Musings from a guy who just wants to live near a sidewalk...within walking distance of a community, store, coffee shop, living breathing people! Something, anything, and be a sidewalk networker!
While I think about moving nearer to civilization, here are some happenings that may resonate with readers. Humor in the life of a husband, father, brother, and son who has a background in art, hotels, spas, and...starting with a kindergarten report card to prove it...playing well with others!
We're ending the year with a push..trying to get as much family and friends together as we can...Christmas one more time with family who couldn't make it down earlier; they're driving in from all over the state.
Then a nice dinner tonight with friends who live nearby...no, not close enough for us to walk to their houses, but we'll manage anyway! We'll drive...I think there's a sidewalk outside the restaurant.
Finished the rest of the Christmas wrapping this a.m., I think we're done! Now, just getting the house ready for company...cleaning a bit...Aunt Bea used to say, as she walked by the dust on her furniture and the dishes in the sink, "Are they coming to see me or see the house? If they're coming to see me, I'm here. If they're coming to see the house they needn't bother!"
Our family and friends come to see us! Besides, dust is important, it's a fine protective covering for our furniture!
Not much more today. I'm sure I'll have a bit to post after today's festivities.
In the meantime, just Happy New Year.
Got the count down on the side here, in case you lose track of the day!
We spent less on gifts and more time and effort on the time and meals we were going to share. We enjoyed it all.
As we get older, I find that the emphasis is more on family time and less on material things. And face it, at this point in my life if you're not getting me a Maserati GranTurismo or an all expense paid cruise to several European ports, there's only so many socks I can wear at one time and, since I left the job this summer, I really don't need any more ties!
I always have a need for chocolate covered cherries (scored those) and I like a new flannel shirt each year...they're warmer when they're fresh!
What I have come to understand is that I find Christmas in the little things that surround the holiday; the ones that make it easy.
There's the fact that the tree hasn't fallen over (yet). Less cursing, no water damage to the floor, and we look forward to having most of the same ornaments on our tree next year. It costs less if they don't break and, while we'll still find pine needles in strange places in June, there's no picking of colored pieces of glass out of feet. (I didn't get new slippers).
The outdoor lights stayed lit, without a single bulb replacement, and the electrical burning smell we experienced last year has not returned. Maybe those new light strings did the trick.
We have experienced a minor masking tape issue. We stick cards that we receive to various spots on our walls, as decoration, but the masking tape I got this year is less sticky than usual. At times, we'll hear a sharp crack. I'm thinking it's a mouse trap securing a victim, but so far it's been about a dozen cards falling off the wall, making that noise as they strike the hardwood floor.
Not too much to complain about. I did get new tape, I'm still indoors when I'm rehanging them, and I can do it in my pjs. Not like last year, when the wreaths kept flying off the porch posts and shed doors and I had to track them out in the cold like a truancy officer. I was ready to superglue them to their spots, after about a dozen trips outdoors to rescue them, but knew that would come back to haunt me (as in, my wife would find out).
Even without sidewalks, a few family members made it to the house. Due to the fact that it's been more like Spring than Winter, the driveway hasn't turned into a skating rink and cars and people can come and go safely.
I had amazingly low cookie breakage this year (that's a big thing for a cookie maker...if you remember I made ninety dozen sugar cookies and they can be fragile and break during frosting) and we've had five nights worth of meals out of a ham we bought for Christmas!
Okay, that wasn't planned. We thought we were having company on the day after Christmas, but the famed nor'easter of that day put the kibosh on those plans. I kept cutting ham, and cutting ham, and cutting ham, and it turned out to be the proverbial cornucopia of meat...tomorrow I'm turning the rest of it into soup. From the looks of it, maybe ten gallons.
I know that's a lot of soup, but nowhere near as much snow as some places around us saw. We got a dusting...maybe three inches...here's our deck after the snowstorm.
