The Halloween Season: parties, Linlithgow, etc.!

I often say that Halloween and Christmas vie for the number one spot in my heart. I do love Christmas, especially the old carols, and candles and (non-alcoholic) lambs wool, cider and eggnogg. However, I think I make more of a fuss over Halloween. And it's no secret that I love skeletons and ghost stories and things that are a bit macabre. I'll try to pare down all my revelling to one post, and I hope it gives you a flavour of the lovely Halloween I had this year.

First of all, I received many gifts, some of which I'll picture below:

My dear friend Stacey gave me the cookie cutters above, and my mother sent me the ones in the box. Lovely!

My talented friend Martha embroidered this Nosferatu ornament for me! AMAZING!

Of course, Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without Patsy's annual Halloween party that she has at the church for her girls and their friends. I think this year Patsy really outdid herself! 

Chocolate covered Oreos and cake pops.

Gorgeous cupcakes topped with white chocolate stars & edible glitter!

Owl bedecked cupcakes. Stunning! 

A feast of Halloween sweets!

Patsy & myself.

Rachel & myself.

On the same day as Patsy's party, Rachel, Jessica Houskeeper & I went to the "Ghosty Linlithgow" tour (as I like to call it). Officially it's called "Fright Night". It has become a tradition: this is the third year in a row that Rachel & I have gone (always accompanied by different people).

This year it was a little different. The bell-ringer guide was different (I think he was, in any case!) - his makeup was much better, and his face looked skeletal, instead of just white. They had a different woman playing Agnes the witch. She was older, blonde (well, a blonde wig in any case!), and more voluptuous and witch-like. Which in some ways was better, but I think I prefer the other girl, who was more vulnerable, and made the sad history of witch-mongering easier to realise.

Fright Night at Linlithgow! 

Rachel & Jessica

Rachel & myself.

The new witch! 

The lighting is very atmospheric!

This is NOT Linlithgow, but a vintage shop on Great Western Road. But I really liked their spooky window display. 

Bute: part three

Going back to Kilchattan from St Blane's was the biggest part of the journey, though the shortest. The signposts are there, but they are few and far between, and I didn't follow one of them correctly and so got lost. Also, I was lured by a sinister copse of pine trees that I thought was a forrest I had to walk through (on my directions). I crawled under electric fences, climbed over locked gates, and squelched into frighteningly deep gravel that I didn't realise I would sink in. It was a bit frightening. But after getting lost I retraced my steps and got back to Kilchattan safe and sound more or less. 

There was a woman on the bus who asked if I was the girl who went out to St Blane's. She must have talked with the bus driver who took me out to Kilchattan. I got a warm feeling at her words, as though the whole island was looking out for me. 

A signpost!

Gorgeous view - sorry my shadow is in the pic.

My muddy boots!

Bute: part two

After traversing about three quarters of the path, you reach St Blane's. The earliest parts of St Blane's Church date from the 12th century, with some 14th century additions. Like many Christian sites, however, there is activity going back earlier than the current building. There was probably a monastery here, possibly from the 6th to 8th centuries. For awhile, St Blane's Church was the parish church for the entire island.

Approaching St Blane's

The well!  Yay! I took lots of pictures of it, but I won't put them all up here.

A fairy tree - made me think of my sisters Morag & Beccah.

The 12th century doorway looking into the 14th century bit.

The upper burial ground. Believed to be reserved for members of the clergy and men. 

A hogback stone! Squee!

A lovely medieval stone in the lower churchyard (the lower churyard was for women). 

Look at this lovely cross!

The other side.