A Straw Man Argument

It was my last day teaching the engineers* at my flight school so I showed them some Simpsons to celebrate. I gave each lad (and two lasses) an Oreo as a snack.

 

*not really engineers, just what they're referred as at the school.

Afterwards, I trekked over to The Sendai Agricultural Garden Center in order to check out their Straw sculptures. THIS is all they had!

I'm fairly certain that that is the same Dragon that has welcomed patrons for the last few years.  There were a few more last year and lots more the year before and a ton more before that! (Check out the label to the left called "straw art" for even more.)

At least they had a minor Halloween display.

 

Not even any pumpkins around the SENDAI sign like last year. (Maybe I came too early!)

Ah well, I'll check back in a few weeks. At least the local Hard-Off/Off-House had a display today. Kudos!

 

Tomorrow begins a month of daily (?) posts with something to do with Halloween as part of the Countdown to Halloween! There will be plenty of Halloweeny posts starting tomorrow with links at that site...

Bad-Ass Angel Day!

September 29th is St. Michael's Day (or All Angels Day) AND it is also my pseudo-fake birthday. Born on Christmas means that I was ripped off from having birthday parties/cakes/presents so when I was a wee lad, we celebrated it on St. Mike's Day. This worked for a while and I could have an actual birthday party, until my sister came along on October 1st and stole my thunder.

This article explains how much St. Michael was a BAD-ASS. He appears to be a tad wussy in this picture.

Yet that is very deceiving. He kicked the arse of Lucifer and his minions.

He also slaughtered the Demon, Belial.

Read the rest of that article for more details...

To celebrate my "birthday" today, I went to the sea and took a pano shot. (Lots of beach, not so much sea.)

After that, I popped over to the Agricultural Center to check out the Straw Art. Roar!

First thing I noticed was a distinct lack of straw sculptures. NO dinosaurs, NO King Kong, NO mini Gojira Shrine. You can check out last year's straw art for those. There was a cool Dragon at the entrance though!

There were only two more! Very disappointing.

Oh, Pumpkins!

Sigh. FAKE Pumpkins.

At least there's a slight tribute to Alice that's kind of cute.

Finally, I popped inside to grab a Muscat Soft-cream.

On the way out I snapped a pic of this dog posing for its Instagram page.

All in all, rather humdrum this year. Maybe there'll be some action next month.

To perk up, I bought myself a present, HAPPY PSEUDO FAKE BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Wow, only one day left in September and then the 2024 Countdown to Halloween begins? 

What tricks and treats do I have in store? No idea!

Nope? Yup!

Here's a cloud my friend posted.

I said, "It looks sentient." A friend retorts, "nope." He had to clarify later that he was referring to NOPE.

Full disclosure. I have never watched this. After this entry, I plan to watch it tonight. Hopefully I shan't have to revise this post.

Here are some more clouds.

Those were taken before and during the last full moon.

IF you look in the background of these straw creatures, you may see some more clouds.

This lion greets you.

Some decorated foliage.

I do believe there's an art contest. Sadly the students weren't there today and neither was the Godzilla Shrine from last year.

These are new...

These aren't.

These are new though not straw sculptures.

And a few gravestones and crosses.

Hey pumpkins! Just what I was looking for...

Grr. They aren't real. (Insert frowny face.)

Duck!

So dang it, my goal of finding a pumpkin at the Agricultural Center is all for naught. Ah well, let's go get a closer look at that big ape.

 Speaking of big apes, this is the closest Yokai I could get. This guy is a mind reader known as Satori.

At five bucks a pop, I didn't bother buying one of these Skeletal creatures.

Here's a Venomized Miles for your perusal.

 

That's about it for tonight. I'm going to watch NOPE and see if it gets a "Nope" from me.

A fellow blogger worth checking out is AEIOU. See whether he's had a vowel movement.