I'm not even supposed to be here today!

If you're reading this - and maybe you follow me online - there's a good chance you have fond memories of video stores from years past. What's been distilled into an app on your phone or TV was once a whole-ass store filled with boundless adventures and memorable nights spent with friends, family, or in glorious solitude.

I recently stumbled upon an image of one of my favourite video stores from my youth and I just really wanted to share. I give you... Cape Breton Family Video!

Photo by Raymond Doucette | Raytel Photography | Sydney, NS, Canada

I tried desperately to find one of those fancy A.I. apps that clean up old photos, but all they managed was to make this image look like a Van Gogh... which in retrospect isn't all bad, because I can certainly see myself printing this picture off and hanging it in my living room.

There's so much to unpack here, but first let's talk about the store itself.

If you're from Sydney, Nova Scotia - where Cape Breton Family Video was located - you undoubtedly went here on a regular basis. And, if I were to ask you one single memory you had about the store I know precisely what your answer would be: the popcorn.

Located smack-dab in the middle of the store was a classic, red popcorn cart that was constantly churning out fresh, salty popcorn that you could purchase with your video rental. It was on-par with what you'd buy at a local theatre if not better.

To this day the smell of popcorn can simultaneously make me think of going to the movies and to Cape Breton Family Video, it's that ingrained in me.

You can't tell from this image, but the shop itself was massive. This front-on image doesn't give you any idea of how long the store was. It ran almost a full block. I can't find any hard evidence, but I believe it was at one point a furniture store and showroom, which explains the size of the building.

Here's what the location looks like today (I'm revealing this already, but of course, Cape Breton Family Video no longer exists). It's now an H&R Block, but also - because of the sheer size of the building - like five or six other businesses, as well.

As you can see, the store was massive in size. It didn't encompass the lower section, and was only the street-level portion, but it did indeed run all the way to the back of this building.

When you first walked into the store the counter was off to the right, which was a massive space, because of the sheer number of tapes they had to keep. It looked like library stacks, filled with numbered, plastic video cassette cases. There was also a huge box with a slot outside where you could return your rentals.

After you passed the rental counter you'd walk straight smack-dab into two things: a stairway that lead downstairs, almost like a cellar access to a basement, and the aforementioned popcorn cart. How I wish I had photos of the inside of the store to share with you, but without smell-o-vision it wouldn't impress upon you how amazing it was.

If you look really closely on the far-right of the photo, you can actually see the wheel of the popcorn cart. I have no idea why it was in the corner like that, because I always remember it in the centre of the store, but... there it is!

I don't want to belabour this much more, but the far-left wall was all New Releases, which by the time you got to the back of store, weren't so "new". In the middle were racks separated by genre for the older tapes. I can't recall most of them, but I can tell you that the horror and comedy sections were located further to the back-right. The far-right side of the store was partially walled off. The walls didn't reach the ceiling and were more like fences, with the occasional opening that was curtained off. You know what that section was!

In the far back of the store there was an opening that led into two rooms. These were basically the kids sections. The first space was where the video games were kept and then behind that the kids videos. I can't tell you how many times I rented Gumby from that space without being embarrassed.

If ever I find a photo of the inside of Cape Breton Family Video, you can rest assured I'll share it, but for now let's head back outside and check out that garishly painted entrance!

First off, let's take a moment to appreciate this wood-paneled Station Wagon. If you're born in the 70s or 80s, you've encountered one of these fine automobiles. My family had one that looked exactly like this. The backseat had seatbelts so kids could sit back there, which in retrospect is still wildly dangerous. I can remember my folks taking my sister and I to the drive-in theatre where we'd watch the first movie and then build make-shift beds in the back to go to sleep, while Mom and Dad watched the second movie. Ah, the memories.

Up next, let's have a look at this enormous window painting for 31-in-1 on the Nintendo Entertainment System!

