just like Austin Powers, or vise versa.
He/they would get shagged to obtain a “flattened pumpkin” of a sports car’s front end, decked out with what looks like not only headlights but a grimace, just looked very demonic trolling down Trout Brook Road. In other places, other very early times, were a great big, great pumpkin at a nursery, befitting of a pathway that’s partway to Brooklyn Park, where they max out at around a half-ton. Not quite a wide as that specimen, pulling in at the size of a sports car, was another pasted to a chimney at second-floor level … how’d they get it up there?
And Austin as a car, beyond the theater, what is that I behold in front of me? Not my computer, these days, but past it a creature or two. A squirrel but with short and spike tail, and big catlike ears? So rather where they perch? And am I seeing what rodent I think I spy? Actually, just the top of a small stump. And below that, Joel’s Boulder, so named because that is where he would sit and hide on occasion in his part of spooking trick-or-treaters with me. A not-so-young man’s thoughts turn to … scaring not courting, and they get exaggerated by the motif.
Up the way, around the bend in the road, was that a man lurking and lurching in the woods through the somewhat barren trees, back and forth? Actually, he’s just taking out the garbage, and tripped a little … rumbling, bumbling, stumbling, do it again.
Down the block reside, and have now for more than one full moon, a trio of lighted pumpkins even glaring well after midnight, although plastic looking. (And it seems that overnight, they have shifted position). If they indeed are up all night, might they be the Dawn That Lights The Day? Or starts a fire?
So let there be light. Or its opposite. Or both. A red robin made like The Birds horror movie and cast a shadowy reflection across a sliding glass door, while feeding just inches away.
A long line of just inches ghostlets proceed up the edge of the driveway, or could they be those little do-not-dig-here signlets on a string. Across two lanes of concrete, a big bad bug with the devil horns has them spearing into the ground.
Along the lines of what will make your head bob: A fitting drink special at Pedro del Este is named, broadly speaking like a Speakeasy, Revive U 2, also referencing a warhorse band. This is what is needed to take the next step and become a zombie. That got a rise out of the bartender.
There of course would evenutally be such taverns decorating for Halloween, and bar none, it just takes time for them to get their game on. Like at Starr’s Bar, which had upside down (a theme?) on the bathroom door, police-line-do-not-cross tape, in an X shape almost in August. But when you have to go … And the prize for biggest and best use of spider webs goes to the Smilin’ Moose, which has them all along the top of their alloted five video poker machines, bending downward only on each and, as not too disturb the players. There is a decked out doorway, then a skull, and then more webs. And this isn’t even an online version. But the house prize goes to one with a full 30 feet of very full in white color web, between their home and the street reconstruction.
So this is my Halloween version of Deep Thoughts From Jessie, Ventura that is, in case you are missing that classic comic bit from the KQ morning show:
It’s tough being a Mongoose. You take your life in your hands daily to engage a King Cobra, just so you can eat, and have to swing all the way around the back of the snake, a full or should I say half 180, bite it from behin before it bites you, while finding its hood and hold that position until death, of either you or it. Then do it again for a karma-style meal. And Again. And Again. Just to eat. And you thought it was bad enough to have to settle for that mac and cheese. (And on these pages I will give you occasional tips to pump that up as well).
Where is that best tucked away but still in full sight, and remaining spooky, pumpkin patch? Find that and other Halloween finds that aren’t just costume parties for adults, in Picks of the Week.