Monday's Memo: 2020's Halloween Note-cards Are Now Available

JACK-O-LANTERN BIRDWATCHING

This past Saturday here on Blogger, I published an entry re my Halloween-themed totes and discussed the fact that on 9-22-2020, re the COVID-19 pandemic (cornavirus) the CDC stated "for people who were planning to go trick-or-treating on Halloween this year: don't..."   

And I pointed out the CDC urged people to "Avoid activities that are higher risk for spread," and to "Consider fun alternatives that pose lower risk of spreading the virus that causes COVID-19." 

Within that entry I featured images of my new line of Halloween-themed totes and concluded with a promise that I would publish post on 10-5-2020 (which is today) to offer information re my selection of my 2020 Halloween cards. After all, sending cards is a perfect way to celebrate Halloween safely.

My Halloween cards are sized 5" by 7" and produced by Finr Art America (FAA). They use digital offset printers and 100 lb paper that has a UV protectant. The image is semi-gloss and the inside of the card is matte and blank so one can write a message, but if you prefer, FAA can customize any text or message that you want to include.

The card featured in the image atop this posting is from a few years ago but by popular demand it is also available this year. The ones which are directly below all have matching canvas bags/totes/pouches (that are available in three sizes which is described in the aforementioned post).

ALL HALLOWS EVE

HALLOWEEN IN THE GARDEN

EIGHT LITTLE PUMPKINS

FOUR LITTLE PUMPKINS

JACK-O-LANTERNS SUNBATHING

JACK-O-LANTERNS LAUGHING

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR

I realize Halloween is twenty-one days from now and I don't like to rush the entrance of the holiday, but due to time needed for shipping (in the event you'd like to purchase items mentioned here), I thought it best to give a heads up now.

Tuesday's Truths WK 16: "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter....."

Hello. Welcome to week sixteenth of Tuesday's Truths, which happens to coincide with the day after Halloween. For those of you who follow me here on Blogger, Facebook, tumblr or hometalk, you know that I've discussed I use Halloween decor in my rooftop garden. And you know that I've also created many story-lines re the whimsical characters who have visited both my indoor succulent garden and main living area during the time of Halloween prep; the Halloween holiday itself; and Halloween aftermath. Today's Blogger post content touches on Halloween aftermath among other subjects. The photograph atop this blog features a partial view of what hangs above my kitchen stove.

Soon it Will Be Halloween (27 Days)

In just a a little under one month's time, 2020's Halloween will be here. Last year on that holiday I was on the UES heading west when I encountered a woman wearing a panda bear mask. She can be seen in the image atop this entry.

Who could have known that less than one year's time, most every one throughout the United States and other parts of the world be (or should be) wearing face-masks to prevent the spread of a pandemic known as COVID-19 (the cornavirus).

Wednesday's Wisdom: There's NO Place Like Home for the Halloween Holiday

Halloween is six days away (including today), and the characters who are visiting me for the upcoming holiday, continue to impress me with their costumes and the personal stories associated with them. Those who read entries within this blog know that I have an annual ritual of writing about the characters who visit my home for the Halloween holidays. This began about five years ago when a few stragglers came to visit my succulent garden which is indoors, atop a pantry-style cabinet in my kitchen. Over the years, more and more characters have heard about my place and have come to spend time here in honor of Halloween.

A similar scenario happened in my terrace garden which is on a roof extension in NYC. It is a place where I have grown an array of cacti, flowers, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs, trees and vines. 

In the case of my rooftop garden, Cam, a female cardinal began visiting it during the year of 2012.

When word got out about the flora I grow in my garden as well as the bird feeders I have here, more and more birds came to visit. To date, nearly twenty different types of birds have visited my place. 

Cam did not appreciate this fact for it meant she had some competition at my bird feeders, which is something she confesses in her book, Words In Our Beak, Volume One. 

Cam's story is set in my rooftop garden. But I've digressed! My intended topic for today is not covering the antics of birds who visit my urban garden, rather, my intention is to cover the antics of a few of the characters who are visiting me for Halloween.

It's Halloween: Eat, Drink & Be Scary!

Halloween is here, the day to EAT, DRINK, &  BE SCARY! If you've been following my cyber venues over the past fifteen days, you undoubtedly have noticed that in addition to giving voice to the flora which grows in my urban garden, as well as the array of birds that visit it, I've been reporting on the antics of characters who've come to spend time with me for Halloween.