I think the cultural impact of the Nintendo Entertainment System on our society goes without saying, but - much like the video industry - it often goes unsaid how important rental stores were to the success of the system.

Buying new NES carts wasn't something you did very often. We all complain about the price of video games today, but considering inflation, the cost of a new game back in the 90s was much more expensive than it is today. Taking inflation into account, if we take the average price of a new video game from 1990 - $49.99 USD - then you'd be looking at approximately $115 USD today.

But at the video store? You could rent an NES game for the weekend for a couple of bucks! And there was no cartridge more coveted than the infamous 31-in-1! These were bootleg cartridges made in China that included 31 classic NES games. They wouldn't include big games, like Zelda or Super Mario Bros., but more basic games, like the original "black box" titles released for the NES. Still, if you had the choice of renting one game or THIRTY ONE... you can see how big of a deal this was.

Next up is Humpty Dumpty Potato Chips!

Although they weren't as good as my beloved Hostess Potato Chips, Humpty Dumpty were a solid second choice and in the years following the Lay's takeover of Hostess in Canada, Humpty Dumpty BBQ Chips were my go-to snack of choice. They still exist today in some fashion! The brand was bought out by Old Dutch, based out of Montreal, but they still produce several Humpty Dumpty products in different markets across Canada and in New England.

The image you see above would've been based on the old Humpty Dumpty mascot/logo, like this one.

Of course, potato chips were big business everywhere, but the chip wars between Hostess and Humpty Dumpty in Nova Scotia were legendary and getting huge ad space on Cape Breton Family Video like this would've been a big win for Humpty Dumpty.

And how for the pièce de résistance, Video Kideo Land!

In my attempt to crop these photos and make them easier to see, I think I've lost a lot of the detail, so feel free to refer back to the original image!

Let's start with the obvious character on the far right. It's pretty easy to make out He-Man holding his Power Sword! The only other character that I think is obvious here is Mighty Mouse on the far left. Unfortunately after that, it gets kinda murky. I think we might be seeing the top of an Autobot next to He-Man and the character mostly dressed in red looks a lot like Bucky O'Hare to me, but I don't see his tell-tale green rabbit head at all. Also, Bucky O'Hare came out in 1991 and this image is tagged as 1990, so I think that rules him out.

Let me know what you can make out!

I mentioned it above, but the back section of the store was dedicated to kids. It had way more cartoon options than any other store. This is where I used to rent the original Spider-man cartoon from the 60s, and some of my favourite Japanese shows like Tekkaman and Ultraman! It was also my go-to spot to rent the live-action My Pet Monster movie, which alongside Gumby, was on a constant rotation.

And that's Cape Breton Family Video! I'm glad I stumbled upon this image on Facebook recently, so I could share it. We had a lot of great video stores in our town and, if I'm being honest, this wasn't actually my go-to haunt, but I frequented it many, many times (I was a serial renter, visiting multiple stores like every single weekend) and I miss it dearly.

Even though this wasn't exactly your local rental shop, I'm sure you have similar memories of your own. Please, 

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This is reality, Greg.

I'm in complete shock right now. Just a few moments before writing this I was utterly gobsmacked by an ancient TV ad and I'm still reeling.

Have you ever had a memory that is so vivid that you just know it has to be real, but logic dictates that it unequivocally can't be?

I have had such a memory and I've just been simultaneously vindicated and crushed at the same time.

I've at least briefly written about my experiences with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in the past, but I really haven't sold just how afraid and scarred that film left me.

The Cole's Notes: My mom rented it for me as a kid. This had to've been around the 1988 release of the video. The film had been a runaway success in 1982, which is underselling it. For scale, it out-grossed Star Wars that year and the success saw a re-release in theatres in 1985.

So, by '88 there was E.T. fever and the video release sold gangbusters.

I was around 6 at the time and my parents had what I would call... difficulty understanding what was appropriate for kids to watch? When I got older this worked very much to my advantage. They actually had our video store tag my card so that I could rent anything 18A (Rated R) and below when I was likely too young to wield such power, but that's a story for another time.