I did take out the snowblower to deal with the driveway, but more as, "Why not, it'll only take ten minutes," as opposed to having to do it by hand...I could have shoveled what was there.
If I had a sidewalk, I'd shovel that for sure. Did I mention that I didn't get a sidewalk for Christmas? Wanted one.
A city friend of mine who knows of my desire to be living adjacent to a sidewalk sent me a Christmas card, below, with the note that she hoped she hadn't invoked city sidewalk envy. She did.
To poke me in the face, on the front of that one card, there are representations of just a few of the people she sees in just a day, yet more than I see in a year in my neighborhood.
True, I could drive all over the place to find most, but she can walk out the front of her place, greet the doorman, get almost run over by a bicycle, jump out of the way of a guy walking thirteen dogs, as she passes the neighbor (mumbling to himself) who works on Wall Street, check out all of the shoppers in the stores lining her sidewalk, wave to cabbies if she wants a ride (or just to confuse them), order food to be walked to her place, catch a bagel on almost any corner, shake her head at the kid skateboarding in the middle of the street, point out any number of famous people hiding behind sun glasses, have a Broadway star or starlet wait on her at her favorite restaurant (that she can walk to because her sidewalks connects to the one by that place), and bask in the glory of nature as she views the pigeons in Central Park (or on any building anywhere). Okay, pigeons aren't high on the list of nature's "must sees," I admit, but they beat running into a bear or cougar.
You see, I did have a bear run towards me in my driveway one day, and I can state they are much more intimidating than a pigeon. Although, now that I say that I have to tell you that I've never had a pigeon come after me, so I should hold back on further thoughts about that.
Anyway, I don't know what all of this means. Except, I think that people connections are really important, and the holidays prove that as people make the time and put out the effort to get together. Sidewalks connect people to people, and make it easier for them to get together, so sidewalks help to make Christmas!
Wouldn't it be nice to have Christmas all year long (I'll find that sidewalk, yet!)
Many of us reflect on the Christmas celebrations of our childhood.
Tradition is something that many of us enjoy.
Over the years, within our tradition group, my boys have focused on things like, "We always open one present on Christmas Eve," We always have a live tree," "We always decorate this way," and so on.
Here's a link to Christmas Traditions from around the world...it seems that no matter where you live or how different celebrations are from one area as opposed to another, we enjoy the sense of security that our own
traditions provide. Check out how others do it:
Our family enjoys the holiday's traditional foods and drinks (Egg Nog appears by the gallon), whoever gets up first in the morning each day, once the Christmas Tree is up in the house, turns on the lights so we can bask in the holiday glow all day long, and we take turns opening the Christmas cards that arrive, so everyone has a part in checking out the greetings we receive from others!
There's more, but they are escaping me at the moment. I'm having a flashback to one of the very special Christmas Traditions my brother and I shared with our mother during our early years...one that I refer to as The Annual Dark Apartment Christmas Extravaganza and Game Show.
It was a traditional game involving my mother's skills and the need, on her part I think, to keep her pride alive.
Raising two boys by herself, after our father beat it out of town without leaving so much as a piece of tinsel for the tree, mother used tactics from Hide and Seek, Concentration, Jeopardy, the Price is Right, and Jackpot to annually confound paternal relatives.
At some point during the week before Christmas, we'd hear heavy footsteps coming up the hallway steps to our second floor apartment. With seemingly amazing radar ability, my mother would sense that it was someone she didn't want to see.
She'd run to the front window and check the roadside for cars. Sure enough, it was the uncles (my runaway father's two brothers) heading our way and carrying a large box filled with Christmas presents.
She'd run around the apartment hitting each switch to turn off all of the lights, while instructing my brother and me to "be quiet, don't say a word, don't answer the door, don't breathe, or Santa won't bring you anything and I'll pour all of the Egg Not down the sink and we won't go on a picnic next summer!" She'd pull out everything!
