A beautiful day

in the graveyard garden...

Blaze Climbing Rose

China Doll mini rose

Lavender

Weeping Golden Chain Tree

?? English style rose

Star Jasmine Tree (blooms the last weekend in May every year...that is why I got the camera out, to take pictures of this tree.)

Mr. Lincoln - a classic red rose, one of my favorites

Princess Diana Rose (I need to find this one a new home in yard, she is getting choke out by some daises!)

I should know the name of this one....ah, no, not coming to me

Lace Leaf Hydrangea - loves his new shadier home on the back fence of the cutting garden.

Thought this was Queen Elizabeth but the color is too dusty rose, not pink....going to have someone research this one for me.

I purchase a dozen Iris' a couple years back....thought they all died, safe to say, don't know the name of this one either :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Brilliant people I know, part one

A sort of friend.... more a friend of some good friends. She would know me...if you reminder her that we are those crazy Davis Graveyard and that I actually know "Making Plans for Nigel" (?? I hear you say....long story, we were playing charades), more importantly; we are friends of Floyd and Marc. BTW- she has the cutest mom, who LOVES Halloween!!

This song is funny.......and she is as funny in person as this song. We love her sense of humor!!!

I present to you this BRILLIANT song from Courtney, who is a writer and the host of the syndicated LIVE Wire! (on NPR) ....you might relate, if not, you know someone who fits this description....and now you have song to play in your head while they/you are trolling the clubs/bars :)

We love her, she makes us laugh!!! So I thought I would share :)

I present to you, my fellow bloggers.....Whore Phase :) ONLY LISTEN TO THIS SONG IF YOU HAVE SENSE OF HUMOR!!!! You normal people have been warned!!!

Thanks to Me Smash for the reminder....you are a good friend!!!

If you are not

listening to Hauntcast. You are a loser...oh, wait, what I meant to say is .....then you should.

Not just because husband and I are currently featured in the latest podcast. How cool is that!! Despite us being on there, the show is freakin' awesome! It makes me laugh out loud so much that I cannot listen to it at work (I tried - once!) I would really like to, just to make work bearable....wait, likely not even that would make my job anything other than depressing :)

And if you leave a cool message on the Bone Phone (hee hee, "bone" phone - yes, I can be quite juvenile) you have a chance to win a messenger bag with a embroidered Davis Graveyard logo on it....full of other goodies, like a travel mug, pens....maybe some foam skulls, some foam tombstone accents, and what ever elese is lying around the shop.....we will keep packing it full until the bag can hold no more!!

The whole Hauntcast thing reminds me of Hauntcon.....I was pleasantly surprised by how many haunted attraction people love the show. Not to say anything bad about RFR, but everyone I talked to thought it was the best podcast on the net. So funny, and not PG rated, and most importantly entertaining!!! I talked a lot over the week of the convention with John Kennedy, the new owner of Haunted Attraction magazine and he said that he listened to them on his trip up to the convention. He said he saved them for last thinking that they would be a bit dull...I mean, we are talking home haunters! (Just kidding John - really, just joking, John did not say that. He loves home haunters.....who am I kidding!!! John does not read my blog.......please!! :)

Anyway, he said that he loved them! Laughed and laughed and he was going to talk to them about sponsorship!! I hear he did so Wooohooo! Great way for Haunted Attraction magazine to show some love to us lowly home haunters :) Again, John, if ever read this....I am being my usual sarcastic self....I mean after spending a week with me.....you have to know that I cannot be serious about anything for more than two sentences. :)

Back to.....

Support Chris, Rev and the crew by telling everyone you know to check out the show. They will thank you later. I might even go so far as to say support all their vendors....even the Spirit store (those over priced bastards! - oops, I think the turrets is kicking in again) so that you can help them keep the show on the road.

I believe our new friend Brian Dove is going to do a interview from the Rocky Mountain Gathering for Hauntcast!! Way to go Brian!!

Oh, wait, none of you know Brian......I haven't written that blog post yet. Guess what I will be doing this weekend.

Do I

start another blog?

As of late, I have been very conflicted about this blog.