Now, this wasn't really their fault. This was something that society was still working out back then. I mean, I could turn on the TV and watch cartoon versions of RoboCop and commercials for toys from The Terminator. This was a time before motherly advocacy groups were hitting the streets and protecting their precious children and Hollywood had no qualms on trying to sell kids on everything from Rambo to Freddy Krueger.

So, in my mom's defense, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was a PG-rated film sold as family-friendly. But for one little boy, it was absolute nightmare fuel that would riddle his psyche for years.

I promised Cole's Notes and gave you War and Peace. My apologies. In short: E.T. scared the shit out of me. And, of course, I was absolutely fascinated by it.

So all these many, many years later my memories surrounding E.T. are seared into my brain. And one of those memories I had come to believe I'd completely made up.

I've probably mentioned it in the past to friends - I don't think it's anything I've ever written about - but I have had a vivid memory of seeing a commercial for "E.T. 2" since I was a young kid. I'll walk you through it and this time, I will exercise brevity.

There's a shot of Elliott in his bedroom tossing his baseball in boredom when it suddenly stops mid-air. He excitedly looks to his window where a dead sunflower suddenly bursts to life. He runs out of his house into the backyard to see E.T.'s spaceship and E.T. himself! They share a touching moment, which is suddenly broken by evil versions of E.T. scurrying out of the ship and into the wild, much to the shock and dismay of E.T. and Elliott.

Again, I can't tell you just how real this whole thing felt. I eventually reached the conclusion that I'd dreamed the whole thing up... until now!

600 words later, I'll get to the point.

I've been re-reading old Dinosaur Dracula Christmas posts going back to 2012. Matt's loaded his site with great nostalgic Christmas content, and it's been a while since I did a re-read, so I've been having a blast going through his old articles over the past few weeks.

I was watching a bunch of old Christmas commercials that Matt had posted and right there in the fifth edition of his Classic Christmas Commercials series is THIS:

So validating.

I mean, of course I somehow conjured up all the stuff about it being "E.T. 2" and the evil E.T.'s, but - again - I was 6. I'm actually pretty astounded with how well I remembered the rest of the beats for the ad.

On the one hand, I wasn't one of the few people (as in just me) who got to see some super secret teaser for a sequel to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, but after all these long years I at least know that I'm not completely crazy and this ad does exist! Ya know, as a Pepsi cross-promotion for the VHS release.

I can now rest easy.

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You can't kill the boogeyman!

Halloween post two days after October 31st? Yeah, that's how I roll.

With another Halloween in the rearview, I just wanted to take a minute to re-cap this season. I've heard all sorts of folks calling Halloween 2023 a bit of a let-down, but I have to disagree.

Now, first off - as you know - I live in Canada. We don't get anywhere near the Halloween fanfare that my friends in the US do. Things have gotten better over the last few years, but it's still not even close.

As a result, we can't measure the season based on cereal, coffee, promotions, and knickknacks (although, in my estimation, we did alright in this department). You have to get creative and make it your own. And I did that big time this year.

I wrote in an earlier post about how on the first weekend of fall, with all my plans for the weekend ready and waiting, I got sick. Well, that was just the start of illness after illness striking my household. We basically spent a month in the house nursing ourselves back to health again and again. It was terrible!

But, I continued to make the best of a bad situation! Even if it was just a quick outing to grab some groceries and scope the cereal aisle or watching a spooky movie with a seasonal treat, I tried to make sure I was doing something to enjoy my Halloween season to it's fullest.

Now, let's take a look back at some of the evil consumer stuff that came out this year!

