not a cute kitty [Oct 10th]

It's nearly Halloween, and this critter is lurking - and his head swinging menacingly from side to side every minute or so - outside Nancy's Homemade Fudge Store in Meadows of Dan (I have to say, it's probably not a good thing that I've just discovered that they have a website: their dark almond chocolate bark is ridiculously good). It's something of a ritual to go there (I once was brainwashed enough by rural Virginia to buy a John Deere caddy in which to hold pencils, etc) - there are more different kinds of fudge that one would believe possible (blueberry cheesecake, anyone?) plus other things like a huge jelly bean dispenser - indeed, a very tempting place to take pictures, as well as contemplating stuffing oneself on large quantities of sugar. But its display outside also offers up an overblown example of the Fall Kitsch that takes over front yards from I-40 up to the mountains - scarecrows on haybales, pumpkins, clay pumpkin lanterns, witches, spiders... and then the seasonal occupations, like the lawnmower races that somehow we could bear to miss in Stuart...