I am not those great people that scour the web looking for fantastic things to share with you.....again, I wish I was. I just blog from the Frog Queen (of Halloween's) point of view :)

And, I do, censor myself. I hardly say "fuck" on this blog, but when I am working on Halloween stuff....yeah, well, I have a bit of potty mouth! (Husband, who I now know reads this, is LAUGHING his ass off at the "bit" part of that comment!)

I recently stopped posting anything about my work. More like therapy for me and boring for the rest of you. I mean, even if I can be funny about it, it just seems self indulgent. I sometimes envy you that fill out those clever questionnaires that revel more to me. I just feel silly talking about myself.....

You don’t have to tell me, my cat (Dorie) is cute, and my garden can be quite beautiful and I can find a quirky thing here and there but they really have nothing to do about frogs or pumpkins, or more importantly, Halloween.

It bothers me each time I post something that is not 100% Halloween or Davis Graveyard related. I am concerned that I will mislay my Halloween fans.

Husband, who as you know, I hardly listen to (but love dearly!), reminds me that the blog is me and for me. And although I am 70%-80% Halloween, It is fair to say that I have a few distractions.

I mean not a single day goes by when husband and I do not talk about Halloween and our graveyard display. Pitiful, I know. But my blog...not so much so.

So do I make a frog queen blog (actually someone has that, I will have to come up with something else) and I keep this one strictly Halloween?

Want

want

want

WANT....one of these cool new fog chillers from Froggy's Fog.

It is a modified subzero freezer.

It is $799 before shipping!! (and that is the cheap one!!!)

Ah, a bit out of my budget right now.

BTW - I talked with Chris at Hauntcon and don't for a minute think that you can just by a $300 freezer, paint it black, and drill a hole in the bottom to vent the fog out. They already tried that.

Nope. You will hit the freon tubing.

Froggy's had a custom freezer made with an area on the bottom corner that has no freon tubing. The custom built freezer is what increases the price.

Chris said that they really wanted to to hit the $300 - $400 price point, and were disappointed that they could not make it work. But they are happy with this new chiller.

I just picked up some more Swamp Juice (the best fog EVER!) I am going to save my pennies (and dimes and nickels) so I can get a chiller next year!!

Housekeeping

or yard keeping in this instance. I am going through my unposted blog entries and cleaning house.

This is picture of a wisteria (Chinese, which wraps counter clockwise) vine that I am growing up and through a flowering cherry tree that is dying.

The idea is that the vines will take over the tree and use the soon to be dead tree for support.

I planted this 4 years ago...I thought the tree would be dead by now...(maybe Belldandy came by :) ? (Sorry for the obscure manga reference :)

Anyway, the vines did not wrap as well as I would like, so I think I am going to plant a few additional Japanese versions (they wrap clockwise) an see if I can increase the vines along the base of the tree. I hope they like each other...maybe I should consult the big gardening book before I plant some :)

My next idea is to create some faces out of resin or something that can withstand time and the outdoor conditions and place them on the larger base of the tree and have the vines grow around them, sort of a spirit tree.

I am not that patient of a person, and I know that it will be at least 3 - 5 years before I have anything that looks like my vision.

Patience.

This is a good exercise for the Frog Queen.

While I am

writing non Halloween related posts.

Here is Dorie, my crazy cat, being crazy. There are 3 soft,fluffy, newly-washed cat beds and a larger chair in that room to sleep on....but husband's "in" basket makes the perfect bed???

How can that be comfortable?

Speaking of

Esty purchases. Although not Halloween related.....still pretty cool!

Here is the latest item I purchased from the lovely Diane at Good Mourning, Glory! She even did a great job wrapping it. I had to be very careful unwrapping it to take the picture so that I could put in back together.

Here is the link to her shop if you want - I mean, need, and you do need, to buy something lovely from her.

It is a present for my mom for her birthday.

Another Halloween

cat picture!!!

I finally got this fantastic picture that I won from Designs by CK framed. It is a Halloween cat(s) picture that goes quite nicely on my wall of cat pictures!!

I now have two Halloween type cat pictures. The other is a black and white close up of a cat's face that is titled "Boo" that I got in Edinburgh a few years ago.

