Of Halloween and the morning after

Well, Halloween was quite the affair in our neighborhood! It felt something like a strategic conquest of the foothill territory by marauding bands of school kids, who flocked from house to house in groups of 20 and more, with parents a few steps behind. There were children absolutely everywhere, the air ringing with shouts. I went out with the girls and soon got caught up with a group that included two of her buddies from kindergarten and one of my colleagues, and we trooped around with them. Some houses gave out rum and tequila shots to grownups! About a dozen houses had elaborate haunted houses set up in their garages or as the gauntlet you had to run to get to the front door. Manning these seemed to be the special duty of middle-school and high-school boys, who relayed messages to each other about whether each arriving group should be scared to the hilt or at a modified G-rated level. Our group of little guys was treated to nothing spookier than purple lights, smoke machines, some homemade monsters hanging from the rafters, and one slightly timid live corpse poking its head out of a coffin. To my surprise, Edith really liked it. Though if she hadn't, there were more than enough houses where no such challenges stood between the kids and candy. Edith had stamina for about two blocks worth of trick-or-treating, and then we headed home, where we found Tom hiding out in the dark on the living room floor trying to watch the World Series without alerting people outside to the fact that he was there, as he had run out of candy after the first 150 kids or so.

With the 'cross-the-street neighbor kids

The sky over the mountains as we set out trick-or-treating

One of the neighborhood haunted houses--one had to run the gauntlet to get to the front door

November always feels like a blessedly austere sort of month by comparison...at least for the first couple of weeks, before Thanksgiving. I find I appreciate the simplicity, sobriety, and chance for remembrance of beloved folks on All Saints' Day ever more with each year. This year it took on particularly potent meaning, as Tom's grandfather passed away in Delaware on October 29--and we thought of my uncle in New York who passed away prematurely and abruptly earlier this fall. Then last night, as Tom was preparing to leave for the East Coast for his grandfather's memorial service, he learned that his step-grandmother on the other side of the family had just passed away. It has been a sober fall in that respect.

So Alice and I are spending the next week or so together hanging out while Tom is away and Edith is at school. This morning she helped me rake leaves in the backyard and stomp them down into a large garbage bin, while three deer sat in the grass and watched us. They are fearless, these Western deer. Fortunately the bears seem a little more reluctant to encounter people. On the other hand, our neighbor mentioned at the busstop this morning that she'll be glad to turn back the clocks this weekend, because her middle schooler has to be at the busstop at 7am, before it's light out now, and she doesn't feel comfortable letting her daughter stand outside in the dark while the mountain lions are still out and about. Once again, we ain't Jersey any more!

Spending time in the backyard offers good opportunities for wearing handknits, some recently completed (mine and Edith's) and some from last fall (Alice's).

Edith's sweater is in her school colors featuring her school mascot, for Spirit Days. One of the girls across the street has been attending cheerleading camp and taught Edith a local cheer: "We ARE the MIGHTy MUStangs, and we DO AS we PLEASE!" Edith was chanting it the other day, and I mentioned that I wasn't sure I liked the sentiment, because it seemed to suggest a disregard for other people's concerns and for living in right relationship. (I know--it's a sports cheer--but coming from the mouth of a kindergartner outside the context of a stadium, it just didn't sound right.) Edith thought a moment, then amended, "We ARE the MIGHTy MUStangs, and we DO as WE are TOLD!" Now that will have opponents quaking in their boots...