In
the 30 years that I have lived under my own roof, I have never been much of a one for celebrating Halloween. (I either go out, or close the blinds, turn off all the lights and hide in my basement.) But this year, I decided to June Cleaver the
heck out of the day.
For
people that know me well, do not be concerned that participating in such a
pagan ritual will get this grizzled, old Anglican churchwarden stripped of her
position. (Trust me when I tell you, nobody else wants my job.) For us Protestant Christians, the
supernatural has no association whatsoever with Halloween. It is simply All Hallows Eve, the day before
All Saints Day, a Christian feast day.
I
did my share of trick-or-treating as a youngster, so it was time to give
back. Also, far more critically I think,
this was an opportunity to be more visible to my neighbours. Within the last several months, there have been 2 break-ins on my
block, both on my side of the street, so the locals are a wee bit nervous. This was a great way to see and be seen by people
who live nearby, and their children – the perfect weather allowing lots of mini-chats
with wandering folks, from my porch.
If
you're going to do Halloween, you've got to decorate. Thanks to Wal-Mart, you can do it for practically
nothing. Some scary light reflectors for
the lawn, an orange light bulb, a string of festive, mini orange lights for
the porch railing, and I'm ready for an invasion of kids. What's that?
I'm missing something? Oh, that's
right – a pumpkin!
This
is the gross part. I could have used
some festive orange latex gloves to clean this thing out. Along with all the goo, there were about 200
seeds. Well, go big or go home, right? The only thing to do with all those seeds – roast
them, of course!
They're yummy! Add white pepper for extra flavour.
Okay – you've waited patiently to see my very first candle-lit Halloween pumpkin...Here it is!
Pretty cool, eh? (Good thing I took a photo when I did. I left it out overnight, and a raccoon chewed off one leg and the thorax.)
It
was a fun night. I gave out all the candy, met lots of people, saw
some great costumes – a few too many that were store-bought though. (I usually made mine.) And for the most part, the kids, or their
parents, remembered to say thank you. When
the first of several kids arrived at my door with no loot bag and shouted "trick-or
treat," I thought this was very odd. Until they turned around to reveal an open
back-pack filled with candy. That's
either just flat-out wrong – or very efficient.
I'm still trying to make up my mind.
And when someone knocked on my door dressed as the Grim Reaper, that kid got extra candy. Anything to get rid of him (just in case it wasn't a costume).
One
Thing That >50 Me Has Learned Along the Way...
Email
and fax spammers are not the
problem. They want to make a buck, just
like the rest of us. They have bills to
pay, too. Yes, it's a
bottom-of-the-barrel way to make a living.
We all think they're scummy. But they do it because it works. The
problem is that very small percentage of people who respond. If only humans
could all get together as a species and collectively decide to never, ever,
ever, ever make a purchase as a result of receiving an unsolicited email or
fax, the spammers would eventually stop.
Why continue to do something that yields zero results? But unfortunately, there will always be
idiots out there in the market for enlargement creams and Nigerian inheritances.
We need to invent intelligent keyboards
that realize what the idiot is up to, and just Taser them slightly.
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