But this new one is my favorite!!! It has a spider....exactly how I like my spiders.....fake...or if they must be real, dead and pressed under glass is fine with me too :)

I see lots of space that still needs more pictures. (It's a hall way, so I had a hard time getting a good picture of both walls)

I think I need to go Esty shopping! :)

My weekend of

death, wine and Music Man.

Took our annual trip to Ashland Oregon, home of the world famous "Oregon Shakespeare Festival" and a LOT of wineries!

Saw four plays this weekend and three of them had, in one way or the other, a strong theme - death.

Death and the King's Horseman - Nigerian play about how the British and the African cultures did not understand each other. Brilliant play.

Dead Man's Cell Phone - Sara Ruhl play - I have seen all three of her plays, this being my least favorite....which is saying something if you ready my review of (her version of) Eurydice.

Then the murder filled - Macbeth (pictured). What is not to like! I believe it is the shortest of his plays, lots of death and blood and bodies and just some of the worst people you could ever meet. Actually, scarier than many of the haunted houses I have seen.

This version was quite dark and bloody, and there were bodies all over the apron of the stage - Macbeth's severed head displayed atop a sword was disturbing (in a good way!) Oh, and the witches were great....they even did a mirror set of witches, three old scary witches and three younger, more Goth looking witches that would follow on stage after the old witches left....no exactly sure the purpose? But I liked it! What is not to like about more witches :)

and....as if in perfect contrast; Music Man. Yes, the old American musical. Honestly, it was my favorite of the weekend. Could be because the summer that husband and I met at an art camp, that was the musical performance of the year. We heard the rehearsals for it all summer long. Kind of have a soft spot for it now :) Everything on the stage (including the costumes) started out in tones of gray, and they added color as the play went along....you must know by now how partial I am to that monochrome color scheme :)

If you want a more professional review...check out our friend Marty's reviews for The Oregonian.

Visited our Halloween friends at Darkwing Manor - The Baron and Mort were gracious hosts as always..I would move in her house today. It is gothic decorated Victorian....amazing. I still want to be Mort in my next life.

Drank a lot of good wine (with one exception) and brought home more than I intended. I have never been much of a white wine drinker, but this round I tried everything but the Pinot Gris (just can't drink that one) and I working on expanding my (wine) horizons. I don't think I brought any white home...but I did taste them. That is a start.

Still prefer my wine red....the color of blood. :)

Can you believe

that I have to take these letters off my gate every year.....husband will not let me have them welded to the gate.... I know - I agree with all of you....I don't see the problem..... :)

They currently attach to the gate each October with rare-earth magnets; he won't admit it...but I think he wants it that way so that he could have an excuse to buy and use some...

...actually, rare-earth magnets are pretty cool. They are very strong, and they can take a chuck out of your finger when you are attaching them if you are not careful. And I did not paint the lettering....that rust is natural, not faux....so there is that issue of keeping your shots updated if you happen to cut yourself.

Small, tiny, boring details.

Anyway....I brought this up, because, I am not getting my way again.....and I am not happy.

Wait, I know how the welder works. Seriously, how hard can this be?

:D

There is a reason

for another LOLcat picture.



This one reminds me of one of the most original and scariest things I saw this Hauntcon.

Terror on the Fox had a little girl's room with dolls, toys and the usual. There is this little girl was sitting on the bed pointing to this picture of a clown saying that she was afraid of the clown, that is was coming to get her.

It was not some crazy clown painted room with bright neon colors or scary circus music. Just a normal little girls room. Ah, how sweet.....

That was until a clown suddenly comes out of the middle of the bed and pulls the girl screaming down into the bed - gone.

Damn, that was good!

Yeah, the only thing that would have made that creepier, is if the clown had been a spider.

shudder

A good reason

to go to Chicago is for the Halloween Art Exhibit. We meet Scott Jackson the producer (and a talented artist) of the event when we were at Hauntcon. He had a booth area set up with a sample of work from many very talented artists.

Upon talking to him, we found that this is the 10th year of the exhibit. They have a great site you can check out all the great artists that are part of this event. They have a membership that gets you all kinds of goodies and helps support the events.

