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.