Some of these guys and gals have been visiting me for a number of years, and their scenarios have been documented in entries here on Blogger as well as tumblr, and on hometalk, under the following titles: Boo! Halloween in Both my Urban Terrace & Indoor Gardens,  Halloween Decor Indoors (mostly), Group B Wins The Coin Toss, Group A Wins The Second Coin Toss, Group C  Wins 3rd Coin Toss, Conclusion of Follow-Up Halloween Decor, Honoring National Pumpkin Day With a Contest in My Garden, and At Halloween and Always, Make New Friends, Keep the Old 

And this year, a few newcomers have graced my home with their presence. They include a fellow who insists he's no mummy's boy, a few witches (one named Ms. Grim one who wears a yellow cape, one who calls herself Queen of The Night, one who has bat wings, and one named Annie McFanny). Additionally some newcomers have come dressed as OZ characters, one wearing a Winged-Monkey costume, the others dressed up as Glinda and Dorothy. Moreover, this past Saturday, a character dressed as a black cat stopped by with information on this type of feline's plight on Halloween.

Other newcomers here who have yet to be featured in any of my cyber-venue postings are as follows: Mr. Pinstripes, a young girl in a pumpkin cape, and some one dressed as a prisoner.  

The latter of these individuals is usually here for Valentine's Day when he claims to be a Prisoner of Love.

Black Cats and Halloween

One of my Halloween visitors is getting an early start  on tomorrow's holiday, which is National Candy Corn Day, an event that is always celebrated on October 30th. I plan to post something about it at the time of the actual celebration, but this guy prefers to take his large piece of candy corn now. He does not like to go out on Halloween or Mischief Night (which coincides with National Candy Corn Day) and I understand his trepidation. 

Tuesday's Truths WK 64: Some Halloween decor is not for the birds.

Cam, the cardinal featured in the photograph above, where  she can be seen noshing on one of her favorite treats as she spends time in my urban garden, joins me in welcoming you to the sixty-second week of my Tuesday's Truths series. Today happens to be Halloween and she has urged me to write a post about the decor one might choose outside their home, although at this point you may have decked your halls for this occasion.

hAlLoWeEn 2013 (ETC)

Today is October the thirty-first and it has been one month since I've posted an entry here on Blogger. I'm obviously not adhering to a schedule I had hoped to keep in this particular cyber venue when I announced my plans for my posting on Blogger in October of 2011.

However, if you follow TLLG's web activity you most likely know that I've been diligent in keeping up with content on TLLG's Facebook Page as well as on my Pinterest Boards, and to some extent tumblr, which are good places to find me if you don't see a posting on Blogger.

Moreover, since June of 2013, I've been posting entries on hometalk, which is a place that reached out to me upon reading an entry I published re bird feeders here on Blogger. And in addition to this, as of August 2013, I am a regular contributor to Cornell's FB Page.

Having said all this, I'd like to get back to posting more frequently here on Blogger and am rethinking a viable schedule for doing so. I hope to come up with an itinerary before the distraction of November and December holidays set in.

For now, let me confess that juggling these venues has been a challenge, and unlike the character pictured at the top of today's entry (who has come to visit my succulent garden for Halloween) I am not a master at juggling activities nor am I good at most types of multi-tasking. The biggest reason for this is I put all my energy into the task at hand and if I can't be as thorough as I want to be with a particular task I put it off until I can.

Be that as it may, I am back here on Blogger today, October 31st 2013, which also happens to be Halloween, a holiday I've written about a number of times on this venue in bygone years.

Often when I've written about Halloween I've included info on how I've decorated my indoor succulent garden for Halloween. This year's decor was enhanced by four groups of visitors who came to visit me for the festivities, including the juggler whose image is at the top of today's entry. The juggler is one of the visitors from GROUP D and he can be seen with his comrades in the image below.

Details about these characters are in a post on hometalk.

Today's the last Saturday of October 2011! Question: Will it be Halloween's Last Stand?

If you have been following my blog, then you are probably aware that some of the things which I grow in my urban (New York City) terrace garden have taken it upon themselves to express their thoughts and opinions by authoring blog entries and posting them within this blog.

This "hoopla" — which has caused one of the Halloween pumpkins that I currently have in my garden to be overcome with laughter as seen in the image to in the upper lefthand corner —  all started in April of 2010, when my blog was only a little over four months old, and one of the flowers from my Paeonia suffruiticosa (Tree Peony), posted a photograph of herself with a short narrative. (If you would like to refer to this, please click here.)