One cool thing was to get to see a print version of the famous and much loved Deanna Morton as Lily Munster poster. It was used in a poster for the event a few years back. It is an amazing photo. Very cool, she does Lily very well. :)

He said that they are always looking for artists, so if any of you out there are looking for a place to display your Halloween themed art. Contact him through the website. We plan on referring a couple of our friends over there.

Hope someday to see the exhibit.....but it is in October, so the chances are pretty slim :)

Silly, the things

that come back from my memories.....like one October day when someone came up to me and asked me if this was a real graveyard.

Happens all the time, that is the most common question we get on the display is "are those tombstones real?"

The first thing I say is.....:) Yep, I carved them out of stone myself Then, I laugh, answer their questions and maybe have them grab a FAQ sheet from the display.

But this time was different.

This time, these people meant it. The did not speak much English, but I came to understand why they asked about the graveyard being real. It seems there were they are from, the family is buried in the yard of the home. Since they could not read everything on the tombstones to know that were are fake. They genuinely wanted to know.

Is this graveyard real.

Flattered as I was, it made me think.

I do this every October for fun and the entertain myself, and I do know that I am making a realistic (kinda) graveyard from my perspective. I know that there are family plots, but I had not thought about the current cultures that actually keeping their family's bodies on the property and how seeing this would affect them.

They did seem disappointed that it was not real. It is like they found something that reminded them of their home....and it turned out to be fake. That is not the reaction that we generally get. I saw what I was doing in a different light for just a second. Which made me a bit sad and for some reason ashamed.

To this day, that conversation pops into my head from time to time. Someone says something that reminds me of it, or I am standing in the yard in the exact spot where the conversation took place, or something. Afterwards, I am left with a melancholy feeling that I just can't shake.

Would you rather

have a Davis Graveyard logo'd

Messenger bag

or

fleece vest

or

button down shirt

I am trying to pick something to give away on Hauntcast. I am leaning toward the messenger bag, we love ours.

This time

I was right.

(Back to Hauntcon reminiscing)

We drove about 45 minutes to this place, Round Lake, I believe and pulled up to a miniature golf place, off to the side of the sign I saw a simple "Haunted House" sign with an arrow pointing left.

Oh, boy, this should be fun :)

Not only was this a miniature golf course, they also had an arcade section, a pizza parlor and a bowling alley....next to the bar, and...in a building behind it....you guessed it.

A haunted house. Or something that resembled a haunted house.

We were all hungry so we opted to have pizza first...or something that resembled pizza :) Lucky for us, the pizza dining area was right next to the bar.

You might be thinking to yourself....wow. she mentions a lot of drinking at Hauntcon. Not near as much as actually goes on :)

There is a reason that classes do not start until 10:00 am on Sunday :)

Back to....eating first was a mistake, because the second bus arrived and decided to walk through the haunt first. So, when we got done, we had to wait for them to go through the haunt....5 people every 10-8 minutes or so....there were about 175 of us! Anyway, they were through and had gone in to eat their pizza and back out before most of us got through the haunt.

Lovely!

So, to the haunt.

I have to say that the opening scene was very promising. A lady is talking about this "pet" experiment she has over in the cage. He is screaming for someone to let him out. Then she goes bezerk and asks if we should kill him. We all answer yes, mostly because we know that is what she wants us to say and this is going on forever.

Then she runs in the cage after him and pulls out a gun and shoots him in the head.

Yeah, that was disturbing.

I was trying to remember if there was a sign outside about not bringing in small children. That experience might cause the need for therapy later.

I am thinking. Wow - if that is the beginning, I might be wrong, the rest of the haunt is going to be something quite different.

I was not wrong...

First off, the separated me from the group. I actually volunteered when they asked for someone. I have been through these enough to know to volunteer, or we are all going to have to wait for them to "pick" a victim.

I take one for the team. Just get us moving!

So, the rest of the haunt is me being stalked by very good actors in great make up pushing me through the haunt. Most of them got too close for me.

I found myself in my mind saying over and over again....some of these guys need a Tic Tac! Especially the smokers! Yuk!

I am not a big personal space person, I understand how these work and I would never shove anyone in a haunt, never.....but I thought about it at least a few times. :D

I felt bad as things went on because I was just laughing.....I mean how many times in my life can I be followed by a scary clown and expect to be scared. Really people!

