Skip to main content

There was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong.


Here is a self portrait. I’m calling it Portrait of a lady in a dirty window.

Shocking, isn’t it?

However, it is apt!

Samhain, Nos Galan Gaeaf, Hop-tu-Naa, All Saints, All Hallows, Hallowmas, Hallowe'en or HALLOWEEN. It’s Theme Thursday and we’re talking about the festivals traditionally held at the end of the harvest season.

Huh?

No wonder Australians have trouble with the concept of HALLOWEEN. For the record, in my thirty-two L O N G years on the planet, I can’t say I’ve ever seen ghosts ‘n goblins, trick ‘n treaters or Michael Myers stalking Tasmania’s streets at the end of October. [That said, I did once see a woman as pale as a ghost turning tricks that looked like Michael Myers in late November one time.]

Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, sitcoms, and innumerable companies; it seems Australians are impervious to the [ahem] charms of a corporatized variant of a celebration of the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half"? It is only Spring here people, and despite all impressions otherwise, Australians are not that stupid.


Well, Tasmanian’s aren’t.



Some Tasmanian’s aren’t.




Well I’m not.





[Ahem]


I’ll get my coat.



Here’s a photo of Ez getting into the Samhain spirit to make up for it:

Comments

Brian Miller said…
cute pic of the little one...getting ready to go to college right? it will suck you dry paying for it. lol.

nice self prtrait as well...i like the title.

happy tt!
Kris McCracken said…
Brian, I am hoping that HECS will exist in some form if and when he makes that call. HE can have the debt!
Jasmine said…
Your kid is cute! Love the bling fang...s
Kris McCracken said…
Jasmine, and my wife still breastfeeds him!
Tom said…
scary kid there--yikes! No trick or treating? Well, i guess you're not missing much, except the candy. yum.
Kris McCracken said…
Tom, Henry believes that every day is one to beg lollies off me.
Skip Simpson said…
What an ADORABLE tyke! LOL! Nice post, and Happy TT!
Kris McCracken said…
Skip, he goes along okay.
Priyanka Khot said…
He is the CUTEST lil devil ever! I hope he is in a good mood through out his teen years... otherwise u have had it! :P
Kris McCracken said…
Priyanka, he was in an odd mood that evening. He was just shrieking for no reason.

It seemed to amuse him.
yamini said…
Lovely self portrait Kris, never mind the dirty window. Keep on clicking though. :-)

How did Ez react to that tempering with his photograph? That shrieking must have been because of the fangs, I guess.
Tash said…
Now I see the resemblance!

I to like the window portrait.

What do you all do for All Saints Day?
Ronda Laveen said…
This lady just wants to wash that window. I want to join you in your lighter half of the year. Your little vampy has some powerful juice in him.
Roddy said…
Scary my son. You look like someone I was recently told I am related to. You have an uncanny resemblance to him. I guess you are after all a McCracken.
You should get Ezra some dental work. I reckon those fangs would play havoc with his tongue.
I agree fully with Brian Miller. I am totally dry.
Wings1295 said…
Fun post, especially love the title. :)

Happy Halloween!
JeffScape said…
Pretty cool... I just wrote a piece about how a thousand words sometimes pertains to pictures.

The title you gave the self-portrait gives that photo a lot of power. Nice.
JGH said…
Oh boy - you're in for it with that little devil!! Very cute.
e said…
What a cute little one! Happy TT.
Roy said…
It's funny. Unlike their Christian and/or secular counterparts, my Pagan friends downunder shift their seasonal celebrations to match the seasons down there. So while we in the Northern Hemisphere are celebrating Samhain, literally "summer's end", our counterparts in the Southern Hemisphere are celebrating Beltane, which we celebrate on May 1. And when we're celebrating Yule, the Winter Solstice holiday, they'll be celebrating Litha/Midsummer. Makes more sense, don't you think?
Betsy Brock said…
I'm with Ronda...give me some Windex and a paper towel.
California Girl said…
I've never heard of Samhain until today! I've learned something new about this time of year.

