a scary day in the neighborhood

Posted on Posted in food and garden, Uncategorized

happy halloween!
i know many of you have been looking forward all month so see what my neighbor bret has cooked up for this year’s halloween display, so i’ve organized some photos of his house and yard for my post today.

each year, bret rotates his holiday displays throughout the winter months, but focuses on gardening and flowers during the summer. so this first effort of the decorating season makes a big splash with us—no one on the block even attempts to compete, heh.

scary lane begins just beyond the crooked little fence at the front of bret’s lawn. we must watch carefully as we creep, so as not to trip over bones rising from the grass

to our left, grinning goblins dressed for halloween dancing line the path

this fierce skull and crossbones may scare off the faint of heart, but if you continue back into the gloom, you will be amply rewarded with enough ghost sitings to last a long while in your imagination

back and back we creep, into the gloom and indeed, there they are.

during the evenings when the weather is nice, delighted shrieks from the neighbor kids can be heard as they run through the front garden and up into the porch, scaring themselves silly, haha (remember that?), while their parents wait on the sidewalk, chatting with bret and connie.

there are many, many skeletons, too, in all manner of attire, some of which dance in horrible, cackling laughter on the darkest nights.

bats fly around the heads of those brave enough to cross the threshold of the porch.

my favorite skeletons are the gruesome bride and groom pair, decked out in ragged finery on their special day, complete with horrifically happy countenances.

open the door of the old outhouse and be surprised by another skelghost, looking none too happy to see you.

this delights the vulture perched above.

at the very back, the pièce de résistance—the rising skel monster

grounded for a few days earlier this week, due to high winds and lashing rains, he was this morning back on his high mast, overlooking the block

in all his glory, the master of his domain

in fact, the weather this week prevented me from getting the night photos we love so much—bret had to turn them off during the hard rainfall. then i was away the last three nights, so i missed them when they went back on. hopefully, i’ll get a few tonight to add here at the end.

what i did manage to get for the first time is a great picture of bret himself, surrounded by his favorite pieces.

he’s entirely pleased that you enjoy his holiday displays so much.

28 thoughts on “a scary day in the neighborhood

  1. That is wonderful! I admit my favorite is the ghoul throttling the skeleton – the first picture….Thanks for showing us the view!

  2. I really missed seeing Bret’s house in person this year. Thanks for sharing so many pictures.

  3. completly AWESOME!!! except (shudder) the bats !! they freek me out everytime, even the suggestion of them. I ducked as I read your description of them 😉 Well done !

  4. Oh, THIS is artistry! I think Bret is extremely talented…but, since I’m not much of a goblin afficiando, I think I’ll stay off your street till the Christmas lights show up!
    (((hugs)))

  5. Craziness! But how fun – I bet the kids love it (although I think mine might be too scared to get to the house, candy or no). I particularly love the vulture for some reason – we have a lot of those around here, and it’s one of our family jokes while hiking when we see them circling overhead – don’t stand still too long!!

  6. Wow! I can’t imagine having to find room to store all of the stuff that he decorates with each year.

  7. what a great display Bret! thanks for sharing pictures Anne! I forgot about this display so it was a nice surprise to see the pictures! looking forward to the next holiday decorations!

  8. What fun for you! You can enjoy it and not have to worry about putting it up or taking it down. You have a good neighbor.

  9. There is a woman in my ‘hood that decorates like that, too. The other morning, at about 5:15 AM, I was walking in front of her house, and all the lights came on and something started saying, “HELP ME!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!” I was in my own little world, probably thinking about knitting or something, and it startled the bejesus out of me. (She must have a motion sensor pointed at the sidewalk.)

Comments are closed.