Halloween
I decorate for Christmas every year, it’s almost a ritual. Halloween passes just about unnoticed. Sure there are advertisements that adorn the local convenience store windows, expounding the exhilaration caused by a visit to the local horror venue or corn maze. Pumpkins and gourds spring across the walkways to many homes, flying sheets permeate the trees, fluffy webs of white stuff speckle lawn furniture, eves and lanterns. But I think we may be doing this wrong. Thinking a little about holidays (at least in the U.S.) each one appears to celebrate a specific human emotion. Valentines Day glorifies love, St. Patty’s Day revels in luck, Thanksgiving has much to do with gratitude, and on and on. Which I believe leaves Halloween with fear. There’s nothing very frightening about children roaming the streets asking neighbors for candy, nothing very chilling about grinning jack-o-lanterns, nothing spine tingling about sexy nurse costumes.
Where has the blood curdling stench of terror gone? Remember the last nightmare you had? The one when you were hiding. The one when you were panting hard, but had to be quiet, had to be silent. The one when it was chasing you. The nightmare when the dark smells from the wet tool shed crawled up your nose. A dim light shines from a street lamp a hundred yards away that you can just see through a crack in the broken door you just ran through. You listen, straining to hear movement from outside, but the rain and wind confuse the sounds. Huddled under a desk, knees to your chest, you can feel your hot breath scape over your hands still grasping the rusty blade you snatched from the table. Your thoughts race about being trapped in the shed now, second guessing the decision to hide and not to keep running. Breathing, panting, huffing, you tighten into a gripping ball of twitching flesh, waiting, wondering, not knowing what is coming, if it’s coming. The heart beats swell like a rapid drum and the ringing in your ears becomes deafening. You are straining to hear. Yearning for this to be over, wondering if the blade will be enough, where to strike, listening, crouching, gripping your only hope tighter… fear.
#TravelTuesday Halloween
To celebrate this Halloween edition of Travel Tuesday I thought I would share a spooky picture from our recent trip to Acadia National Park. We landed in Portland, ME and rented a car to drive up the scenic coastal highway to Bar Harbor for our weekend stay. This dilapidated house caught my eye as we passed and I immediately thought of Halloween. I don’t know what happened there or what could happen there at midnight on Halloween, but I’m glad I won’t be there to find out.
Ok, maybe I added the skeleton...
Rutgers vs. Houston
I was assigned some college football action this weekend, so I got to watch as the Houston Cougars dismantled the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a bone crushing 49-14 victory at High Point Solutions Stadium, Piscataway, NJ. It was a hard fought game for Rutgers, and they came away licking their wounds. These are the pictures I took at the game: Independence Sports Magazine Rutgers vs. Houston
Time is Running Out
With October nearly over, the last few days of Fall color are preparing their exodus. Get out there and take some pictures while you still can, it’s going to be a long winter. Take some time this weekend, breath in the crisp air, take a walk in the park or down your favorite trail, and snap some pictures. You won’t regret it come the frigid days of January. Have a great weekend!
Nikon D800 Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36mm f/7.1 ISO 100 5 image HDR