• What the Fanta!? 2023 - jet black soda flavoured like blood orange? Absolute win.
• Return of the Timbits Halloween Bucket - very limited, but I got lucky on this one!
• Burger King Ghost Pepper Chicken Nuggets, Halloween Crowns, and Halloween Bucket - I didn't score the bucket, it was some sort of limited reward in Canada, but good on them for bringing one out!
• McDonald's Boo Buckets Return! - I only scored the Frankenstein (really wanted the vampire, but it wasn't in the cards)
• McDonald's Trick n' Treat McFlurry - a Canadian exclusive! Wild!

And this is by no means an exhaustive list. This is just what I could remember from my camera roll!

This year I made a personal goal to get out more and enjoy some different seasonal offerings, like hay rides, pumpkin patches, haunts, etc. While I didn't get to some of the haunts I wanted to, I did make it out to several fun locations, like apple picking, a pumpkin patch, and a haunted barn for the kids. We usually do the apple picking, but I'm glad we made it to a few more outdoor events this year. And next year - with a little luck - we'll make it to a few we missed!

And I can't forget, we somehow managed to sneak Thanksgiving in there, too. I say that, because it landed smack-dab in between two of the plagues that struck the house. We somehow got lucky enough to have two or three days of health before getting knocked back down again, but hey - we had a delicious supper, pumpkin pie, and Charlie Brown! What more can you ask for?

I'd also be remiss if I didn't remind you we had a full-blown Friday the 13th in October this year! I usually spend the day watching whatever movies I can, and this particular Friday the 13th was no different, but just having it occur during the Halloween season is special, so I had that much more fun.

(I also got a little buzzed, which is not the norm for me these days, so that didn't hurt.)

I also got to take in a beauty of a full moon this year! I know, this one is spotty at best. You can never be sure with the weather, but I got lucky and had a solid hour doing some moon-gazing with my new telescope! I couldn't figure out the smartphone-attachment-doodad that came with it, but hopefully next time I can post some proper photos!

And the scary movies, oh the scary movies. I won't belabour you with a list. If you check out my Letterboxd you can see for yourself, but I had a great time in the horror movie department this year. One highlight was definitely Joe Bob's Helloween from The Last Drive-In!

Then finally, there's Halloween itself! I haven't take the day off from work the last few years. Usually, since I work from home, there aren't many meetings, so I can throw on a movie or two while I work. This year I had a block of meetings, so I wasn't hopeful, but then each one of them was cancelled! I practiced what I've been preaching several times this year, and threw on Turner Classics for the day. I enjoyed Taste the Blood of Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man. Doesn't get much better than that!

My wife and I have three boys, so trick-or-treating can actually be a bit tough. When they were little, we'd just do a small neighbourhood early in the evening and then be back to hand out treats at our own place before the sun went down. These days, the kids want to go with their friends, so this year (while my wife stayed home and gave out treats - thanks, Beb!) a bunch of us parents took a huge crew of kids out and I had an absolute blast!

There were so many houses that were decorated amazingly. I don't want to share the photos or videos because of the kiddos in them, but there were even a few people who made their homes into mini haunts! I couldn't believe it. Of course, the kids scored massive bags of candy, which at the end of the day, is actually what this is all about.

As per usual, I took in my late night walk. I've mentioned it in previous blog posts and on my socials, but the short version is that I go for a quiet walk before midnight on October 31st each year. It's so serene and if I let my imagination run away with me, I can actually feel something in the air.

I'm glad I did keep that tradition, because the next day we were treated to this...

I joke with my kids sometimes about how back in my day we often had to trick-or-treat with snow suits on, but honestly - with the weather patterns we get these days - I was pretty shocked to find November 1st a snowy, bitterly cold day.

Honestly, it was a clean break from the Halloween festivities. I managed to get all my decorations in and packed away (go me) before the snow hit and it was kind've nice. I got to enjoy a really great spooky season, but now it's time to breathe and get ready for the next holiday.

You know the one.

