Saturday Morning Musings

Article & Image © Stephen Vance, 2009

Halloween is one of those dates on the calendar that if it wasn't for the fact that I have children, I would completely ignore. I don't have anything against Halloween, it just doesn't appeal to me.

I'm not the type of person who would get dressed up in a costume, let alone spend hours upon hours creating one as some folks are wont to to. Even when I was a kid I wasn't overly thrilled with the events surrounding Halloween and the second I felt I was able to use age as an excuse, I discontinued my participation.

Just because something doesn't particularly suit me though, doesn't mean that I don't see the appeal to others. Our children are buzzing around the house in an extreme state of excitement for a couple of reasons this morning.

Obviously the primary reason for their excitement is that they are looking forward to getting dressed up in the costumes that they and Ms. Writer have put together. One of the girls will be wandering our neighbourhood decked out in some home fashioned pirate garb, and for the day has adopted the handle "Jackie Sparrow"- a reference to a Hollywood film that is far more annoying than anything relating to Halloween. The other half of the 'twindom' will don a cape and some fangs and will transform herself into a character she has dubbed 'Dracula's Girlfriend'.

They will then roam our 'hood asking people to give them the sugar filled candy that Ms. Writer and I, being the mean parents that we are, rarely let them enjoy.

The second reason that they are so excited, and admittedly I too am looking forward to this, is that our friends who live in rural Meaford are set to arrive at our home late this afternoon so that their daughter can enjoy the door knocking ritual with our little ones, without having to hike eight kilometres in order to visit only three homes.

Our friends will be arriving with a stash of organic lollipops to add to the pencils and granola bars that we will be distributing to all of the little goblins who arrive at our door. I believe the plan is that the men will stay home to act as the 'goody dispensers', and the ladies will march the fully costumed children around our block. Which is just fine with the men, because we will be much closer to the goodies that are emblazoned with that beautiful "40% Alcohol by Volume" label.

We will also be making a party out of the evening since Ms. Writer will be making her famous vegetarian paella, and we will also be whipping up some home-made, dairy free pizzas on amazing spelt flour pizza dough. Toss in some good wine and Russian water, and we have a pretty good evening to look forward to.

If you are looking to discover something fun with regard to this Halloween day, swing through our neighbourhood once it gets dark. Our neighbour, Jody-Lynn has a wonderful talent for carving pumpkins, and each year she and her husband place a custom made display rack on the front lawn, so that she can show off her creations.

This year Jody-Lynn has 15 of the orange gourds, each carved with an interesting design. The process is time consuming and each pumpkin can take her from one to four hours to work her artistic carving magic, but the results are amazing. In past years she has carved the face of Harry Potter, or Harley Davidson logos in her pumpkins. This year she has whipped up a wonderful Betty Boop, and some cool Fender & Gibson guitar logos.

Being a fan of Peavey guitars, and as an owner of a fine Peavey bass guitar, I asked her why she didn't include a Peavey guitar logo again this year as she had last year, and she explained that she never does the same design twice.

I asked her to explain how she creates these amazing jack-o-lanterns, assuming that she must use some sort of Dremmel like device, and Jody-Lynn told me that she first draws the design onto the pumpkin, and then uses only knives to carve them. Impressive indeed. Possessing a knife wielding talent like that is sure to keep the spouse in line.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys today. Even I can find some little part of the Halloween hubbub to participate in- it is a perfectly excellent excuse to watch a classic horror film. I'm not a huge fan of the horror genre, but once a year it is fun to give yourself a little scare!

Coffee is done, and Ms. Writer has left me with a list of chores to take care of in preparation for our company tonight, so I must be off.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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