Refinement

So each year when we see our Davis Graveyard video, I see many things I want to change. Here is my list for 2009 (so far):

Color (or lack of)

Our main inspiration for the display is the old black and white Universal Monster movies, I am working to create that old movie look in the yard.

The corpses are brown and the yard is black, white and gray. So I am going to repaint them all this summer to match my burning stake skeleton. I am really looking forward to seeing them match the yard.

I will likely paint the talking coachman skeleton gray and black.

I am toying with the idea of replacing the stained glass windows with a black, gray and white version....but that might be a bit too much of a Frog Queen folly. :)

I am still going to ask husband if I can paint the front lawn grey. He will say "no" of course, but I have to ask every year....it is a bit of a tradition with us :)

Time and Place

And, not only did I decide to go with the graveyard theme for the display, I went a step further and decided to make it a old British graveyard. (Image of St. Andrews in Scotland - one of my favorite graveyards to visit.)

In doing this I can keep my thin, tall tombstones, as they are more common in old cemeteries than the thicker more modern tombstones and monuments. So I have had to resist the urge to make many more large square monument type tombstones like I added this year.

Next is the talking head, I love the speech a friend of mine wrote for me, but it is western themed. Very funny and clever, but 2008 was likely his last appearance. (Sorry Dean and Todd.)

We are looking to replace him with a barbershop quartet similar to the Disney Haunted Mansion and in line with the Bates Haunt. Something with a British accent to match the voice the Dick Trehune at Voices from Hell did for our coachman.

So those are the changes, so far...on top of the repairs and new things to make. I feel tired already. :)