There we'd sit, crouched by the door, (that apartment was very big so we couldn't go far), while the uncles knocked and knocked and knocked on the door.
They'd talk through the door, telling my mother, "We know you're home. We won't stay long. We have some things for the boys." There would be several attempts, on their part, to make contact with someone in space, and a few sighs and groans.
We'd look at our mother longingly. They had things for the boys! Gifts for us!
Each year, even though we knew how it was going down as we'd been through it before, it seemed like a Christmas miracle. However, my mother had placed the fear of her in us, so each year we turned as blue as a Christmas light bulb, holding our breath for fear of angering our mother to the point of a gift-less holiday and the threat of no future fun, ever.
We'd look longingly at her, raising our eyebrows and smiling tightly at her, silently imploring her to let them in, but each year she'd raise her finger to her mouth and, although she didn't make a sound, we heard her, as clear as the sound of standing next to a 747, as she mimed the on-going threat. Her frown and the continual thrusting and sharp pointing of her index finger drilled it in. Quiet!!!
This would go on for hours! Well, it seemed like hours, but was probably only about five minutes. The uncles would leave...we'd hear the footsteps down to the ground level. Yet, we dared not move. Our mother would stand by the window to be sure they got in their car and left and then she'd acquiesce to open the door.
Each year, again, a box full of gifts. I'm sure my mother saw it as half an effort on their part to make up for their brother's neglect of us, although she never discussed with us why she actually did this. What we thought, at that young age, was that we had won the prize for playing the game!
As a result, we were really good at Hide and Seek, we could Concentrate for hours, there was Jeopardy in not playing by her holiday rules, but the Price was Right as we hit the Jackpot each and every year with those gifts, always behind door number one!
My uncles? I'm sure they headed to the nearest bar and tried to figure out why they kept losing the game.
As for my brother and me, Christmas lights have a special traditional meaning. Christmas in the dark followed by a Christmas morning all lit up. Pictured up top you'll see me, our cousin, and my brother in 1957...lights on, enjoying our tree and gifts, and a relative visiting (one of the many that could get in the door).
Of course, this activity (and more, but I'm trying to keep these blogs under novel size) is probably why National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite seasonal movies...here's the trailer for that, enjoy...and Happy Pre-Holiday!
These days, everyone always seems to be doing many things at once. Even without a holiday, we're all multi-tasking.
I'm reminded of a quote from Gandhi, "There's more to life than increasing it's speed." You might want to check out information about him...during this "season of peace," reading about his life it always a good reminder of what we could all do, not only this time of year, but year round. Here's his bio from Wikipedia:
Apart from the part of not slowing down and smelling the roses, trying to do several things at once might be bad for you.
I read an article that pointed out that multi-tasking may have some downsides, including health issues, decreased mental clarity and productivity and, therefore, less efficiency.
Here's the link if you want to check it out yourself:
During the holiday time period, it amps up. Along with the job, the family (those you live with every day and those who join you for the holidays), housework, the cooking and cleaning, children, school, weather, sports, job searches for some, reading, writing, and the doctor and dentist visits that pop up at the most inopportune time, we also add in figuring out how to pay the holiday bills on top of the regular ones, and the last minute rush to get holiday cards out (and the guilt for ending last year with a promise to do it on time this year).
There are added arts and crafts projects, homemade gifts, cooking and baking, wrapping and decorating, tree shopping, going out for parties and meeting friends for drinks and meals, and a myriad of other things.
We all really know that we should slow down and focus on one task at a time, and savor the experiences. Just today I received an email from "Daily Retreat and Renew," highlighting 9 De-Stressors! Only 9, I can handle that...you can visit their website where you'll get all sorts of tips about how to slow down, breathe, take in the immediate moment, and relax...try this link and you can get a daily reminder about being present in the moment (that's different from getting a present every moment, which is nice, but I digress):
I do try to remember to slow down, but lest you think that I've gone over completely to the "calm side," read on...