I hope that if you're a fellow Halloweenie that you had a great holiday. It seems like there's a resounding "meh" swirling around social media, but I think if you stop and take a look back at all the individual bits, you'll see you might've had it better than you remember. And, if all the consumerism and list-checking is getting you down, just remember ol' Linus, sitting in his sincere pumpkin patch, and enjoying the cool night air.

(By the way, I also grew a pumpkin this year, check it out!)

See ya later, Halloween 2023! Looking forward next year!

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Come closer, please! I've something to tell you.

Although the last entry didn't light the world on fire, I'm here to belabour you with more of the TCM horror schedule for the month of October!

It's really a shame that I haven't updated the TCM schedule since then, but honestly late September and early October were a complete blur around here and the latest TCM offerings didn't exactly blow my mind.

There were sporadic showings that were pretty good, but almost anything worth a damn was aired in the wee hours of the morning or sometime before noon. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind setting my PVR to record. There is something, however, to sitting down to the TV in the evening and being able to catch at least one horror flick.

Things are picking up, though!

Tomorrow morning there's an interesting block of Lon Chaney, Sr. films. These are silent era, so really only for the hardcore, but if you want to see the "Man of a Thousand Faces" at work, you can catch The Unholy Three, The Unknown, and West of Zanzibar. These aren't all technically "horror" films, but they can be creepy enough and seeing the work Lon Chaney did with practical make-up effects in the 20s is really something.

October 25th has some pretty heavy hitters, including a Dr. Phibes block, and then on the 27th TCM is featuring James Whales' Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein back-to-back, followed by Hammer's Horror of Dracula.

October 28th has a really great set of movies, like Chaney's Phantom of the Opera (1925), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) and Val Lewton's Cat People (1944), but these flicks have that unfortunate late-night/early AM time slot again.

Then on Devil's Night, October 30th, we have pretty much a straight shot of horror hits for two days. Some highlights include The Devil Rides Out aka The Devils' Bride (a personal Hammer favourite of mine), Suspiria, Creature from the Black Lagoon, a Universal horror block (re-airing Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein again), and the grand finale at 11:45 ET, October 31st, the Mario Bava classic, Black Sabbath!

So, you might have to rely on your PVR for the next week or more, but on October 30th and Halloween you can feel free to cue up TCM on your TV and just let it ride!

I know that classic horror isn't for everyone and that a lot of folks settle in for the Universal monster movies and don't really go far afield, but I'd urge you to try some different movies out on this list. There are some real gems in here and you might find your new favourite old film.

Whether you actually took the time to read this or not, I hope you're having a great October and Halloween season! As always, the time is creeping up on us and before long it'll be all red and green twinkle lights, so just try and get the most out of these spooky days!

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The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Well, it's September 22nd and the first official day of fall! As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been leaning into the autumn (and more importantly spooky Halloween) vibes for some time now, but now summer is definitively in the rear-view.

One of the things that was important to me in launching this new blog was that I wanted to be more casual and personal. This isn't about producing (capital C) "Content". I was inspired by the chronicles of Kenna Rae, which is much more introspective than anything I've ever written.

That doesn't mean I don't have plans to just geek out about some games I'm playing or some movies I've been watching. That's an important thing to me, too! I'm just not interested in trying to sell you on "reviews" (or something like that) to get those ever-important serotonin-producing clicks and metrics.

So yeah, this post might feel more like a "dear diary" journal entry and that's on purpose.

I had big plans for today. Well, big plans for me. There's a new alien abduction horror film out today - dropping on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in Canada - No One Will Save You. I only first heard about it on Bloody Disgusting a few weeks back, but I've been eagerly anticipating it since then, so I thought it might a nice spooky flick to take in on this day of days.

But how to make it appropriately autumnal? Well, that step was easy! First, a nice hike after dinner to take in the foliage. After that, I'd get some apple cider and maybe a pumpkin spice flavoured treat; some of these Great Value pumpkin spice cookies were what I had in mind (I've been decrying the virtue of Great Value sandwich cookies for years now - don't sleep on them). Then I'd enjoy my snack with the aforementioned scary movie.

