The lonely old house

In most neighbourhoods there's an empty house that is just sitting there, apparently empty but with an air of silent menace.  As halloween approaches the local kids tell stories about the terrible things that might have happened there, and why the lonely old house is now the way it is, daring each other to run up and ring the door bell. 

Perhaps there really is an old woman who eats children, or an enormous man with just a hook for a hand .... or worse.

The crows watched me speculatively as I sneaked up the drive this evening to take this shot.  I didn't hang around, and I wouldn't want to have done it any later in the day, and certainly not once the sun had gone, now that Winter has arrived....