Anyway... Soon. Pumpkin time!

Christmas... meh 

Easter... worrever 

Halloween.... I flippin LOVE it!!!       

Have you anything planned Hitch, celebration or food wise?

Been picking at the halloween sweeties. Got my pumpkin to carve. Got stripey halloween tights (not sure why actually. I live in trousers.)... and world cup final that day.

You got plans? Get many guisers?

Just planning the usual... spooky films, stories + music to get in the mood and getting a Halloween shop on Monday. Its hard to get sparklers here though Tesco don't stock them. Asda seem to [hopefully]. Do people light sparklers up in Scotland?

No guisers/kids however... bliss! . I live by the Marina [ which makes it sound posher than it is ]. Not really a family area, mostly small apartments. And my building intercom is broken anyway  Not that I'm a skinflint about giving    *coff*

Are you getting guisers at the door... what do you give them?

Sparklers is more a Guy Fawkes thing... Not keen on fireworks in general to be honest.

Spooky movies are always a good plan.

Yeah... we get a couple. Avon lady brings her kids and a bunch of their friends. Got three kids in our close... and the junkies that moved away's kids'll probably turn up too... I hope we have enough sweets. (Need to stop picking at them.)

Ahhh...The optimum amount of guisers /kids?  

Sparklers remind me of childhood Halloweens. Err...Guy Fawkes wasn't celebrated much here  Sparklers were all we had because fireworks were banned in NI [ only the big organised display things were allowed ].

The BEST things though were these special leaves my Nana had in her garden - she'd throw them in her bonfire and they'd go off like firecrackers  

Optimum, yes... although, if they don't show I get sweeties.

Fireworks should be banned everywhere (outside the big displays).

 Yet bonfires are still a big thing I see... *ahem*

What sort of leaves were they?

 They do like a bonfire up that way, yes. 

Umm.. they were magic leaves?  Not sure of the name, but they were dark green, shiny and leaf shaped!

Just finished my pumpkin and its lit now, looking at me - made a papier mache one this year. Probably less time and effort went into completing the Sistine Chapel lol. 

Paper mache? How'd it turn out? Got a spooky face?

Thursday for mine. Pumpkin 2: Son of Bartholomew. 

Its rubbish in daylight - but excellent lit up  Its the iconic Halloween [1978] pumpkin, same as last year. That's the only type of pumpkin face I really like / find scary. Maybe its cos that was the  first scary film I ever saw as a child so that primitive pumpkin face terrifies me?  

Son of Bartholomew eh?  Who's that...

Bartholomew was last year's pumpkin. Yes. Not only did I name my pumpkin, I remember said name a year later.

I'm thinking of branching out with a my pumpkin style this year... with not entirely cut through bits, and what not.

Oh  ... good luck as those would be fairly fiddly to carve?

Here's mine:

As you can see its an absolute work of art  The grooved effect was created with string and orange post it notes were used for the top layer. Slight bit of shading with orange felt pen for that realistic touch

 Ok... it looks like Gordon the Gopher by day... but its surprisingly scary by night 

Brava! He is splendid. I was all "He looks familiar." and then you said Gordon... Yes! Nice work.

I chickened out with the major shading work I had planned (forked tongue coming over the lower jaw.), but did do a wee bit to define the brow/angry eyes.

Tada!

Oh my! EEEEeeeep!   *peeps out from behind the sofa*

Hitch...That is excellent!     must have been hard to do, well done 

Thank you. I lost a few teeth (his, not mine), and one eye is better than the other. (The "other eye" was created to pain us. Cyclops have it right... Ooh! There's an idea for next year.) The teeth have shrunk away to nothing already.

Awww shame about the teeth... pumpkins disintegrate quickly  I like how he's scary but makes you smile too... is that the definition of spoopy?

What have you planned for tonight? 

Tonight'll be Hallowe'en Strictly and jumping up excitedly for guisers... followed by spooky movies. Maybe see if it'll let me past the fourth night on FNAF. Yourself?

