grave inspiration

According to my calendar there are less than two weeks until Halloween! Two weeks! The last time I checked, it was September. I was patting myself on the back, feeling smug, feeling confident, feeling well-prepared, congratulating myself on being well ahead of schedule. And then, a few busy weeks and suddenly . . . it's mid-October! The time for indulging in the luxury of autumn holidays and procrastination is gone. It's time to get back to work.

One project that I've been postponing in favour of others this fall is tombstone building. Since this is the first year my haunt will venture off the front porch, this will be the first year I've attempted to create tombstones. Since I'll be venturing into unknown territory, I've been putting it off and working on more familiar projects. Until today. Tombstone-building starts now.

I decided on styrofoam as my material of choice. When I arrived at Home Depot, I realized the foam sheets were huge. This was good and bad. Good because I could likely create three tombstones from one sheet of foam. Bad because there was no way I would be able to transport the full sheets in my car. I would have to cut them first. And as I stood in the parking lot about to make the first cut, I realized something. This is a building supplies store. They have cutting tools and are likely more skilled with them than I am. What was I thinking? So back into the store I went. And in seconds, my new styrofoam had been neatly sliced into four sections. Some paint, rollers, and brushes, and let the tombstone creation begin.

Being a master of vague ideas, I haven't given much thought to embellishments at this point. I sometimes think I would prefer to leave them basic and unadorned, much like the markers in very old graveyards. Perhaps a worn and eroded look, with the writing barely visible. But I'll worry about that later. Probably when I'm also worrying about how to secure them to the ground in the howling October wind. For now, I'll be satisfied to complete the basic shapes.

And for inspiration, I can look to this graveyard that I recently visited in Concord. Nothing extraordinary about the tombstones. Except that they extended all the way to the back porch of the house. Close enough to rest your coffee cup on.