As time passed, word got out among the plants, vines, flowers, herbs, trees and shrubs — which totaled a little over eighty when I last took a census — that the flower from my Paeonia suffruiticosa had done this, and many of the things which I grow began authoring entries on my blog. (This fact has  caused another one of the Halloween pumpkins that I currently have in my garden to also be overcome with laughter as seen in the image at the right.)

An Inspiration from The Great Pumpkin

BOOK COVER FOR GREAT PUMPKIN CAROLS

According to a FB Pagefor the Charles M. Schultz Museum, "Following the success of the 1966 TV special 'It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!,' Hallmark published a whimsical booklet of Peanuts Pumpkin Carols." (A copy of the booklet cover is seen in the image to the left, or the first picture in time-line view).

"As declared by Linus, and according to the front cover, 'Halloween is becoming a forgotten holiday. We dedicated followers of the Great Pumpkin must do something to rekindle the Halloween spirit. Let us not rest until the universe resounds with pumpkin carols.'

⁠

"🎼 The booklet includes eight pumpkin carols, set to well-known Christmas tunes, of course. Carols include: Great Pumpkin is Coming to Town, Pumpkin Wonderland, I’m Dreaming of the Great Pumpkin, Pumpkin Bells, The Twelve Days of Halloween, I Heard the Bells on Halloween, and O Pumpkin Cards." (Image and text are taken from the aforementioned FB Page for Peanuts @).

Upon my seeing a copy of the 1966 booklet, "THE PEANUTS BOOK OF PUMPKIN CAROLS," I thought of one of my 2020 Halloween-themed products titled. "The Pumpkin Choir" (totes as well as a note-card). They can be seen in the next two images to the right (respectively).

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR TOTE

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR NOTE-CARD

For your information, my photo of pumpkins caroling or ("The Pumpkin Choir") is included in volume two of my book series...

BOOK JACKET (FRONT) WIOB V2

PAGES 44 AND 45 WIOB V2

Words In Our Beak, in a section that describes how Halloween decor impacts the lives of wild birds. Information re the entire series (jackets pictured below) can be found by clicking here.

MY BOOK SERIES

I realize Halloween is twenty-one days from now and I don't like to rush the entrance of the holiday, but due to time needed for shipping (in the event you'd like to purchase items mentioned here), I thought it best to give a heads up now.

Friday's Fact: It may be too early for some boo-shit but not all....

There are six more days left in September and then Halloween will not be celebrated until the thirty-first of October… So, yes, on many levels, it’s too early for boo-shit!

BUT if you want to send cards for the occasion and/or give a gift such as a Halloween-themed tote, now might be the time to start thinking about this because while it’s too early for boo-shit, it’s not too late to order products since shipping tends to take time (unless you have Amazon prime).

I have created items (totes and greeting cards) for celebrating Halloween and they can be purchased from FAA (Fine Art America). Samples can be seen here (in the collage posted directly above). To see details my Halloween card, click here, and to see details re my Halloween tote, click here.

To see more of my Halloween selections visit me on FAA by clicking here.

Moreover, some of my Halloween-Themed products are based on images included in volume two of my book series, Words In Our Beak.

Its is available on Amazon or by giving the ISBN number 0996378537 to wherever books are sold; it makes a great gift at anytime, including Halloween!

All versions of Words In Our Beak have a goal which is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. The setting for my books is my rooftop urban garden in New York City, my stories are told in the voice of Cam, a female cardinal, who visits it. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective.

Halloween will be here in 2 weeks! Wednesday's Wisdom: Get your cards, invitations + gifts NOW!

They're baacccccck! A number of my annual Halloween "guests" (figurines)* have returned to my armoire for the upcoming 2018 holiday. You can see some them on the top shelf, where a bride and groom are in the midst of rehearsing for a vow renewal ceremony as the wedding-renewal party (surrounding them) oversees the event which is scheduled to take place on Halloween night.

The "folks" on the bottom shelf plan to attend the ceremony in their Halloween costumes and are currently comparing notes as to who is wearing the most ingenious costume.

And this is how my visitors are preparing for Halloween! What about you, dear reader? Do you have plans to send greetings to those near and dear to you or to host a soirée?

Tuesday's Truths WK 15: Info on the WINGED MONKEYS (seen in OZ)

With Halloween being less than a week away, there is a lot of activity going on in my home. Most of the action taking place is occurring among the cast of characters (dressed in unique Halloween costumes) who visit me on an annual basis during this time period. When they first started coming to my place, they confined their antics within the constraints of the succulent garden that I have atop a pantry-style cabinet that I have in my kitchen. 