It wasn't meant to be, though. I'm sick. Big time sick. My kids picked up a bug earlier in the week, so I knew my time would come, but for all my extra hand washing, disinfecting, and avoiding of runny noses, this virus has found me and gave me a well-placed smack on the back of the head.

Am I bummed? Yeah, for sure. But I've really got to learn to let these things roll off my back more. I put so much mental headspace into ensuring that I "make the most" of this time of year, that if I don't enjoy some sort of fall/spooky activity whenever I have a free moment I feel like I've somehow - I dunno - failed? Wasted my precious time? It's hard to describe.

My wife has complained about me during this time of year before. Every single night from the end of August up to October 31st I'm trying to watch a horror movie, or play a scary video game, or take in an old Halloween special or something. There's no casual watching of unseasonal TV or a laid-back rom-com.

I've tried to be more chill this year. Instead of just ignoring anything that isn't categorically "spooky" I've been trying to keep up with shows like Only Murders in the Building and The Wheel of Time. Any other year and I would've let these stockpile until after Halloween.

And why? I'm not sure. But I can tell you for sure that the strain I was putting on myself to enjoy all the things I wanted to between the end of August and end of October was just ruining my indulgence of the season. A real catch-22.

So tonight... I sleep. But soon enough I'll be celebrating the true start of autumn properly. And until then? I'm going to try my best to just let it be. It is what it is and if I don't enjoy something seasonal tonight it'll be okay.

Although I can't lie - I'm definitely going to watch this creepy-looking alien movie, even if it's in bed on a tablet, while I'm downing something medicinal. Wait... do they make pumpkin spice NeoCitran!?

Are you enjoying your spooky season? Do you take it chill - like I'm striving to - or are you over-focused on "getting it all in"? Let me know on your preferred social platform!

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Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!

One thing I look forward to every fall is the Turner Classic Movies October schedule.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to watch any sort of monster movie you likely had to turn to late-night television to get your fix. With the advent of video, more options became available, but for the vast majority of horror and sci-fi films, you still had to keep your eyes on your local TV guide.

Those days are most certainly gone. With streaming and so many rare and forgotten films getting Blu-ray releases you can pretty much find anything you want to watch, when you want to watch it.

There's still something about watching an old horror film on broadcast TV that is so appealing for me, though. It's the nostalgia talking, I know. I have lots of black-and-white monster movies on DVD, but I kinda prefer letting TCM do the programming for me!

Also, there are still lots of films that you would think would easily be available on streaming or video that just aren't that accessible, unless you're willing to shell out the big bucks or have a region-free player at your disposal.

And so, every year around mid-September I start frequenting the TCM website to see what offerings they'll have available during October and, let me tell you, they rarely disappoint!

In the years past there have been very definite themes. One year, it was all kaiju films from Japan. For a few years TCM was exhausting the Hammer horror archive, much to my delight. And there have been many, many years that I can recall classic Universal was the focus.

The last few years it's seemed like a smorgasbord of all these films. I've also noticed that they've started including more (ahem) "contemporary" works from the 70s and the 80s.

It's hard to tell what the theme - if any - will be this year, but as of today I was able to view the first few days of TCM's October schedule and I thought it would be fun to share some of the upcoming horror films you can check out on Turner Classics, provided you still have a cable TV package!

Let's consult my handy-dandy spreadsheet. /me adjusts his glasses...

Stylish, I know!

As an aside, let's start with the purple section at the top. Although the focus of this post is the October horror films that TCM is known to offer, I couldn't help but draw your attention to a block of giant bug movies coming up on September 15th! TCM posted a blog about the special theme night, which mentions six films and includes Mothra, but I couldn't find it on either the US or Canadian schedules. That aside, the are some fun sci-fi monster films coming mid-month that you may enjoy!

The October proper schedule shows a veritable dog's breakfast of options and I can't say that I'm upset about it!

