Halloween

Hope you all had a good Halloween? I love Halloween, we get the house all decorated with cobwebs and bats and candles. I'm lucky in that we live on a small estate and Halloween is a lovely time for meeting up with neighbours - the kids trick or treat in costumes between 5.30 and 8 and only to the Halloween friendly houses - there are signs up for the ones taking part. Everyone is out and about and it's so cute to see the kids meeting up to compare their costumes and their loot. The Mom's and Dad's all seem to enjoy it as much as the kids.
The writers workshop was great - really fun and it was lovely to see so many people there. I got soem great tips from Jeff and I'm looking forward to reading his book, Box of Tricks.
This is the start of my crazy fortnight - yes it's the annual dance show for the Belle's on Saturday and Sunday at Netherton Arts Centre. So it's costume labelling, rehearsals, and mayhem. Plus I've still got a college to look at with the eldest belle even though she's decided on her first choice. Fingers crossed she gets the results she needs to go there. She plans to study business studies, Applied ICT, Sociology and Dance - well thats her plan at the moment.

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. The Belles have decorated all the house in fake webs and plastic spiders, cute light up pumpkins adorn various windows and my bat banner is out. The streets are full of excited children all dressed in their costumes and it's chance to catch up with my neighbours. Where we live is a very small estate of aprox 100 houses, people wanting to take part put up signs or decorations and the kids come round between six and eight-thirty so no one gets disturbed if they don't want to play and it's a safe fun environment for the kids.
So far I've had twelve different groups come to my door with each set of costumes more amazing than the last. The little ones look so sweet dressed as vampires, cats and witches and who can resist a baby dressed as a pumpkin with stripy tights on their legs?

All Saints

The belles had a lovely time last night. I acquired two extra children for the evening so I had lots of excitement painting faces, tying capes, faking gory injuries with stage make-up etc. They came back after an hour clutching huge carriers full of sweets and so thrilled with the whole thing.
We then bobbed for apples and played stick the leg on the spider and pass the bat. Very silly and lots of fun. One of my extra children told her dad when he collected her that she'd had the best Halloween ever.
Today is All Saints and tomorrow All souls day. Bonfire night is coming up fast and then it'll be my middle belle's birthday. Where is the year going?

Spooky!

Tonight is trick or treating. La is going to be a witch and Boo wants to be a werewolf. Shaggy has decided she is too 'grown up' to dress up this year. I wear a witchs hat, one of my old nursing capes and carry a lantern. I'm not too grown up to play.
In case anyone missed From Darkness when it was released last year here's a snippet of Cue Me In.
“There’s the castle.”
Fae braked at Flash’s words. They stared into the darkness at the building before them. Half of the castle was clearly uninhabitable. Fragmented stones stood like jagged broken teeth along the broken battlement. Mist twisted around the surviving tower and range of buildings. A couple of the windows cast yellow light in to the blackness and Fae breathed a sigh of relief. There was someone home.
“Right, let’s get this show on the road.” Fae eased the car into the courtyard of the castle. As she cut the engine, an eerie baying sound echoed around the stone walls.
“Wow, a welcome committee.” Flash leaned forward into the gap between the front seats, his dark head next to Fae’s.
“I expect living alone up here, miles from anywhere, they keep dogs,” Izzy snapped as she picked up her bag from the footwell.
Fae swallowed hard. She hoped Rhodri Morgan would be the kind of man who was susceptible to feminine charm. In her mind she’d pictured a stooped, elderly antiquarian who, on meeting her, would instantly change his mind and grant her free access to film the castle and its secrets.
The baying grew louder when Fae opened the car door. The next thing she knew, she was pinned to the side of the Mini by the biggest dog she’d ever seen in her life. A large paw was planted on each side of her shoulders as the dog breathed stale meat-breath in her face.
She twisted her head to the side and saw an archway of light appear on the far side of the courtyard.
“Help!”
Izzy and Flash remained in the car, round-eyed and open-mouthed with shock.
“Nice doggy.”
The hound responded with a lick down her face, covering her with drool. She heard the sound of footsteps crunching across the yard in the darkness.
“Down, Fang.” A firm male voice with a hint of accent came out of the mist. A shape loomed out of the darkness illuminated by a storm lantern. A large man’s shape.
© Copyright Nell Dixon 2006 From Darkness anthology
available from http://www.bygracepublishing.com
and http://www.fictionwise.com

Almost Halloween

I love Halloween. It signals the start of winter, dark nights, frosts and ancient magic. The belles have decorated the house ready and have planned their costumes to go trick or treating. We live on a small estate and it's good fun to visit friends and neighbours.
Mr Nell is not so keen, although he never objects to helping eat the sweet haul. His thing is Christmas and in a few weeks from now my house will look as if a mad elf has attempted to recreate Santa's grotto.
I have to go into work this week to discuss my sick leave, that'll be something to look forward too as I haven't any answers. My appointment is on the seventh to see the back and lower limb person so until then I don't know what all the treatment options will be. My hip is very painful at the moment so I'm not getting much sleep. The vacant posts have finally been advertised but only internally as yet so it'll still be getting toward Christmas if then, before they're filled. The sad thing is I've lost the capacity to care about it - I think I've worked so hard for so long that I'm still just numb from the whole experience.