On Saturday we went to the local Christmas Tree Farm.
My sister-in-law and a friend of hers join us each year, it's become a tradition, and we head out to cut down our own trees. We were determined to find one quickly, as our guests seem to find a tree each within six minutes of arriving at the place, but our pace slackened as we, once again, ran into "The Goldilocks Syndrome." This one is too big, this one is too small, this one is too dry, this one is too prickly, this one has a snarled trunk, this one has all of its branches on one side, this one...well, it goes on for quite a while until one of two things happen...and it's most likely a co-joining of we're sick of looking at trees and our standards being lowered (along with getting tired after tromping around the fields for two hours), but all of a sudden a tree calls to us...and one did.
Once my wife said, "This one," I dropped to the ground as quickly as I could (no, I didn't faint because she chose one) and sawed that baby down. We got it baled (that's where they tie a big string around it to make it easier to deal with) and threw it in the car, tied two on top of my sister-in-laws car for her and her friend's trip home, and we were back four hours after leaving to get the tree (we only live six minutes away).
We put ours in its base and stood it in the house, in the approximate area of where it will be for the next six or seven weeks (yes, we keep it up a long time...makes that cold month of January a little more colorful and my wife swears it's February before you know it, because we do leave it up).
I also think it's better to leave it up that long as, by the time we take it down, all of the needles will have fallen off, the thing is as dried up as a prune, and it weighs practically nothing...real easy to toss out of the house!
The tree is actually a very good looking tree, sans decorations at this point.
In days gone by, I would have strung the lights on it, gotten out the decorations and by bedtime we'd have been done with it. Not this year. We're not multi-tasking any more. Taking in the moment...basking in the glow of being present in the moment.
The tree stood bare for the night...it got a drink of water before bed, but that was it.
Sunday night, I put the lights on it. Five strings. Starting to look good. We had been out shopping, had a late dinner, (we did those things separately...one at a time) and after I got the lights in place my wife asked me, with a look that seemed to beg a negative response, "Are we decorating tonight?" "No," I said, "We'll do that tomorrow night or Tuesday if we have something else to do tomorrow." No rush. We might even wait until Thursday, if something else comes along...like having to turn the TV on, or a load of laundry...one thing at a time.
Given my new take on efficiency, I decided to make a list of things that need to done for the holiday so that I can attend to each one, one-at-a-time, with a calm presence, in order to maintain mental clarity.
However, before I started the list, I found I had seven minutes with nothing to do and I opened a rather large bottle of Shiraz.
One might now argue that something else may be affecting my mental clarity, yet I proceed with my list of things to do this week, one at a time.
1. Buy Christmas Cards. I did spend three hours looking for cards I'm sure I bought last year, but now must focus and move forward, and go out and buy new ones. I'll do that when I have time to drive to Kingston...as I don't live near a sidewalk that allows me to walk to a store to buy them.
2. Sign Christmas cards, address envelopes, affix stamp and send out last week! I guess noting that they should have gone out last week isn't good karma, building negativity...they'll get out in plenty of time. Don't forget to include holiday newsletter!
3. However, while thinking of it, invest in time machine technology so that those cards would have been out last week, as I planned.
4. Write family holiday newsletter to have to send out with cards last week. I keep slipping back...sorry.
5. Shop for butter, sugar and eggs for Christmas Cookies, to replace those same things I bought last week...the ones the the boys decided to use to make Egg Nog Beer....yuck.
6. Clean up the basement after the great Christmas Egg Nog Beer explosion...the house does smell "seasonal," but the stuff is starting to curdle on the floor.
7. Make Christmas Cookies. Sixty dozen decorated sugar cookies, using Christmas themed cookie cutters. Mix dough, bake, roll and cut, make sugar icing, decorate each cookie, one at a time, breathing three times deeply after each cookie cutter application!