The image atop this entry was taken a few years ago. It features a set of triplets who visited my succulent garden dressed as The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and The Cowardly Lion, who as you may know, are the characters featured in The Wizard of Oz.

Halloween Decor Can Be Hazardous To birds (Another Tuesday's Truth for Segment 99)

In one of the entries on the Facebook Page for Mutts, a comic strip that I saw prompted me to add another segment to today's Tuesday's Truths series (I published one re ducks earlier this morning).

A copy of the Mutts strip which I am referring to can be seen atop this entry. With the strip this "commentary" is stated on the FB Page for Mutts: "As Halloween approaches, please keep your animal pal's safety in mind. Keep chocolate, candy, and other "people treats" out of reach. Remember that masks, wigs, and costumes can be frightening to animals. Use caution with holiday decor, as some items can be toxic or pose choking hazards. Be extra careful when lighting candles, especially when there are active pups or 'batty' kitties around. Any other tips you'd like to share?"

A Displaced "une citrouille" or "un potiron?" (Wednesday's Wisdom re Halloween in France)

Before this Halloween passes, I've another holiday related item to share, which I've just learned from the writings of an expat. She states: "Halloween is considered an American celebration – and that’s not a compliment. The idea of French Halloween is seen as yet another imposition of American culture on French customs and traditions – right after American fast-food chains and ketchup. This alone is enough to make many French people turn their patriotic nose up at the idea of celebrating or embracing Halloween in France." 

Because there is a french bistro proprietor in my hood on the UWS who sets out (every year around Halloween) an elaborately carved pumpkin (or "une citrouille" or "un potiron") atop one of his out door café's tables, I was surprised to learn this.

Perhaps the proprietor is not a Francophile (Gallophile) but rather a Francophobe (or Gallophobe)? 

Whatever the case may be re Halloween and the proprietor of this french restaurant, I'm glad he puts out his uniquely carved pumpkin as it always seems to cheer even the most disgruntled passers by!

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN!

Another Halloween in my Succulent Garden

The photo atop this blog entry shows a number of characters who are meeting in my indoor succulent garden before Halloween. It's the fifth year that characters have come to visit my succulent garden for this particular holiday. As many of you know, I have a garden on my terrace where I grow cacti, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs as well as trees. The succulent garden that I maintain inside my home, is not only for unusual cacti, it is a place that an array of characters come to visit for various occasions.

With the exception of Humpty Dumpty, Ms. Skeptic is the one who has been visiting me the longest in honor of Halloween. I've indicated her identity (number twelve within the group image below, Humpty is number 13). I've also included Ms. Skeptic's and Humpty Dumpty's solo photo-ops.

In 2011, her first year here, Ms. Skeptic was the hostess to a small group of characters, but the group of visitors has gotten much larger over the years. In fact the numbers of whimsical visitors has gotten so big, that some of them (not seen in either of these group images) have moved beyond my garden and into my main living area; taking up residence in my armoire and making themselves at home on my shelves! 

A number of the characters featured in these group photos were discussed in posts I wrote for hometalk in 2012 and 2013 under the following titles: Boo! Halloween in Both my Urban Terrace & Indoor Gardens,  Halloween Decor Indoors (mostly), Group B Wins The Coin Toss, Group A Wins The Second Coin Toss, Group C  Wins 3rd Coin Toss, Conclusion of Follow-Up Halloween Decor, Honoring National Pumpkin Day With a Contest in My Garden, and At Halloween and Always, Make New Friends, Keep the Old

In any event, this year, those visiting my succulent garden — with the exception of the four judges (seen at the far right portion of the image atop this entry and identified by white arrows in the second image above) as well as Humpty Dumpty (who is actually a permanent resident) — are here rehearsing in hopes of being the witch that is chosen to appear on America's Got Talent! 

All of the judges here are trying emulate Howie Mandel in order to prepare the hopefuls for a best American witch win.

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween... (at least that's the case in my armoire)

Once again, it's beginning to look a lot like Halloween in my armoire. My costume clad figurines have returned in honor of Halloween 2017. These whimsical characters can be seen in the first image atop this blog entry, where they are participating in a dress rehearsal for yet another vow renewal ceremony, for which guests have been told to wear their Halloween costumes. I say "yet another," because last year there was a different vow renewal ceremony that occurred here.