Soon they will be here again, the ghouls, the zombies and the witches. While many people believe this is an overnight process and could not be foreseen, there are many signs already now, mid September, that we will be invaded by all kinds of undesirable creatures.
Unless you prefer to close your eyes and wait for the inevitable, that is.
Brewing potions from herbs is what witches do best, unless they are flying on their brooms through cloudy and moony skies.
Something that has always made me shiver as a kid were the spiky leaves that were on top of a ripe tomato. Those pointy leaves made me think of something evil, good for Halloween.
But in Holland we didn’t celebrate Halloween then, unlike today.
Young tomatoes
Even these harmless little unripe tomatoes show these leaves, brrrr. It looks like there is something ready to crawl out of there.
Real mist, not silver mist
Then you have these half-frozen mornings, cool, warm, you don’t know what to think of them. As soon as you get closer that mist is drawing away, as if it doesn’t want you to see what it is hiding inside. There can be nothing good inside a mist like that.
Prairie grass
Then there is all that long fluffy, but –dead- grass. Here they used it for separating two lanes of the road, probably one lane going to life and the other? I don’t know. Even the lights at the end do not inspire me any confidence to a good ending.
Scary bench
Some places already prepare you for a long period of decay, if only you want to sit there. I definitely won’t be sitting on this bench, I still like the life I have. That yellow leaf you see there? I saw it fall on that bench, completely green!
Silver Mist or Helichrysum
Those undercover witches already prepare themselves to give us the worst. Even their evil herbs are labelled and tagged so they will not mix them up while preparing their potions for us.
And we, humans, do not even see what is coming to us.
Just a herb
We believe that this is a lovely, harmless plant with fluffy flowers… Witchcraft, I tell you. And that is not all. There are symbols out there. Symbols of black magic like a portal made out of branches, from large to small.
Into the tunnel
They are making you smaller and smaller until there is nothing left of you. Harmless at first sight, until you start thinking about it.
Then you have the other symbols. Have you ever played these games with matches, where you have to displace one or two matches to form a different word or pattern?
Magic symbol in disguise
The same goes for this seemingly innocuous plantation. Even the column in the middle cannot stand straight in the center of so much black magic power. By moving only two or three lines you obtain the magical five-pointed star used by witches.
Foxglove or Digitalis Purpurea
The poisonous flowers grow all over the place, like this Digitalis Purpurea. They mark “Foxglove” on the labels, but in fact this is a highly poisonous plant that can cause cardiac arrest. You don’t believe me? Take a look here what they have to say about this plant on Wikipedia ! “Due to the presence of the cardiac glycoside digitoxin, the leaves, flowers and seeds of this plant are all poisonous to humans and some animals and can be fatal if eaten.”
Witchcraft is in the air, I tell you.
Innocent looking pumpkin
Then there are the pumpkins, soon to be transformed into horrible faces with fire behind the eyes. All to “scare away” the witches and other creatures of the night. In fact, these pumpkins only serve to attract more creatures. Even small ones asking for a trick or treat!
Scary pumpkin
They look nice, in the beginning, a bright yellow and orange, but look what it will become if you leave it alone long enough, it shows it's true nature.
Just look around you and you will find all kinds of symbols and signs that witches will be among us soon.
Or would that be an early bout of Halloween that people celebrate in these parts of the world?
Until next time, keep your eyes and ears wide open. Perhaps someone is casting a spell on you, you never know!
PS: All pictures taken in the Assiniboine Park and English Gardens