Halloween

So I stepped outside my front door yesterday, and look what got caught in the monkey trap! The neighbors LOVE Halloween!!

Halloween around here is often accompanied by a cold monsoon, so you want a costume that works over a waterproof parka. We get about thirty kids every year, and often, it's the parents that are having the best fun. My best candy-giving costume was a big piece of sheer black fabric shot through with gold thread. I just draped it over my head and, for the older kids, practiced my evil genius laugh. "Mwahahahahaha! Take some candy. Just take some." For little kids, I flipped it up so they could see my face, and smiled like a gentle granny.




DH and I will be going out this weekend to hunt the wiley pumpkin (they don't run very fast, and they nest in huge flocks, so they're not hard to hunt at all) and I will use my linoleum knives to carve away just the outer skin, so the candle light shines through artistically. Of course, having the house next door to this one leaves just about anything we do looking sorta lame.




There's another place down the street that put out three inflatable, lighted yard thingies last year. And yet another place about a mile away that does such a big deal that people come from all over the city to see it, the police close off the street, and the local high-school dance team goes over there on weekend nights to perform "Thriller"

Halloween is all about the costumes for me. One year I put on a white strapless evening gown with a full tulle skirt and lots of sequins, added a set of white wings, pointy ears and a sparkly wand, and went as a trendy waiter. "Hi, I'm Bruce. The special tonight is roasted larks tongues on polenta, drizzled artfully with a reduction of blackberry juice and grapefruit vodka."

Another year I dressed as a black widow spider in a black leotard with two sets of extra legs sewn under the arms, a red hourglass on the tummy, black fishnet hose and three inch heels, and a little black hat with a veil. I won first prize at the church party.

My favorite costume ever was one I saw from the bus as we drove past. A fellow was standing at a bus stop, reading a paper. As our bus passed, he lowered his paper to reveal his werewolf mask. It was brilliant!