8. Unwrap two dozen gifts that I got a head start on earlier in the year...the ones that I
forgot to put tags on that I know have to open to find out what's in the boxes and who they're for.
9. Return three gifts I bought for the boys after they went shopping over the weekend and walked into the house to show me what they bought for themselves.
10. Re-wrap recently discovered gifts and replacement gifts!!!
11. Take down the outside Halloween decorations (what's left of the pumpkins might just
slosh away in this rain that we're getting) and search the house and shed for those darn outdoor Christmas Decorations.
12. Which reminds me, call electrician to the have outlets that burned out last year
replaced.
13. Or, buy bigger fuses!
14. Cut pine branches to use in outdoor decorations and remember that the line that runs between the trees, about ten feet up in the air, is not a guideline to follow through the woods, but the main source of electricity to the house!
15. Decorate outside of house, when it stops raining. Decorating and getting wet are two things, which lead to several more things, including a change of clothes, drying said wet clothes, and chancing electrocution.
16. Remember, one thing at a time!
Given my new attitude, that should keep me busy 24/7. I re-read some of the de-stressor tips, and one of them indicates I should be getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night.
Now, I've never had 8 hours of sleep at one time, and I think this practice is going to cut into my production time, but slow down I must so I just have to review what needs to be done and re-calculate when I'll be ready for the holiday.
In looking over my list, I find that several things are missing, but I don't have time for that right now as I am planning on having a cup of tea. Focusing solely on boiling the water, pouring, steeping, savoring, and washing the cup, it appears I'll tied up for the next hour or so. Normally, I would be thinking about what's next, but that's not on my list.
So, before I put that water in the kettle, I'll take a moment to provide a rough guess that I will be ready for the holiday without a problem, if we can keep this tree up till the 4th of July!!!
Oh, and a last minute addition...my cousin just sent me this nice, calming Christmas video...enjoy!
I enjoy walking busy city sidewalks during the Christmas holiday season. Lots of lights and decorations to look at, there are many decorated store fronts, people seem happier, and I enjoy the quick pace of things.
Unlike life in the country, where the pace pretty much keeps a slow beat and when it snows even a little bit the pace can become a crawl, the busy-ness of a city seems to add excitement to shopping and sight-seeing. Add a little music from store fronts or at outside venues and you could almost say that all you need for the holidays is a trip to the city. For me, it can be a complete holiday experience.
I will admit that there are decorations and sites to view out here in the sub-suburban areas that you'll see as you're driving around, but you'll want to do that at night when everything is lit up.
However, be sure not to stop in front of houses too long or try to peer in to see what's going on in the house. I hear there are"peeping" laws, and people in the country get nervous when cars slow down and creep by their house.
Unlike a store front where the proprietor is hoping that their decorations will draw you in, folks in the country will take pictures of your license plate, call neighbors to see if they have seen your car and report, to anyone, this "strange" activity. For weeks, they'll peer frantically outside their windows to see if you return! The talk at the local diner might very well be,"Yeah, a blue car went by my house, real slow, too. I don't know anyone with a blue car, do you?"
Once, a friend of ours turned around in a nearby driveway to head back in the direction of their house. As they headed home, they found that a strange car following them. It was the homeowner of the driveway they turned around in wanting to know why they pulled into their place! You'll want to move quickly by...and know that the blur of the lights as you're speeding by can be as dazzling as a long stare.
There are people who like to decorate the outside of their houses for the holiday. When you live far away from neighbors who may be decorating, it's not easy for you to see their designs, without getting in the car, again, to check them out. When you decorate your own house, three acres back from the road on your seventy acre spread in the hinterlands, about the only thing you can see is the reflection on the snow of all of those money burning lights. You have to remember you're doing it for yourselves.
