Ghost of Halloween Past

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!!

In continuation of my theme of the week here is a scary ghost circa 1994. Isn't she pretty scary for a 5 year old? When she was out walking in the dark she was pretty creepy. As you can see she took her costuming pretty seriously and completely dropped the cute, bright, sunny look.

I will be back tonight to report on the British Invasion of Maine.

Have fun everybody!

Where Am I?

Yes, that is Bono of U2 at Red Rocks in Colorado on June 5, 1983. Twenty-five years ago. I was there and I am in this photo, it was a little more than a week before my 17th birthday. Somehow 25 years went by and I am NOT a teenager anymore! Here is another post down memory lane and I am not sure why, a friend mentioned U2 in a blog post and it brought this to mind and so here it is. My real claim to fame regarding U2 is that the year before I saw them and was pulled up onstage by Bono and we danced. He led me to the edge of the stage and looked me in the eye and said "Thank You" and kissed my hand. I said "Thank You." and gave him a kiss on the lips. There you have it.

22 Years Ago Today...

It was a Monday just like today. I was up all night and at 4:07 AM, with much effort, my oldest child was born. Twenty-two years have passed, it amazes me that it was actually that long ago. So much has happened in both our lives, it still is a challenge for me to wrap my brain around it! That is including the things I remember as well as the things I don't, the things I don't remember are an unknown quantity but I suspect it is more than I do remember. I may have lost a large portion of my brain when I started having children, at least I think that is when it happened. I actually don't remember.

I do know that when we were recently in California, Uncle Paddy discovered my first gray hair, he pulled it right out of my head and gave it to me. Thanks! I also know that our nephew showed us a copy of a home movie of a Halloween party that was at our apartment, we were in the video, and I have NO recollection of it. None at all. It kinda freaked me out a little. It was filmed exactly 20 years ago and I was in early pregnancy( it must be the children's fault) at the time. It looked like a great party. But I couldn't tell you for sure because I don't remember it!

As always time marches onward as it should and today is a day I do remember very well. It was a very good day. It will be marked with Carrot Cake, a tradition I started on his first birthday and one he requested (when asked) for this birthday. Of my 3 children he is the one whose favorite cake is not dirt cake, or vanilla cake but my personal favorite carrot cake. Our special family recipe. I must get to work...

Guardian of The Video Shop

This lady has stationed herself at the door outside of my store. She has been there for months. I thought she would be gone when we arrived back from our 9 day trip. There she was, still standing guard keeping all the bad guys out of my store.

I have been recently toying with the idea of changing the name of my store. I have never been satisfied with it. Oh, it is basic and it serves the purpose and so there it is. I am always on the lookout for new inspiration.

How about Praying Mantis Video? Rent a movie and then we will bite your head off...maybe not.

Any ideas?

Contrast

This is a beauty I have been watching all week. I can see it from my store. The COLORS blow my mind at this time of year. It is so very different from what I was looking at a short week ago...

Last week I was here, in the Redwood forest outside of Santa Cruz, it is hard to tell from the photo how big that tree in the middle actually is. It was huge. This forest was so cool, it felt good to be walking in it. In fact it felt so good my 1 year old nephew who recently learned to walk took off! He walked for about a half a mile, it was amazing he loved it! Here we are back in Maine. Do you see the hard frost in the field thru my trees? It was 26 degrees at 8 AM yesterday morning. It felt COLD.
I had to remind myself that this is the time of year to get outside and enjoy the weather. Embrace it. That is how I get thru the long, dark, cold winter.

My instinct is to curl up under a blanket and read, knit , or watch TV and comment about how cold it is. It can be hard to go against my instinct.

Fox

I thought I would start with The Planet of the Apes. I mean how cool is that?

So today I am back tracking a bit. The cruise I went on last week was actually a convention for independent video store owners (yes, there are still many of us out there!). Despite everybody saying I have been on vacation, I was actually working much of the time. Not that I didn't have fun-I did. I would not have been on this trip if it weren't for work. Ahem.

Friday, after getting off the ship we were invited to take a tour of Fox Studios. They do not give public tours and it is not a theme park. It is a working lot. There was a lot to see. These two photos are from the wardrobe department and just a small drop in the bucket of what was there.

This block of buildings is in many TV shows and movies, it looks just like New York until you look down and see the palm trees at the end. The diner on the right is from the show Bones.

As is this smashed car. When we first arrived they were hauling this thing out of one of the sets. Which was one of the places I wanted to see most but we were not allowed into any of those and we not even allowed to take pictures from the street. There was actually a lot of stuff we weren't allowed to photogragh.

Still cool though.

There is a Simpsons mural on the building in the front. The tallest building in the back is were they filmed the first Die Hard movie. Currently, it houses any Fox offices.

The coolest thing we got to see was a sound cutting studio where they were working on adding music to the upcoming remake of The Day theEarth Stood Still. We had to quietly file through with no photos, no talking, no pictures. There were all these big screens and the music playing and I would have loved to stay and watch for much longer. The building it was in had previously been the Bat Cave for the Batman & Robin TV series back in the day.

Oh, and we saw Seth Green.

Santa Cruz Swap Meet / Beach

Oh, this was so amazing! This is a Flea Market and this was a small bit of what food was available. It was all so beautiful I wished I could pack it in my bag and take it home.
I somehow missed getting shots of the fruit. We did eat some strawberries. They cost $1. Yes $1 and they were delicious. I eat a lot of fresh berries here and these tasted so different than the ones from Maine. I bought a pomegranate for 50 cents, but I never got to eat I don't know where I put it.
This speaks for itself. I found this display interesting. It is good to have balance.

Ahhh...the beach. What beauty. It was a perfect day and we just stopped by for a little while, it was amazing to me that there were so few people on the beach it was Saturday afternoon and a glorious day.

So, I digressed from the Fox Studio tour that we went on Friday. Anybody who knows me knows I can jump from one thing to the next so there it is, I will go back to it.