So the haunt is just a maze of rooms, with all the same situations..... just like every other haunt you will ever see.

It was not horrible. It was just completely unoriginal. Saw nothing new.

And, you guessed it.....

I got chased out by a guy with a chain saw.

And some people wanted to stay for the lights on tour!!! Crazies!!

So we did not get back to the hotel until after midnight. The bar was closed.....but the Hauntcon suite was open :)

Yes, I purposely left off the name of the haunt, it would serve no purpose to tell you. If you are going to Wisconsin and you email me, I will tell you the name so you can avoid it.

And the winner

is Ghoul Friday!

You win a Voodoo Doll straight from New Orleans!!

Email me with your mailing address and I will get it right out to.

Thanks for reading everyone! More prizes to follow!!!

Cheers!

I love Halloween

more than Tori Amos.

Crap! I just found out that Tori will be in town on July 11, that is the weekend of Frightfest Northwest. We are hosting the event! The dance is that night…..there is NO way I can sneak away to see it.

Halloween on one side Tori on the on the other. :(

I have seen her over 30 times, so I guess missing one show will not be the end of the world (but pretty close ;) . . . . it is Halloween related after all.

Now if Kate Bush* was playing …..forget Frightfest Northwest – husband would have to handle it on his own :)

*husband has been warned that I would mortgage the house to fly where ever in the world if she ever announces a concert tour again.

Another beautiful

day in my yard. Here are some pictures of what is blooming....or just looking particularly interesting to me today :)

Another graveyard

Since I was blogging about Roslin Cemetery, I thought I would share the other pictures I took at the graveyard that day.

First is another angle of the angel monument. It was up against a wall in the front of the cemetery. It looks like someone was keeping the verge trimmed to show the statue. You can see what is left of the cross behind it. I imagine it was (more) amazing at one time. Someday, I want to build an angel prop like this :)

Would anyone want

copies of the last three years of the Davis Graveyard DVDs? (cause I have a closet full :) )

I was trying to think of something to offer Hauntcast as a giveaway on their show, and I was coming up with nothing that I think a haunter would want. The Mitchell's gave away one of their books....I don't have anything near that cool :(

I want to offer them to Hauntcast as a giveaway on their show....but, honestly, we have sold, maybe a dozen (total) over the years, so I cannot imagine that anyone would want a set.

I do have some Davis Graveyard coffee mugs.....and I probably could come up with a shirt or something if I dug through the basement.

But really? Does anyone want one???!?!

I think I will contact some vendor friends and see if they will donate a prize or two.

You always want

what you cannot have.

That does not explain why I dreamed last night about a place I have never seen? Last night I dreamed I was walking through this castle on holiday - I have never been there.

I wanted to go to this castle. This is Roslin Castle (yes, that is the correct spelling)....far less famous then it's much smaller sister, Roslin (Rosslyn) Chapel.

The last time I was in Scotland we went to Roslin Chapel.

Funny, we love Edinburgh and have been many times, and never visited the castle or chapel until our last trip.....I have to say, mostly because of the book.

As amazing as the chapel (truly) was (is) I have to say that I am still haunted by the fact that is is as close to the castle outside the chapel that I could get. It was closed to the public when we were there.

So I stood, on an overcast Sunday, in a picturesque glen outside of Edinburgh, looking out from a beautiful graveyard outside of the chapel viewing these ruins. As absolutely amazing as Roslin (Rosslyn) chapel is, I kinda of forgot about it all as I stood in the graveyard, in the shadow of this angel monument, looking at a place I could not go.

I wanted what I could not have.

Since the castle is far older, I doubt it would have any of the some amazing features as the chapel, but I love castles....and mysteries. It has a great history, like the castle at Loch Lommond - Urqhart Castle (famous for the Loch Ness Monster story) the owner of this castle destroyed (in a fire) the castle rather than loose it to the enemy.

Just like I would have done! :)

It is no for let (rent) as as holiday (vacation) location. I hope someday to see it.

I just bet it is haunted :)

What a surprise!

I have a new addition to my frog family!

I got a very cool Halloween frog from a fellow blogger. How thoughtful!

The Halloween themed frogs are the favorite in my collection. This one is perfect!