One year, realizing that I was going to all of the effort to decorate so that we could go out and stand in the freezing cold to look back at the house, I decided to decorate an outbuilding on the property of place we rented just across the drive, rather than our house, so that when we looked out of our windows we saw a completely decorated edifice! No more dragging everyone out to take in the views! My wife thought it was genius (that occurs very, very infrequently) and the kids appreciated not having to stand in snowbanks, in their pajamas, because their mother said, "You have to come out here and see the beautiful decorations!"
Another thing you won't see, as we don't have sidewalks out in our realm, is the Salvation Army bell ringer!
Those people do a great job, collecting money to help other people in all sorts of situations, and have come to be a part of the holiday scene.
Growing up, sometimes I would drop change in the kettle if I had any, but these days I'm compelled to. You see, now it's a family thing.
Pictured at the top of this post is my wife's Great-Aunt, Anna McNulty. Born in the latter 1800's, she was involved with the Salvation Army and was known in Binghamton, New York as a generous person, giving time and money to people who needed it. We're researching the family tree to try to get more information about her, but the little that we have says alot about her...including comments from a prominent person in Binghamton who, at her funeral, told everyone that "she was a living saint."
Now, I know better than to make fun of saints. Great-Aunt Anna has had a profound effect on us. Each time we see the Salvation Army kettle anywhere, we think of her. We can't pass it by without throwing in whatever we can and tossing a "this is for you, Aunt Anna" to the universe. My wife will repeat, when she sees the kettle, "You know, Aunt Anna!" And, at times, we've noted during shopping trips that we haven't seen the familiar sight with the assigned bell ringer. We actually miss seeing them.
When I was thinking about monetizing my blog, remember I just took a class on blogging and that's part of the process, I was doing so with the intent of producing some income (many do). However, with the holidays approaching, I thought I'd start practicing by trying to make some money for people who need it more.
So, on the top side here, my Salvation Army kettle. This way I can be a "bell-ringer" out in the boondocks, without a sidewalk. Don't feel compelled to donate...many are most likely doing your own thing. However, if you do, rest assured that Great-Aunt Anna would think you're a living saint!
Along with reading all of this, I am asking is that you leave a comment about why sharing is good. (Just hit the comment button). In an upcoming holiday blog, I'll put together the top ten reasons why sharing is good, based on what feedback you provide! That way we'll all be a part of talking about good things and sharing warm holiday feelings, and that's saintly, too!
Should you want to know more of what the Salvation Army is up to, here's their link:
My brush with sainthood? I once thought that someone saw me as a saint. Back in my hometown there was a family nearby whose mother was of Russian descent. She had then what we know now to be Alzheimer's and she only spoke Russian. In those days, I had a beard and each time I'd visit the house, and got to walk on a sidewalk to get there (why did I move out of town?), the woman would do a "sign of the cross" in front of her and say a few words in Russian. I asked her daughter why she'd do that each time I showed up. She said, "She thinks you're a monk from the monastery...the beard, you know...and she's saying a prayer because you're here!" And I thought she saw my halo...oh well...almost saintly in someone's eyes, at one time.
Now that you've read this, also let me know about your "of the season" sidewalk experiences this December. Yes, hit the comment button! And best wishes for all of the "bells" and whistles of the season for you and yours...Happy Holidays!!!
I haven't blogged in many a week as I was taking a class on blogging. There were several things with the site that weren't working for me, and then I wanted to do some design work and spiff it up before I sent it out again! You'll have to let me know what you think of the changes. The postings are still here, duh, it should look better. Different. Hopefully, it all works together in a much better fashion and such that you'll want to look at it several times each day!!! How many times do you say, "Gee, what am I going to do on my coffee break?" Ta-da!
You see, I headed off to blog land on my own. I got pointed towards blogging by someone who told me that I should be writing, that blogs were a good way to go, sometimes free, and they steered me to this blog site. That all started in July. And it worked for me, until I thought it could be more.
In October, I decided that I didn't know enough about it, so I signed up for a class. Wish I had taken it before I started blogging, but nonetheless it's proved invaluable. One learns so much when we take a class. It's almost like studying anatomy before you operate on someone!