Brian is right, she'll suck you dry by the time she goes to college. hahahahaha!
The Silver Fox said…
Better keep Ez away from any pets you may have...
Baino said…
Fanatastic . love your little vampire! Same in Sydney, despite the best efforts of the Chinese Guy with a "Scream" mask and a sandwich board, the Christmas Warehouse and JB Hi Fi won out .. hardly anyone in the Halloween superstore! I think we're finally clicking to the GoldMark holiday! "Lady" in a dirty window? Getting in touch with your feminine side?
Kris McCracken said…
Yamini, he just likes to yell sometimes.

A lot of times.
Kris McCracken said…
Tash, I have to confess that I was raised in an utterly agnostic climate, thus most of the Christian holidays remain outside of my experience.

The missus is a lapsed Catholic though, so she can fill me in on some of them!

I like the one with pancakes best...
Kris McCracken said…
Rhonda, I will admit that the window kind of disgusted me.
Kris McCracken said…
Wings, my favourite scary film by some margin.
Kris McCracken said…
JeffScape, I find the titles easier than the photos!
Kris McCracken said…
JGH, and don't I know it!
Kris McCracken said…
E, you should see him dance.
Kris McCracken said…
Roy, yes it does!

And this is coming from someone who does the roast turkey with all the trimmings every Christmas, in the middle of summer.
Kris McCracken said…
Betsy, I'll give it a clean on Monday.
Kris McCracken said…
California Girl, I know Ez has lovely eyes, but he'd be a really blokey girl!
Kris McCracken said…
Silver Fox, no pets, just a wife and two kids.
Kris McCracken said…
Baino, I did make spicy pumpkin bread today, as some consolation to the day.
Kris McCracken said…
Tony, but oh it hurts!

Popular posts from this blog

Hold me now, oh hold me now, until this hour has gone around. And I'm gone on the rising tide, to face Van Dieman's Land

Theme Thursday again, and this one is rather easy. I am Tasmanian, you see, and aside from being all around general geniuses - as I have amply described previously - we are also very familiar with the concept of WATER. Tasmania is the ONLY island state of an ISLAND continent. That means, we're surrounded by WATER. That should help explain why I take so many photographs of water . Tasmania was for a long time the place where the British (an island race terrified of water) sent their poor people most vile and horrid criminals. The sort of folk who would face the stark choice of a death sentence , or transportation to the other end of the world. Their catalogue of crimes is horrifying : stealing bread assault stealing gentlemen's handkerchiefs drunken assault being poor affray ladies being overly friendly with gentlemen for money hitting people having a drink and a laugh public drunkenness being Irish Fenian terrorist activities being Catholic religious subversion. ...

But when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave.

Can you believe that it is time for Theme Thursday already? Today we are not talking chocolate , toddlers , mess or ignominy . No, today we're dealing with ANIMAL . Now I could have posted a picture of a possum, numbat, wombat, wallaby or any other furry killing machine that roams our fair isle, but I figure that I'd use a far more deadly creature as an example of an animal . Some people - I know them as fools - have chosen to embrace that highfalutin idea that human beans are for some ungodly reason superior to animals. Of course, what these imbeciles seem to forget is that were are simple animals ourselves ! Anyone with a baby, toddler, teenage boy or Queenslander in their household could tell you this. Look at Henry [above]. One chocolate frog in the back of the car on a sunny day and all of a sudden it's Elagabalus meets Bacchus for a quick shandy in the Serengeti and we're down on all fours carrying on like a cat in heat. Fair dinkum, anyone who chooses to ...

Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.

This is the moon. Have I mentioned how much I adore the zoom on my camera? It's Theme Thursday you see, and after last week's limp effort, I have been thinking about how I might redeem myself. Then I clicked on the topic and discover that it was BUTTON. We've been hearing a lot about the moon in the past couple of weeks. Apparently some fellas went up there and played golf and what-not forty-odd years ago. The desire to get to the moon, however, was not simply about enhancing opportunities for Meg and Mog titles and skirting local planning by-laws in the construction of new and innovative golf courses. No, all of your Sputniks , "One small steps" and freeze dried ice cream was about one thing , and one thing only : MAD Now, I don't mean mad in terms of "bloke breaks record for number of scorpions he can get up his bum", no I mean MAD as in Mutual assured destruction . When I was a young man you see, there was a lot of talk about the type of m...