Thanks Dracaena!

We will start

with saying something nice.

When they teach you to be a manager, one of the things they tell you to do when you have something negative/unpleasant to say, start with a compliment.

So when taking about the haunts we visited at Hauntcon, I will start with my favorite surprise.

Monster Mayhem

First off, marketing being my life, I cannot tell you how impressed I was with their website, well, not the actual website, that is a bit under developed :) But their welcome screen had (has) a special message for us Hauntcon attendees. How cool is that - talk about attention to detail! I would give the staff person that came up with that idea a cookie! :)

Now....

I have to say, that the cynical Frog Queen was out in full force when we drove up to the pizza place/bar that the bus stopped in front of. Not another one of these (cheap and unoriginal) haunts! When I got inside it seems my suspicions were confirmed...this did not look promising. Maybe this scary bar is actually the haunt? :)

After our pizza, someone came out and said that they will be leading us through the kitchen down to the haunt.

Really? Did he just say through the kitchen, where I am guessing they made my pizza?!?? I think I need a drink! "I am headed to the bar, does anyone want anything!"

Okay, I am thinking, let's get through this quick and back on the first bus so we can get out of here - I am not staying for the lights on tour - no way.

We are indeed lead through the kitchen, past someone who was smoking :) and a whole bin of sharp knives.....at that point I thought that would be the scariest thing I would see.

Let me say that once again I am glad to be wrong.

Monster Mayhem is the most original haunt I have seen in a LONG time.

No scary clowns, no bloody morgue, no dot room, no vortex tunnel and especially, my favorite, no one chased me out of the haunt with a chain saw :) (possibly a first!)

No, my fellow bloggers, this haunt was based on the Resident Evil game/movies. Like them or not (me, well more not), this made for a great and unique haunt experience. The whole haunt was like walking through the game/movie. They had guys in combat wear walking us through; some turned in to zombies....others got killed saving us. Very entertaining.

They did the whole underground experiment facility quite well. They have great attention to detail, the actors were great, the and the props were amazing.

The prop that impressed me the most was actually not a prop at all.

You come around a corner and a green monster type pop-up prop goes off as you walk by; as we all know, pop-up props do :) But this prop got up and followed us down the hall!!!! OMG! It is a person in a suit! He/she impersonated a pop-up very well!! I loved it.

So, now I HAD to stay for the lights on tour. It was just as impressive. Husband and the guys from EFX-TEK were impressed with all the prop controllers and the control center. I enjoyed all the details.

Great haunt! I wish I lived in the area, I would go through it again. I guess it was not "scary" in the traditional haunt way, but I give it a lot of credit for originality.

Back to that management training thing......

saying something nice before you say something negative is so cliché in management that I think many people do not believe or appreciate a compliment, because they are now, often, followed by something critical.

Which my fellow bloggers......leads me to my next Hauntcon haunted house post coming shortly. Yeah, the next one involves a miniature golf/arcade/bowling alley/pizza place/bar. You know what they say about stretching yourself too thin. :)

I am just talking about

Halloween. Which I love to do (as you know from reading this blog.) So why am I a bit nervous about talking the Chris for Hauntcast tonight with husband?

Normally, whether you want me to our not, I can go on and on and on about The Davis Graveyard to anyone....living....or dead. Even if you appear not to be interested, I will keep talking about it.

So why does doing an interview with a very great guy like Chris Baker make my stomach do flip flops?

Well, lets see if he can work the same magic with the upcoming interview as he did with the last one. Oh, yes, I have to let Husband talk a bit too :)

Wish me luck!

Because I am not

up for writing about Hauntcon right now.

How about another giveaway. Sort of Hautcon related as that I picked this item up at the last Hauntcon preshow tour in New Orleans ('08). I went straight for the Voodoo store as soon as I got off the tour bus.

Wait, oh, yeah, I did get distracted by the daiquiri shop on the way there, but after that....straight to the Voodoo store! The Frog Queen has her priorities :)


That's right! Out of the people that post one my blog between now and Sunday night, I will draw a winner for your very own


Voodoo Doll, pins and all!!


I mean, we all know you have a neighbor that does not love your display that you want to ......ah, I think I will stop there :)