The first thing I learned is that when the transformer blows in front of the school, the power is cut off and classes can't be held. That put the schedule back a week and I went home disappointed, but still looking forward to class the following week. What I learned the following week is that you can add an information link. Here's one about "why transformers blow."
On the way home, I swung into McDonalds for a milk shake...that's my reward for going to school. I know, I didn't have a class, but I intended to take the class...they canceled it, not me. I prefer vanilla. Vanilla ice cream, vanilla milkshakes, vanilla cookies...all good. Using my new skills, I add here a recipe on how to make a vanilla milkshake. I know it says chocolate in the url, but trust me it's vanilla.
Excelsior, I headed off the next week for class one and after an introduction about starting a blog we talked about the links (as above), and adding images, attaching video and the like. If you're interested in learning what I learned, check out this one...
I then heard from someone in the class that they are tearing down the McDonalds in Kingston and building a new one that won't be open until next Spring. So, either I have to get that milkshake recipe going and stock up or I can't take another class until the new building is up! I couldn't find the article on the web about the rebuild, but include here McDonalds url so you can check them out (see, I was paying attention in class) and see what they offer besides milkshakes.
Claude Monet (I added this caption after loading the picture!)
Then we added a round of items to add interest, such as Widgets and Gadgets...but no Gidgets...knowing you'd now be looking for that once I mentioned it, here's a Gidget video...
Then we got to the money shot...the part about making money! I'm still working on that part, and you'll know when it takes hold, but I am enjoying the writing while I figure that out. And, in the meantime, you might start saving!
Anyway, I think I'm done with this reconstruction part (you'll let me know of changes you'd like to see) and I'm off and writing again. Look for additions as we go along.
By the way, it only took four weeks to come up with a new title. After the instructor told me my title was, "Boring," "Doesn't have anything to do with what you're writing about," "It should say something about a main topic," I began driving my wife, sons, brother, sister-in-law, and several friends crazy, asking them every day, "What do you think of this for a blog title?" I got Blog Block, as a result. They got blogged-down...I finally came up with "Sidewalk Envy."
All I talk about is moving to be near a sidewalk so I can walk places, instead of driving an hour each time we want a quart of milk, and much that I do centers around me being somewhere else, with my art, travel, and family adventures.
Just before I picked this title, I do think that all of those people I was driving crazy talked to each other and said, "Whatever he comes up with next, just say great! We'll be done with it!!!"
I do have a list of several hundred titles I'll share with you sometime soon. Perhaps I'll start a list blog and attach an url for you to check them out!!! Well, probably not. But, if you're in the market for a blog title, check with me first. I probably have it written down here at the house and everyone here will be happy not to hear it again! Hmmm...one my family and friends might write, as they put up with me..."Stop the blog, I want to get off!"
Just this morning, as covered in our local paper, I reviewed the A-Z list of things trick 'n treaters should do to have a safe Halloween.
Based on what I read, I'm lucky I survived the Halloweens of my childhood and wonder what my mother was thinking when she sent us out there to possible doom!
Evidently, she didn't love us as much as she professed. I present some of today's reading as evidence:
"Always carry a flashlight:" We didn't own one, but if we did my mother wouldn't let us take it as we'd leave it on way too long and run down the batteries and then she wouldn't have it to use.
"Buy costumes that are made of flame retardant material:" My mother made our costumes. Out of paper. Then she'd paint on them with highly flammable spray paint and then add things to them, like the year I went as a matchbook and she glued (again highly flammable) actual matchsticks in neat rows, about thirty of them, up and down the front and back of the costume. What I remember her saying to me as I went out the door, worrying no doubt, was "Make sure you keep an eye on your brother and watch that he doesn't spill any of that kerosene on his shoes!" (Can't remember if he was a train conductor or a night watchman, but every time he swung that lantern around I got a dose of the stuff!)
