Hidden Falls Park, St. Paul

Dowling Community Garden at night (well, at 5:30 PM, which is the same thing as night in November at the 45th parallel).

The same boo lights, but through the Minolta Maxxum with slide film.

How about something a little lighter after all that Halloween Sturm und Drang?

Back at the start of October, we took our last “camping” trip of the season; we were planning to go in the tent, but the weather was wet and grim, so we ended up at a friend’s place up north, in Outing, Minnesota.

In front of their place was a simple swing–a board on a rope on a tree–that went far out over a steep hill. The big kids–Jack and Peter, 6, and Ella, 7–demanded “rocket rides” on this swing, which involved a big push over the precipice. I was only too happy to oblige.

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have wandered home but newly
From this ultimate dim Thule.

Dream-Land by Edgar Allan Poe

A … happy? .. Hallowe’en to all!

Jack and Peter (and condemned pirate skeleton) framed by the guillotine at our friend Paul’s Halloween display.

Another of the creepy characters at Paul’s Halloween display.

The rain is plashing on my sill,
But all the winds of Heaven are still;
And so it falls with that dull sound
Which thrills us in the church-yard ground,
When the first spadeful drops like lead
Upon the coffin of the dead.

The Unknown Dead by Henry Timrod

More from Paul’s creepy Halloween display.

. . . though I don’t think this is the sort of babysitter who will teach you the sign for “peace”, or sit on her hair, or have a boyfriend called “The King of Romance” (apologies to Dar Williams). This is the sort of babysitter who prefers to separate the heads of tots from their little bodies and has been known to roast little limbs for a midnight snack.

We visited our friend Paul’s house in Apple Valley to see his elaborate Halloween display, with creepy characters, eerie sounds, and disturbing gravestones. If you’re trick-or-treating around 136th Street Court, follow the screams to this spot if you dare: Paul promises good Halloween loot, but there’s a price to pay for it . . .

Somewhere in Eden, after all this time,
does there still stand, like a city in ruins,
forsaken, doomed to slow decay,
the failed garden?

Ina Rousseau, Eden

I’ve added my story Summer Reading to the Stories page of this site; it seems that Somewhat.org has left the building, and with it some wonderful little gems (as well as a couple stories of mine). They aren’t even available in the Wayback Machine. More about “Summer Reading” here.

Now see these:

• untitled from taraville
• Somewhere near Ravenstein from Aan de dijk
• New York City Photography from Brooklyn Lens
• buy the book from marcsworld.ca

Taken on the Lake Street Bridge (aka the “Sri Chinmoy Peace Bridge”, I’m not entirely sure why) between Minneapolis and St. Paul last autumn.

Oh, yeah–Poisson d’avril, tout le monde!

Eight selections today:

• Couple visiting Chicago in the fog from Stranger a Day
• Rainy Day at MoMA from carte blanche pedicure
• Little Songbird from Mad Media Studios
• three boxing phtographs from UrbanGhost
• Spring Story – The Vernal Aeration from 3 a.m. from Kyoto
• cowboy from Michael Marquand
• atop from bighappyfunhouse
• Back to the River from Wink

Four selections:

• Old Book from Andreas Huber
• A few of my favorite things from No Traces
• snow tree from apparently nothing
• Park tree from graciform

Know’st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the soul feels like a dried sheaf
Bound up at length for harvesting,
And how death seems a comely thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

Dante Gabrielle Rossetti, Autumn Song

Four selections:

• toward the light from photomo
• Hand full of stones from Richard Vanek
• exposed for all to see from rion.nu
• The Icy Delaware River, Sunset from A Walk Through Durham Township

And how the swift beat of the brain
Falters because it is in vain,
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf
Knowest thou not? and how the chief
Of joys seems–not to suffer pain?

Dante Gabrielle Rossetti, Autumn Song

Featured on the Daily Dickinson site.

Some leftovers from last autumn–the temperatures in the basement have been far too cold the last few weeks to spend any time over the sink with black and white chemicals.

Four selections:

• lemons from digitalpeace
• D?j?-vu from Aktuelle Kamera
• We rather than me from My Still Life
• 閉鎖空間 (‘Closure space’) from Million-Year Picnic

Know’st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the heart feels a languid grief
Laid on it for a covering,
And how sleep seems a goodly thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

Dante Gabrielle Rossetti, Autumn Song

Some leftovers from last autumn–the temperatures in the basement have been far too cold the last few weeks to spend any time over the sink with black and white chemicals.

Three selections:

• Two Years Old… from Nordljus
• Best Friends from Wink
• Recent from ForJeffrey.net