Hallooooooooweeeeeen

MONSTER FINGERS A LA BLOOD

INGREDIENTS

01) pretzel sticks

02) white melting chocolate

03) food coloring (green, blue or purple, or perhaps you prefer human flesh colored, and red)

04) sliced almonds

METHOD

Break your pretzel stick in half and set aside. Melt your chocolate according to package instructions. Stir in food coloring and pour melted chocolate into a narrow glass for easy dipping. Dip, twirl, drip the broken pretzel end and place on a sheet of parchment paper. Press an almond sliver on top where the nail would be. For the bloody cuticle effect, I squeezed a small drop of red food coloring before pressing the nail on. My mom suggested later that I could have scratched in knuckle wrinkles with a tooth pick. You should definitely do that!

And that's it! Easier than pie.

Look at that bloody deliciousness! No, not the photo below. That's just disgusting.

There was a period of about 4 years when I was living in the Ozarks where Halloween was spent tucked in a hollow along the Buffalo River. We'd hike along a forest floor covered in a thick blanket of leaves searching for whatever camp suited our fancy, be it a rock overhang or an old homestead with nothing left but a stone fireplace and chimney or just nestled in a grove of oaks and hickories bedded down in leaves at least a foot deep. Having grown up in California, I'd never experienced the changing of the seasons the way I did during my time lived in Missouri. Those deep valleys rooted with the most brilliant array of colors. I loved being out there in the Buffalo Wilderness, lost for a few days in the middle of the map (sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally), immersed in the beauty of the passing of time. Fall in the Ozarks was such an adventure and I'm so grateful for those experiences and the way they have forever rearranged me.

Fall in California is different. It's slow to come on and slow to shift into winter. The seasons here gradually fade into the other almost imperceptibly, until one day you realize it's barely 40 degrees outside. Ha! I know, I know. We're so spoiled, it's pretty ridiculous. I had to go look that up, just to be certain, and sure enough in the Central Coast region over the course of a year, the temperature typically varies from 41F to 84F and is rarely below 33F or above 93F. I'll just stop talking, right there. But truth be told, I liked the extreme weather. I'm even a little envious of it now. It had a gravitas that was simultaneously humbling and empowering. That reminded me how small I was and at the mercy of the unknowns of a world spinning through space on its axis. And I wore it like a badge of honor. Those breathtaking fall vistas and brutal icy winters carved out a piece of my soul that I'm having trouble filling in these evergreen and ever dry 60F days.

Wait. What IS THAAAT? Pitter patter on the roof! Ohp, it stopped. Remember those California winters when it rained non-stop for days? Here's hoping we have one of those! Without the mudslides and flooding of course!

Anywho, I guess my point is, Fall, you have my heart. Go easy on her, will ya? She likes snuggling by a fire with warm mugs of honey chai tea, knitting projects and endless episodes of Deadwood while raindrops plip plop on the roof. Can you handle that, Fall? Much appreciated. 

So. Halloween my friends, was AHHHMAZING. Imagine, Freddy on the big screen behind you (and peeking out the window), Jack the Ripper strung up on a cross out in the walkway, zombies hiding in the bushes, monster fingers served up with a side of blood, throngs of little Elsas crying and clinging to their mothers while reluctantly holding out their candy sacks. Muahahahaha, it was a glorious dark and spooky night. JUST KIDDING YOU GUYS. We did NOT scare little children......on purpose. They had to be at least 8 years old or out past 9:00 to warrant the triple-threat zombie, Jack, Freddy jump-out. We're not heartless, guys. 

Chateau Boo in all its glory. 

Careful folks, he's real.

From Chateau Boo, a few of us brave souls decided to trek on over to this neighborhood boo crew haunted house where we got our comeuppance for terrifying the neighborhood children. This whole operation is volunteer and donation based. Every year the owners of this very normal suburban home transform their front and side yard into a bonafide haunted castle in a different spooktacular scene each year. This year it was a mine, replete with moving box cars, dying men in tar pits, a real live Big Foot, and the creepiest woman with swollen fingers sitting on a chair in the middle of the walkway who grabbed at you as you went by. I screamed no less than around every corner. It was truly magical.

And then to wrap up the holiday weekend, there was Bridge, the greatest card game known to man. And nope, not a single one of us playing was over 80. 

Not a bad supporting hand my friends. 

THE END.