"Costumes shouldn't drag on the ground:" Yeah, right! Did you read the part where my mother made our costumes? Well, she was always rushing at the last minute, and we got pinned into them. She was a great seamstress, until it came to Halloween. At that time of the year, it was grab what was available, make it look like something, and it was always too big and too long. Her fine instructions were, "Oh just tuck it in, stop whining, and be careful. If you fall and rip it I can't fix it and you won't have anything for next year and Santa won't bring you any presents." Oh, and after she got us all pinned in and ready to go out the door? Had to go to the bathroom! Did I mention "fine seamstress?" No zippers!
"Dont' cut across yards or driveways:" How are you supposed to get to all of the candy before everyone else does? And half of the fun was running into bushes and trees and tripping over other trick 'n treaters who were laying the driveway, run over not by cars but other trick 'n treaters!
"Jackets should be worn over costumes:" What? Hide the costume? Are you crazy? I didn't get made up to look like this to hide it. We'd rather risk pneumonia. I did take a jacket one year and only because it was snowing and I needed something to cover my candy bag so my collection wouldn't get ruined.
"Know how and where to contact your parents:" If you've read past posts, you know that my grandfather was always "in town" and on Halloween night they served free beer with paid shots...he was easy to find...and if my mother went out, the apartment was always unlocked so we, and anyone else who came along, could get in easily.
"Light your pumpkin with a battery powered light:" I just mentioned that my mother wouldn't let us use a flashlight if we had one and it glowed so much better with an actual candle. The only words from Mom, don't stand too close to that thing when you light it...I don't want you to ruin your costume!
"Only eat candy after your parents have checked it:" Upon return from a night of candy collecting we would hear the following: "Be careful taking that costume off. I worked on it for hours. Here, let me take the pins out. Stop twitching. I am not pricking you with the pins. Hold still. (We, "ouch, ouch, ouch"). Okay, go to bed." Off we'd go, pour out the contents on the bed, sort out the "good from the bad," also known as sugar drenched and chocolate as opposed to fruit. Eat about half of the bag, go to sleep, wake up in the morning and finish off the balance before school. Okay, when is the next Halloween?
"Quarters are a good thing to carry in case you need to call home:" Several points here. When I was a kid a call was a dime, but most likely there wasn't anyone there to answer. These days, with the plethora of cell phones, try to find a payphone! And I guarantee you the only person who's going to let you into their house to use their phone, whether you offer the quarter or not, are covered by two other A-Z tips: "Never enter a strangers home and Visit only houses that are lit." (I could always visit my grandfather...he was lit regularly!)
"Stay on sidewalks:" We didn't have sidewalks! So, we'd have to run between yards and driveways...otherwise, no trick 'n treating! Our instructions from Mom, "Try not to get yourself killed." Note who was to blame if we tried to call her from a dark or stranger laden house!
"Wear a glow in the dark watch:" As a kid, I didn't have a watch. My mother had one, but she wouldn't let us take it as we would lose it or break it and it most likely didn't glow in the dark anyway. We got, "Don't stay out too late. If I'm not here when you get home just wait until I get back to get those costumes off of you. I don't care if you have to go to the bathroom, wait! And, don't eat all of that candy in one sitting!" And words to me in particular, "Keep an eye on your brother and if you have some candy that he wants give it to him!" (That's another story).
So, as we set out to celebrate Halloween, have as much fun as you can within the A-Z parameters. We've done a little decorating, carved some pumpkins (I didn't use a knife, I swear), put out some decorations and candy (it's all organic and natural, I'm sure), and pleased my wife by taking some of those sassafras leaves off the back trees, that she's said remind her of ghosts, and made some "Ghost Leaf" paintings for her this year (see two of them posted here).
We're ending the year with a push..trying to get as much family and friends together as we can...Christmas one more time with family who couldn't make it down earlier; they're driving in from all over the state.
