It's still July, right?

Here at the S&P, we dig Summer.

OH no, Summer ain't no AUTUMN, we can all safely agree; but we certainly enjoy our long, chatty pub nights in the hot weather, just as long as we have enough cold libation surrounded with enough chilling, thrilling decoration!

For any griping I have about it being extra hot and sweaty lately (and seriously, the heat indices for the last few weeks have been hovering around 100... I'm turning over in my sleep so moss doesn't grow), I still like that it's only the middle of Summer and we're still many, many weeks away from Labor Day (and Jerry).

I mean, I'd love it to be Autumn all the time and often feel like I 'can't wait' for it to arrive... but I seriously don't want my year to unravel any faster than it already does, you know?

And since I've only a little more than 100 days to bring this year's Hallowe'en vision to life, I don't mind the July heat and humidity.

Mostly.

So today, out driving in my beloved, clunky ol' Jeep belting out Steely Dan tunes and melting from the heat (and the funk-a-liciousness) I headed to Michael's to pick up some much needed Poe-character-making materials -- Poe fixin's, I call them -- and lo!

 

Oh pssht, I can hear your disdain, that's just the 'Fall, harvesty' stuff that's out early every year!

Maybe you're right. But then what about

THIS?

 

Or THIS?

It is July 20th, right?

Love it.

I immediately felt a little cooler, a little less sweaty, and it made my purchase of  Poe-fixin's™  that much more enjoyable, and a bit less painful (times are tight for many of us; I'm feeling rather po' myself)!

I think my favorite of the little wooden/cloth figures is this little beauty:

She's like Whistler's Dead Mother and the old lady from that 'Oh Susannah!' episode of Our Gang all in one.

Might have to pick this up eventually:

I don't know what it is about it I like more -- the chains in the teeth ('cause that would be so very secure) or the very fact of it reading 'Creepy Welcome', because that's something we'd all say to guests as they entered our homes. 

Not A Creepy Welcome To You, not Spooky Greetings (tho' I have said that!), but simply Creepy Welcome.

The door opens -'Hey man, thanks for inv--" 

"CREEPY WELCOME!"

It's perfect.

It's July and this is already here. 

It was a treat to behold, and the best thing is, I know it's just the tip of the spooky iceberg!

DUMDUMPOEFIXINS!