Rosehill Cemetery

Yesterday, rather than do things like laundry or cleaning, I treked up to Rosehill Cemetery on Chicago's northside and took the archetectural tour. The weather was windy and overcast, just as I like it!

These garden style cemeteries are truly gorgeous. This one is 300 acres, with three lakes and about 25 miles of roadway. There are also about a bazillion oblisk style memorials. As you can tell by the pictures, my favorites are the intricate statues. The carvings are amazing.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures. . .

These two are interesting because they are made of metal. They are called "white onyx alloy", are pre-fabricated and only the personal information is specially made. The dates on them were the mid 1800's yet they looked brand new.

New York and Connecticut Bound

Ok, so, one week from right now I'll be jetting across the country to New York and I cannot wait. We are hitting haunts and grave yards and friends homes (oh my!) .

To get myself even further in the mood, I'm going to be going to the Rosehill Cemetery tour on Sunday. I'll have plenty of pictures to share on Monday.

Invitations this/close to done

Patti and I worked, and drank, deligently through the night last Friday and our party invitations are, in the words of Freddie Prinze, LOOKING GOOD! They will be printed, sliced, stuffed, sealed, addressed and stamped by September 27th. A personal best for us.

If you are one of the two people who read this and think you may not be on our mailing list, drop me a note with your address and you will be included.

This weeked, the decoration and prop building begins. I'll be handling a saw. Here's hoping I have fingers come Monday morning.

Update: Didn't start sawing yet, but near about cut my finger off with a steak knife. Maybe I'll get someone else to help out with the sawing. Paul? You game?

Heading to NY the first weekend in October

Thanks to an amazing flight price on American, I not only get to go visit Pam, but I get to cheer her on for her Team Halloween walk.

While there, we plan on checking out the following haunts:

Trail of Terror, Wallingford CT
Haunted Graveyard, Lake Compounce, CT
Headless Horseman, Ulster Park, NY

And Maybe either
Terrordome, Newburgh, NY
Kevin McCurdy's Haunted Mansion, Wappingers Falls

It does not get better than this!!

Haunts A-Plenty

Information for haunts are starting to appear! I'm getting so excited. I'm hoping to hit many this year. And, I'll post info on the ones worth your time.

This one is good year after year, so if you're in the area, check it out. . .

Important note from Pam Tole Regarding Team Halloween Event

Dear Friends & Family,

I will *try* to keep this note brief…but basically, I wanted to let you all know that On Sunday, October 5th, I will be walking once again with TEAM HALLOWEEN in the Support Connection’s Annual Support A-Walk.

Support Connection is an organization in my home town of Yorktown Hts., NY that provides support & services to people affected by breast & ovarian cancer. Not just cancer patients themselves, but their family and loved ones as well. They give programs (such as Yoga, Cancer Wellness seminars), peer counseling, support groups, and resource referral (best place to buy wigs, etc.). The organization is staffed by an amazing bunch of people who are absolutely dedicated to this cause. Most of the funding for these programs come from the donations generated by this once a year event. Support Connection is unique in that it is volunteer driven…and unlike many organizations 90% of the funds raised goes directly back into the programs and services.

This year is especially important to me for two reasons. 1) My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in May. Luckily, it was caught early. 2) The Peer Counselor who first helped me unfortunately lost her own battle with breast cancer this past week. Hopefully, soon, all breast cancer will be caught early. And maybe one day, a cure will be found.

If you would like to make a donation to my team, please visit http://www.supportconnection.org and click on the link on the left hand side for “Support A Walk”. From there you can either make a donation online or print out a form to mail in a donation. (Don't forget to earmark it for "Team Halloween"!).

If you would like to walk with us in the Walk-a-thon, please contact me with details. Also, feel free to forward this message to anyone who may be interested.

Thank you all very much for your time.

Pam & Jim Tole
Team Halloween
http://www.teamhalloween.org

Great Googly Moogly, But I'm a Horrible Blogger

As Halloween is rapidly approaching, I know it's going to get even worse. But, here's the dealio. I'm going to start asking others for input. AND, I'll be going to New York, hopefully, the first weekend in October to visit some haunts. AND, I'll be going to Omaha on the big day to visit Mystery Manor. And, of course, I'll be checking out some fun Chicago stuff during October as well. So, with any luck, I'll start updating this stuff more often. Maybe even a picture or two.

Hello Louisville!

Well, I finally got out of Providence. After a meer 4.5 hours in the skies, I have landed in Louisville. Not really my destination. And sadly, since we were first sent to St. Louis, our pilots had no more hours to give, so our plane, and one other, were shut down. So, here I sit. I'm on a flight at 6:50 AM now. I wonder where that will take me. . . .

Stayed tuned, I could be in Gnome next.

Stoopid Storms!

I know I have tons of updating to do and will do it soon.

Right now, all I have to say is I'm never leaving this airport. And, not that I don't love you Providence, but, sitting in your airport isn't really my idea of fun.

Mild Debauchary

After a morning of hanging around Chris' so he could finish up some work, we packed the car and headed out to meet Jim at his house outside of Boston. And, I finally got to meet his Mom, who'm I've heard wonderful things about. The rumors were true, she's a doll. Not an actual creepy doll with the eyes that close when you lay it down, but a sweet, sweet lady. I also got to meet his new niece, Molly, and both his dogs. If I had room for any of them in my luggage, they'd be with me now.

Then, it was off to Boston for the abbreviated tour. Which, for us, meant looking at landmarks from afar, and pubs from the inside. Here's a quick pictorial of it. . .

First stop, Beantown Pub for drinks and food. Pigs in a blanket rocked our world.







Next to the Historic Omni Parker House where we had a little menage Boston Cream Pie at the Parker Resturant.









Side note, Debbie had on no make-up so this is the only time her agent would allow her on film.











Then it was to Patty O's where we started our mini pub crawl with gusto! Side note, #2, Jim was one of the crew that sailed the Mayflower last year on it's anniversary out of Plymouth. Thus the awesome tattoo. The boyish goodlooks just come naturally.











Then we went to Taps where we started up a trend of hanging with others from out of town. This is Vicki and her husband (name, unknown) from Connecticut. The were chatting it up with Chris bigtime. A guy from Florida was sitting next to me and we kibbitz about nothing for about an hour. They have these black and blues here that are Guinness (of course) and blueberry ale. I think I found my new favorite drink.



Our final drink stop (no matter how much Jim begged for more) was Purple Shamrock. No idea what my first dark beer was because Jim ordered it for me, but, it was good. Then, a woman representing a hard cider (can't remember the name of that either) set us up with a glass each and scratch off tickets. Here's what we won . .








A cap, iTunes card and, look, a Chris!!!! Well, hey the name of the cider is on the bottle and glass. I'm gonna say it's Magner's.

After this, we headed back to Jim's to get Chris' car and left for Salem. We're here now and the rest of the crew should be getting in shortly. I'm getting a little excited!!!