Last post of 2020

Bookending the year with the first post of 2020, the yard skeleton is back to ring in 2021 in style. Happy New Year!

Jason goes to heck

Happy Halloween! This is the one month when my neighbors' yard skeleton blends in. But I wouldn't say that to this character.

This is how it was dressed in September, some sort of garden sprite to scare off the garden gnomes.

August skeleton

Suddenly searchable

Friend and fellow artist Diane Podolsky writes, "How do I follow your blog?" That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure if this blog has ever had a follow function. I went looking for a solution today, found it, and now there are following buttons in the sidebar. Thanks Diane!

I'd been under the impression that Blogger charged extra for their "gadget" options, but apparently not. And one of them is a search function! Years of adding keywords to posts has finally paid off!

Naturally, the first thing I searched for was "skeleton". All the yard skeleton photos popped up, so that's classy. Then I searched for the "Great animated shorts" posts and holy gods, I've written more of those than I thought.

Cool summer

My neighbors' yard skeleton is taking it easy. 

Signs of Spring

In celebration of Spring, my neighbors' yard skeleton has sprouted butterfly wings. The monthly skeleton has been a local curiosity for years now. Last year, the May skeleton was The Cat in the Hat.

Gazerbeam?

Security provided by skeleton.

First post of 2020

Starting off the new year in style, it's my neighbors' January 2020 yard skeleton. Is that a cat skeleton behind the rock? I didn't even notice it until I opened the file in Photoshop.

The skeleton's attire changes every month. This isn't the first time it's worn a dress. The Marilyn Monroe skeleton was last April.

Happy Independence Day

Hope you're having a relaxing holiday. As usual, my neighbors' yard skeleton is dressed for the occasion.
	In May, it was Dr. Seuss. This is what happens when the cat in the hat eats the green eggs and ham.

Keepin' busy

Spring is in the air and the yard skeleton is dressed for the warmer weather. I've just completed another class at PhillyCAM and am currently focused on the Rabbit festival at The Plastic Club. I'll post my illustration for the new Rabbit invitation here this weekend.

My neighbors' yard skeleton showed up one Halloween and has been there since, dressed differently every month. The March skeleton was Mario, the Nintendo plumber. The last one I got a photo of was the Star Trek skeleton.

Bones

Man, I love a good hobby.

I wrote way back in this post that my neighbors have a yard skeleton. It showed up one Halloween and never left. The outfit changes every month. This is the September Star Trek-themed skeleton.

I don't want to make a habit of photographing my neighbors' yard, but they make it hard to resist. I had to get a shot of this one before it changes in October. It reminds me of my favorite line in Star Trek II.

"Who's been holding up the damn elevator?"

— Leonard McCoy

Hobbies

Wayne, NJ

This past Sunday I drove to Wayne, New Jersey to see their monthly toy and collectibles show. I try to get to a toy convention once or twice a year. New Jersey has a lot of them. I don't even collect like I used to. The past couple of years, I've gone mainly for the atmosphere. Among the funniest things I've seen at these conventions include the woman so thrilled to find an old Strawberry Shortcake doll that she ran up to her husband, held it up to his face and began rapidly squeezing it to blow scented air at him, exclaiming, "it still smells!" squeezy squeezy squeezy. Another was a guy with a massive box of those little green plastic soldiers, selling them by the pound with a big scoop. Thank goodness for hobbies. The chilly skeleton at left has been present on my neighbors' lawn for years. I believe it was initially intended as Halloween decoration and never left. The outfit changes every month. This month it's wearing a sweater. Last month it was dressed as Robin Hood. Over the summer it was wearing water wings and diving into an inflatable kiddie pool. I'm pretty sure at one point it was dressed as a cheerleader. It's so great that people do things like this. It's reassuring. With all the horror on the news, wouldn't it be refreshing to hear [pick your least favorite aggressors] have suddenly discovered they prefer collecting stamps?

Neighbors' yard

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May 28, 2022: This post includes the first of many photos I took of my neighbors' yard skeleton. All of the yard skeleton photos can be viewed in these posts.

Great animated shorts

Happy Halloween!
Wanna watch some cartoons?

• Vincent (Tim Burton, 1982, 6 min)
Tim Burton's first animation ran for two weeks in one theater and was then buried in the Disney vault for years. It was dug up again after Burton started making movies. Narrated by Vincent Price.

• Goodnight Norma... Goodnight Milton... (John Schnall, 1988, 6 min)
This creepy short about a bickering married couple may require a little patience, but it's worth it.

• The Skeleton Dance (Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, 1929, 6 min)
Walt Disney created the Silly Symphonies series to experiment with animating to music. There were 75 of them produced between 1929 and 1939, building up to Fantasia, released in 1940.

Also, remember local Philly late-night show, Saturday Night Dead? The adverts would say, "watch Saturday Night Dead after Saturday Night Live".