Now Trending: Cry Babies

How can I express my discomfort...

...when I saw a photo of these Halloween masks on FB?

How about, "Ewww!"

These are truly horrible, right down to the veins on the head, rubbery tears, and insufficient openings for vision and breathing which harken back to the plastic Halloween masks some of us grew up with.

I shrugged it off as a fluke, until, on a trip to my local WalMart...

OMG!!!

Are cry babies the new zombies?

The realism of this cry baby mask is 100% more unsettling than the rubber cry baby mask and now the wearer has been reduced to nothing but 2 mesh inserts for vision.  And a quick study of those eye "holes" will reveal the scale of this crazy thing: it's HUGE!

And why "cry babies"?  Please, someone, guide me into this loop.

And one last time, this face:

I finally shelled out the $25 and brought her home.  

Love.

I've been asked why I like her so much.  I'm sure there's an eloquent French saying or long German compound word to express my feelings but all I can say is, "I knew it when I saw it."

Another face...

...with excellent zombie potential, if zombies weren't already so 20 minutes ago, is this Frida Kahlo on the door of a women's restroom.  Please note how a timid but thoughtful graffiti artist added the merest suggestion of lip hair. ¡Muy bien hecho!

The zombie garden cart lives!

(segue to my yard)

I took this photo right before my latest Frankenstein-ian repair job.  

This is getting ridiculous, but it still works!

We all need boundaries,

and chickens are no exception.

I shooed them back outside after this photo 

and then Schotzie took up a sentry position for her daily sunbath. 

No birds allowed.

Schotzie is getting old, she's 13, and there are many signs of her slowing down.

Until one of the boys drops a potato chip and we all witness her take a 12 foot leap from the couch and hit the floor running at the pace of a 10-flat 100 yard dash sprinter. 

She's got a little life left in her yet.

Life abounds.

Check out this momma gecko, chock full of the next gecko generation.

I tried to get a side shot which really showed the outline of all her eggs but she was having none of it.

She scuttled off and probably dropped this clutch within the hour.

I'm finally figuring out some of the settings

on my camera phone.

The instructions (Google) say to use the HDR setting when it's really bright outside.

I live in Florida so that happens quite often.

My gloriosa lillies are extremely happy right now, possible due to all the late summer rain, so I captured their glorious beauty with the HDR setting.  Looks good to me!

And the plumeria that won't die...

This plant looked so bad for so long that the only thing keeping me from digging it up was that I'd always get distracted by another project.  It's finally gotten it's act together and won a reprieve from the compost pile.

Baby knitting needles make me cry.

I felt a need to knit something other than the same shopping bag pattern I've been doing so I started this delicate lace scarf.  Ohhh, these needles are so small and I'm having trouble with my man-hands.  I've got about 2" of scarf completed so far.  We'll see if I can go the distance.