I have slowly got a few Fall/Halloween decorations put out around The Yellow House. I hung my Halloween quilt and got out my fabric Jack-o-Lantern that I made years ago. The terra cotta jacks are sitting on the front porch, and there's a seasonal centerpiece on the dining table. That's it. I find that, with every year, my urge to decorate grows weaker. Well, actually, I think the urge to decorate is still there, but the willingness to push through the pain and fatigue to get it done is lacking.
I had a very busy, fun, and family oriented weekend this past. Handsome nephew Jed was in town, and he is always the instigator in getting us all together. Friday night: Kentucky fried chicken and Dixit (board game) at my house. Saturday night: Jed took us all out to dinner at Logans, then we came back to Joanne's (my sister, Jed's mom) to play a new game, Betrayal at House on the Hill--perfect for some Halloween week fun.
Suspense is the name of the game when you play Betrayal at House on the Hill. Players explore a haunted mansion that they're building; The game is different every round, I'm told, although we played only one round, which took a couple of hours. Someone in the group (this time it was Jesse) turns out to be the bad guy, out to kill us all. Jesse was aided in his mission by two very evil cats which he had created by opening a vial of some noxious gas I believe (apropos, as Jesse is the actual owner of two cats, though not evil ones--well, usually not evil). Joanne, Ramey, and I tried our best to escape Jesse and his ferocious felines, with the help of a toy airplane we found in a bedroom. But Jesse's vicious beasts kept swatting us out of the air until they finally, well, ate us.
How the house gets built, who becomes the bad guy, and the fate that awaits the players are determined by rolls of dice and drawing of cards.
Jed and Jesse were very adept at interpreting the instructions and keeping the rest of us apprised, more or less, as to what we were doing and why.
I guess it's not a game for the faint of heart, but all of us being lovers of ghost stories and all things spooky, we quite enjoyed it.
Yesterday, after church, I enjoyed a nice lunch at our favorite local Mexican restaurant with my good friend Lori (Daisy's mama). Afterwards, I went home and crashed on the couch and read for the rest of the day. In the evening, I found one of the cable channels was showing "The Shining." Since it has long been an October tradition of mine to watch it at least once, I decided I would. But about halfway through, I found I was losing interest. After you've seen a movie about a hundred and seventy-five times, interest wanes. I mean, how many times can a spooky little kid screeching "REDRUM" create chills? So I went back to my book.
I'm right stiff and achy today, haven't even made it out of my pajamas yet. It's a rainy, dreary day. Maybe a good one to brew up another pot of coffee and get back to my book. I'm reading Empire of the Summer Moon, a nonfiction account of the life of Quanah Parker, Comanche chief, and the forty-year battle between the Comanche and the white man for control of the Great Plains and Texas. I'm about halfway through the book, and I've found so far that it's more blood-curdling than any scary movie or ghost story I've ever experienced. But a very good, if infuriatingly detailed, book.
Happy Monday, everyone.
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On 10/28/2013, Stephani in N. TX said ...
Sounds like you had a fun weekend with family. Your decorating looks like you are ready for Halloween. I don't watch too much TV in October, not much of a scary Halloween movie watcher. I did read the Quanah Paker book and you are right, it was scarier than any Halloween movie ever. References to the Comanche Moon raids are also referenced in Lonesome Dove and Texas. I'm glad I live in TX more than 100 years later.
On 10/28/2013, Barbara Anne said ...
Love your Halloween decor and I'm with you on less is more in the decorating dept. We'll see if I stick to that when Christmas comes. Truth be told, last Christmas I kept getting more and more decorations out/up as the weeks in December passed - aside from the 10 days we lost to the flu.
We have a new DVD of Rocky Horror so will enjoy that movie on the 31st. You can keep The Shining. As I'm sure I told you last year or the year before, I read it in one sitting, with every light in the house on, made DH stay up with me, finished the book at 3am, and then couldn't sleep because of my rapid and bounding heart rate. YIKES! I've never seen the movie and don't wanna. :)
I'm glad we don't live in TX anymore as 10 long, hot years without four seasons was enough for this Southern girl. Give me the seasons and lush greens east of the Mississippi River! Okay, so Memphis is just barely east of the river, but it still counts!
Hugs!
On 10/30/2013, Jed said ...
I think I need to get a bit better at these games. You and Mom won all the Dixit games, and then I was shrunken to the size of a mouse and eaten by a cat. But it was fun!
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