Hallowe'en.

It's arrived.

Hallowe'en is here.

 The living room above the ol' S&P.

Whether I spend months putting together a big yard display, or simply enjoy my October as it comes to me, it always seems as if it takes forever to get here... yet once it arrives, it seems it got here -- and will then leave -- so quickly.

The feelings are really no different than those I felt when I was just a little pubkeep.

And I think it's perfectly appropriate, actually; I have felt the same feelings about Hallowe'en my entire life. No matter what age, health, business or busy-ness, stress, joy, sorrow, any Hallowe'en of my life. If anything, those feelings grow richer, deeper, they sweeten with experience and time.

I won't be doing much this year in comparison to previous years. But I will still be reveling in family, friends, traditions, and as much love as any fool could be lucky enough to have.

I hope you will -- each and every one of you -- in your own way be feeling the same luck, the same love, this Hallowe'en.

Autumn is the finest season of every trip around our sun... and Hallowe'en is the finest day and night of that season.

I am so very glad it is here, and that I am here to enjoy it yet again.

I'm so very glad you are, too.


Happy Hallowe'en from the Skull & Pumpkin.


DUMDUMSHREKPOP!!!

Has it really been...

... TEN YEARS?!?

I guess it has. Wow!

Ten years (plus about a week) ago, the Skull & Pumpkin opened its creaking doors to Hallowe'en-thirsting Autumn People everywhere, offering tastes of All Hallow's horror, humor and history all the year 'round, poured and served in shots and jiggers and giant goblets and even a few overfull, leaking barrels' worth of Autumnal libation.

Here is the very first Skull & Pumpkin post, for your nostalgic enjoyment just in case you haven't read it in a while, or haven't read it ever.

I have let it sit idle for a number of years, I know. You know. And I know you know I don't know when I will return to it on a regular basis... but I will never entirely leave it, and it will never close its doors, never be sold, never be demolished to make room for some new highway of ridiculous blogging of idiotic partisan politics or bad new music or gluten-free cooking or -- the worst! -- Christmas! 

Okay, I kid about that Other Holiday so often, but I do love and enjoy it, of course.

Just... y'know...

... not nearly as much as Hallowe'en.

Ever.

At any rate, I didn't want to let too much more time slip by this month without mentioning this homely house's tenth birthday, to thank all of you for being your spooky, wonderful selves and showing such love and support for the ol' S&P.

Oh, one more fun and funny thing --

This summer the Champagne Theatre at the Welk Resort here in Branson is running a fantastic production of Shrek: The Musical, all week, all summer long.

Some of my cousins, and a nephew (you might recall him from this post, though he is quite a bit older now) and some friends are in the show, and my older brother Chris is the production/stage manager; he enlisted me some time back to build a rod puppet-type antelope herd and a giraffe's head (they are used in one song to poke fun at The Lion King).

Here they are:

Fur baby Autumn (nickname Li'l Bit) is keeping watch under the giraffe.

But my point in even mentioning it is this:

I realized, while building them, that I was actually making...



... wait for it...!
















DUMDUM-SHREK-PROPS!!!










Anyway...

Happy 10th Birthday, you wonderful ol' S&P.

And my love to you all.

I'll be back.

Twenty NINETEEEEEN.

Seriously.

2019.

Where in Hell does the time go?

Oh, my dear S&P-brains. I sure hope you've had a wonderful holiday season, and are enjoying the beginning of a new year with health and happiness, and a good dose of Hallowe'en in the mix, every day and night, in some way or other.

I opened this little pub way back when to offer a little bit of that Hallowe'en fun into your daily, nightly mix... and though I obviously have not been offering anything these past few years but the rare 'hello I'm still alive' post, I always feel lucky to have had this little homely house of Hallowe'en happiness for all these years.

I do, still, very much want to get back into regular posting again one day. My life's ups and downs and rougher waters are still keeping me from doing that, but I never say never, and someday, I will return.

I do not expect anyone to simply wait patiently for whenever that may be... but I so deeply appreciate each and every one of you.

I sure hope and pray for a fantastically fun and freakingly frighteningly fabulous 2019 for all of you.

You will see some posts from me along the way in 2019, you can be sure.

Happy new year, all --


DUMDUMSHREKPOP!!!