Monday, October 31, 2005
Hallowe'en
Rain on Hallowe'en, again. It's cloudy and dark, but not actually raining right now. The girls are getting dressed to go trick-or-treating, dressed as a slumber party. They've got new flannel nightgowns that we made this weekend, out of matching floral prints in different colors. (For warmth, they've got t-shirts and sweatpants on under the nightgowns.) We've put curlers in their hair and cold cream on their faces, to complete the costume. A third girl from Bug's class at school was supposed to go with them, but canceled because of the rainy weather.
We did jack-o'lanterns yesterday. Button, the five-year-old, chose a slightly scary face designed by Bug (based on past designs by me), while Bug went in a totally new direction this year, doing everything in lozenges, including a mouth made of disconnected lozenges suggested by Morgan. The lozenges work surprisingly well as a face, and saved me a good deal of trouble, since Bug chose a pumpkin with nearly two-inch thick walls, which would have been almost impossible to carve into curves with a regular knife. 
I had trouble even pulling the knife back out after making a cut, the wall was so thick.
This year and next year might be the last ones where the girls get to go trick-or-treating in darkness; in 2007 the new rules for Daylight Saving Time take effect, and sunset will come an hour later on Hallowe'en from then on. But maybe by then they'll be old enough to stay up enough later to still go about in the dark. I hope so: Trick-or-treating just isn't as much fun when it's still light outside.
18:15 - The girls have just set out with Morgan, all dressed up, after the traditional taking of numerous pictures. I wait at home, armed with a bowl of candy and a CD of Bach organ fugues, with the bass on the stereo cranked up to floor-shaking level. (Oh, how I wish for a sub-woofer for these recordings!) So far this evening we've only had one trick-or-treater come here; no idea yet whether this will be a slow year or is just slow getting started. Of course, we would normally consider two dozen kids to be a heavy year, even if it's not raining. There just aren't as many trick-or-treaters as there used to be (especially when Hallowe'en falls on a school night). It's a little sad.
21:15 - The rain started again about 45 minutes ago. The pumpkins are sitting on the back deck, staring in the kitchen door: "Let us in . . . It's cold out here . . ." We got about ten trick-or-treaters altogether. A fairly quiet night.
We did jack-o'lanterns yesterday. Button, the five-year-old, chose a slightly scary face designed by Bug (based on past designs by me), while Bug went in a totally new direction this year, doing everything in lozenges, including a mouth made of disconnected lozenges suggested by Morgan. The lozenges work surprisingly well as a face, and saved me a good deal of trouble, since Bug chose a pumpkin with nearly two-inch thick walls, which would have been almost impossible to carve into curves with a regular knife. 
I had trouble even pulling the knife back out after making a cut, the wall was so thick.This year and next year might be the last ones where the girls get to go trick-or-treating in darkness; in 2007 the new rules for Daylight Saving Time take effect, and sunset will come an hour later on Hallowe'en from then on. But maybe by then they'll be old enough to stay up enough later to still go about in the dark. I hope so: Trick-or-treating just isn't as much fun when it's still light outside.
18:15 - The girls have just set out with Morgan, all dressed up, after the traditional taking of numerous pictures. I wait at home, armed with a bowl of candy and a CD of Bach organ fugues, with the bass on the stereo cranked up to floor-shaking level. (Oh, how I wish for a sub-woofer for these recordings!) So far this evening we've only had one trick-or-treater come here; no idea yet whether this will be a slow year or is just slow getting started. Of course, we would normally consider two dozen kids to be a heavy year, even if it's not raining. There just aren't as many trick-or-treaters as there used to be (especially when Hallowe'en falls on a school night). It's a little sad.
21:15 - The rain started again about 45 minutes ago. The pumpkins are sitting on the back deck, staring in the kitchen door: "Let us in . . . It's cold out here . . ." We got about ten trick-or-treaters altogether. A fairly quiet night.
# posted by Dru @ 21:21 
