The perfect autumn day for a caramel apple

Last weekend, Mom and I took our yearly trek to The Elegant Farmer for caramel apples. It was a beautiful, sunny autumn day.

I took a few quick photos of the trains on the way in.

Now, here's something spooky I noticed while looking at the photos on my computer. If you enlarge this and look at the fourth window down, there's this big cone-shaped form.

Now it's in the fifth window, so it's not some funky shadow. I guess it could be a tall, conical person with no discernible arms. A veiled woman with a pointy head? A caped man in a hood? Not that I saw anyone fitting that description. Let's think of this as a classic ghost shape, making an appearance for October. :)

Here's my caramel apple, resting in its usual pile of jimmies and peanuts. That caramel dries fast, but I managed to stick a few goodies in it. Still, it's fun eating sporksfull of the dry jimmies at the bottom.

Mmmm....

Mom's more controlled, cut apple slices.

After eating our caramel apples, we went out back to take a closer look at the trains.

Well, it's good that I got a few photos when we first arrived, because the trains were gone!

Oh well. I decided to get some pictures of the train tracks instead.

I've always felt brave when taking a picture like this one, which is funny since the trains were miles away. Still, it feels mildly dangerous.

While taking these pictures I was reminded of a Screamin' Jay Hawkins song, Whistlin' Past The Graveyard. If I'd been taking these pictures at night I really would have been thinking about it. 

Whistlin' Past The Graveyard

Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Coming on the night train
With an arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
Busted up a chifforobe
Way out by the cocomo
Cooked up a mess a mulligan
And got into a fight

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean motherhubbard
Papa one eyes jack

You probably seen me sleepin'
Out by the railroad tracks
Ask the prince of darkness
About all the smoke
Come from the stack
Sometimes I kill a jackal
And suck out all the blood
Steal myself a station-wagon
Drivin' through the mud

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean motherhubbard
Papa one eyed jack

I know you've seen my headlights
And the honkin' of my horn
I'm callin' out my bloodhounds
Chase the devil out the corn
Last night I chugged the Mississippi
Now it's dry as a bone
I was born in a taxi cab
I ain't never goin' home

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean motherhubbard
Papa one eyed jack

My eyes have seen the glory
Of the drainin' of the ditch
I'm comin' to baton rouge
To find myself a witch
I'm gonna switch me up a
Couple of 'em every time it rains
You gotta see a locomotive
Probably thinkin' it's a train

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean motherhubbard
Papa one eyed jack

What you think is sunshine
Is just a twinkle in my eye
I got a ring around my fingers
Called the 4th of July
When I get lonesome
And a tear falls from my cheek
There's gonna be an ocean in
The middle of the week

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
Mean motherhubbard
Papa one eyed jack

I come in on the night train
With an arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
I'm gonna tear off a rainbow
And wear it for a tie
I never told the truth
So how in the hell can I tell a lie

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean motherhubbard
Papa one eyed jack

You know, it's good I looked up these lyrics because I've been singing it incorrectly for a few years. I didn't know he said he "busted up a chifforobe" Don't know what a chifforobe is? I didn't either. Thankfully, there's a Wikipedia page for it: Chifforobe explanation

So, he beat up a piece of furniture for some reason. All this time I thought he was saying "busted up a chaperone" 

One of the lyrics pages I found has something interesting at the bottom. Scan down there and you'll see a list of some of the old terms in this song and their meanings:

Whistlin' Past The Graveyard Vocabulary

Some words are different on this page, and they're from different versions of the Tom Waits original. I'm always going to love the Screamin' Jay Hawkins version more, but the Tom Waits one might be scarier. He sounds the part. 

Back by where the car was parked, there was this awesome old tree. I wonder how old it is?

Well, I'm very busy now, preparing for next weekend. October 15th is our annual Witch Party! If I magically have time during the week, I'll post some pics of the Halloween crafts I've been working on. How's everyone's Halloween planning going? Any crafting, constructing, party planning, or scary movie watching going on?

A Mystery Solved with Frenzied Voodoo Rock

For those who don't know, the character looking at you is Screamin' Jay Hawkins. His music and persona would always be a perfect fit in my blog, but I have a reason to focus on him tonight. My blog buddy Julie was nice enough to finally solve a mystery for me that involves one of his songs.

If you remember, a while back I wrote a guest blog entry for GdL16. In it, I wrote about a certain X-Files episode involving a sculptor who was in his studio working while a song (that I couldn't remember) played in the background. Since I couldn't find any evidence of this episode online, I decided to focus on my favorite X-Files episode instead. Well, guess what? It turns out that the scene in my mind really did exist and also happened to be the beginning of my favorite episode!

As Julie pointed out, the song playing in this scene was "Frenzy" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. I listened to the song online and instantly knew she was correct! It was nice to know that my memory was accurate, because my brain has continued trying to figure out where I came up with that scene!

I had a difficult time choosing photos for this blog entry, because there is a lot of great Screamin' Jay Hawkins material to choose from! He was someone who was clearly not shy about posing for photos! If you google images of him, you'll find lots of cheesy expressions, voodoo accessories, and vampire related poses. 

If you'd like to listen to "Frenzy" check out the youtube clip below. You won't be watching anything, but you'll get to hear the song. I was thinking of putting up the video of him performing "Frenzy" live, but there's a lot of talking beforehand. I got a kick out of it, but I won't put you guys through it. :)

The second video is of Screamin' Jay performing the song he is probably most well known for. It will give you an idea of his performance style. I don't have any explanation for the chattering teeth, but this video is pretty old so I guess we can cut him some slack on the special effects. :)

Pretty innovative for the 1950's, hey? Just think of all the performers he's inspired!