We've got a pair of giant kaiju films, some classic Universal, a Hitchcock, a few sci-fi monster flicks carrying over from September, a Hammer Frankenstein, and even some Tony Scott!

At first glance, it doesn't look like there's a cohesive theme here, but honestly there still could be down the line. It may come in the form of nightly blocks dedicated to different production companies, actors, or time periods. We shall have to wait and see!

And I know that unless you're in the Pacific or Central time zones these airings would have to be firmly programmed into your PVR, but there will very likely be more prime time slots dedicated to the horror genre as we get closer to Halloween.

If you're looking for one more little adventure to try during the spooky season, you might find something fun on your TV guide! I find it more and more difficult to find anything in the horror genre freely playing on broadcast TV, but TCM will certainly hold the line this October, if you want to give it a shot!

You can even relive those nights long past of waiting up until the late night monster movie played on TV, while you hid under a blanket and thought up your escape plan back to your bedroom once the movie was over!

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There are three things I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.

If you yourself are - or you at least know someone who is - a "Halloweenie", you'll notice that the All Hallowed celebrations don't start in October or even September. No, things really ramp up in August!

I've found myself wondering in years past, why that is. What is it that gets into our psyche at this time of year and makes us yearn for those glorious cool and creepy fall nights?

I've considered the possibility that it's the brands; you'll see the Autumn Yankee Candles and Monster Cereals start to show up on shelves this time of year. The thing is, companies that cater to people who love fall and Halloween follow our lead. If we weren't starving to buy the stuff in August, there'd be no need to stock it.

This year I took notice of something I hadn't before. It was ever-so slight and almost imperceptible, but as I took a quiet moment to myself, sitting on the porch with a coffee, I could see that the birch trees were turning the slightest bit more yellow. On the periphery of the maples, there were tinges of red in the leaves. And, even though we had just escaped the throes of a brutal heat and humidity wave, the nights were getting just a little cooler. Heck, one morning while I was out playing with the kids I actually had to throw on a hoodie!

I typically associate August with the hottest months we experience in Nova Scotia - and it is - so I assume the changeover from summer to fall doesn't happen until later in September, when the cooler temperatures start to creep in.

But this year, I saw it. Again, so minute you would easily miss it. Just enough, though, that maybe our subconscious picks up on the cues.

Whatever the reasoning, it's been easier than ever to get excited about the upcoming fall and Halloween season. Usually, I don't kick things off until the end of August, and even then only slowly. My usual nod is when Dinosaur Dracula kicks off his yearly Halloween Countdown, which dropped on September 2nd last year.

In Canada, we don't really get the early barrage of Halloween that Americans experience. Honestly, it seems like things get going in July down there! The rule of thumb up North is that you'll start to see Halloween stuff hit shelves after Back-to-School has had its time to shine.

Over the last few years, I've excitedly noticed this street date moving back a bit, having found a few Halloween treats around the mid-August timeframe.

This year is popping off, though! Our local Spirit Halloween store, which never opens before the first or second week of September, kicked things off on August 7th! I haven't been yet, but I'm planning on my first Spirit trip at the end of this week.

You'd think that there wouldn't be any need to start celebrating the spooky season in August, but honestly you can never start too early! Much like the Christmas holidays no matter how soon you begin you likely won't get to take in all the traditions and celebrations you'd wished you could. I don't know about the rest of you, but there's always something I complain I didn't get to do or missed out on by the time October 31st rolls around.

So raise your pumpkin beers and PSLs, throw on your favourite scary movie, and let's ring in Halloween 2023! This year, I'm going to try and take in more outdoor events, like hayrides and maybe a haunt. It isn't all about watching horror flicks, and the fresh air will do me some good!

Are you a fellow Halloweenie? Do you have any resolutions for this years celebrations? Let me know on my socials! You can find me here. I'd love to hear from you!

Keep it creepy,
R

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