Spoopy I think came from a badly designed Hallowe'en decoration Tumblr found... No idea if it has taken on a meaning all of it's own. Unlike "cinnamon roll", which has evolved rapidly.

Missed Strictly, was it good?...

Halloween and Christmas are the only times I drink... tend to go a bit wayward, sorry 

Woke up a bit worse for wear but just made myself a sweet old fashioned... [ Don Draper's favourite cocktail ] and have a bottle of Jameson's [ yep his other favourite drink ] and will watch an assortment of favourite MM episodes through today...

See you on the other side 

Strictly was alright. Worst charleston ever. To be expected.

 Bit of MM theme night then? Nice. I Worgened on World of Warcraft quite a lot too. That was fun... found the Pandaria flight trainer... having to walk everywhere was a pain.

Autumnwatch starts tonight at 9 pm on BBC 2.

Well I enjoyed the Mad Men and sweet old fashioned binge...  I even had the round shaped glass and correct garnish - twisted orange peel with maraschino cherries. What am I gonna do with all those cocktail cherries left over, they're 'orrible. 

Glad Autumnwatch is back, thanks Fluffy ... 

Autumnwatch is 8 pm tonight. The pottery competition is at 9 pm.

Nice to see the badgers back yesterday. Hated the chosen swan name tonight though.

I liked the night diving bit... the cuttlefish was surprisingly scary though  

I like cuttlefish. All bobbing around like little cthulhu heads.

Until that thing shoots out and impales it's prey like Alien  Eeeep

Autumnwatch is 8 pm again tonight, with 'Unsprung' at 7:30 pm.

Well yes... but the damselfly larva dislocating it's mandible to snap out at prey may be worse. *eek*

Giving Unsprung a swerve this year. Mostly...

No more Autumnwatch for this year.

Brightside: I never have to hear another Bond movie title. Ever!

Yes, its never long enough 

Remember a C4 wildlife programme built a dormouse bridge a few years back. This new one looks much better though.

The sparrowhawk... steady on chaps...  Poor Chris fainted and only Michaela threatening to give him the kiss of life scared him back to life  

Sparrowhawk was beautiful though.

Quite a lot of innuendo this year I thought... Surprisingly, most of it from Martin.

You're lucky you didn't see Unsprung Hitch ! 

There was a photo of a murmuration of starlings that required eye bleach...  Filf!

Ah... mumurations... I shall refrain from googling it.

No don't... you'll be scarred for life  Murmurations are beautiful ethereal things... this was in the shape of...that rude pic little boys draw on walls... ya get me 

Yes... gods know why all little boys draw that everywhere. *shakes head*

I used to always see a mumuration at the end of my street... every year for about a week... regular as gnomish clockwork. For twenty years... nothing... not a thing. Last week... I saw a small mumuration. Hurrah!

Ah lovely   

Are you watching much of Strictly?

I am. I enjoy Strictly... but, to be honest, I don't really get dance... it all looks the same to me. Just so much flailing. That said, I have a lot of entertaining twitter people for it, the love for Pasha's arse is well documented.

Aye same here. I enjoy Strictly, but often I can't tell bad from good technically There's a thread ^^^ where its helpful to see the technical opinions on each dance etc. Its not just technical though... lots of fwoar not arff   asides etc  Much like your twitter friends

Do you have any favourites so far Hitch?

Anita seems good. I like Anita. Also her partner Gleb is interesting too. I also liked the new female pro, but she got a crap celeb and was gone quick.

As long as Andre doesn't win though... oh actually, Georgia either... there's thick, then there's whatever she is.

Who liking/not liking?

Same as you  anyone but Andre and Georgia to win... she's really overdone the down-to-earth-northern-lass thing... 

I like Katie as she hasn't had previous training, and looks so elegant. And Jeremy - I just can't stop smiling when he's on.