I get all misty in the fall.
Slender poplars with corn husk tops remind me that this too shall pass.
Manhattans seem the better option and it’s dark, even when I wake up late.
Bare trees are familiar and seem in their natural state without their adorning leaves and berries.
I love summer, and all of its frivolities. But this is fall. And it’s time to buckle down and get to work. This is when the interesting stuff happens. And we celebrate it’s arrival with a feast, costumes, and candy.
There were several dozen options for costumes this year in my house. Mary and I stopped tracking them all. We both agreed that we would just dress the kids in whatever costume they wanted an hour before whatever party we needed to be at.
The kids are consumed with the Halloween spirit. They love it all.
No matter what form it comes in.
Elouise climbed over hay bails in a Catholic inspired obstacle course. Beginning with tossing coins into heaven, jumping over sins, dodging demons while carrying a soccer ball, zip-lining through purgatory and climbing through the eye of a needle. She seriously shrieked with joy on several occasions. So did I as I was rooting for her big time. Here, she is a butterfly and Jacob (off screen) is a Flying Cubbie.
I never heard of the Samhain Festival growing up. For me, the end of October meant one thing, candy. Lots of it. Through one method, alone: Halloween. But, I must say that I missed out on a great deal of other really cool ways to celebrate this time of year. My kids however, have not. They went to the Magical Samhain Forest created by the visionaries at Plum Forest Farm. Six endearing vignettes dotted a dense forest, all lit by small campfires. Gnomes, witches, and magical fishing poles delighted my children + me to no end. Elouise was a ballerina princess and Jacob was a fox.
They give candy out on the streets of Vashon as well. The main road shuts down through town as the island to celebrates Halloween. It’s hard for me to focus, because I like to stare at all the costumes. Elouise was Cinderella. Which amuses me, because she gladly picks up after herself, her brother, and her friends. Jacob was a flying monkey. Which is also funny because he is scared shitless from them. We know. We tried.