Tumbling into Halloween

The picture tonight is of three ceramic lanterns I own, from my large collection; the tiny one in the middle is a little luminaria, one of my treasures; it is over twenty years old.

I had a wonderful Halloween with my friend Mary; she lives in South Felton, which always has a lot of trick-or-treaters. I used to take my kids trick-or-treating there when they were little, not so many years ago. Mary has an incredible garden, now dying with the season, so there were lots of places to hang the dozen or so paper ghosts I made from napkins. We made a path of luminarias from heavy paper trick-or-treat bags printed with Dracula bats, as well as jars, tin lanterns, a big earthenware bowl and a basin that usually has water for birds in it--these we filled with tea lights to help the trick-or-treaters find their way. We also spent some time making and hanging up a ghost from a white sheet, a giant cloth spiderweb, and making a mini-graveyard as well. And then, the party--I dressed in full gypsy gear, brought over my Halloween tarot cards, and spent the evening doing readings for folks, eating wonderful Halloween pasta (shaped like bats and pumpkins), and answering the door to an assortment of adorable kids. Memorable conversations at the door:

Two girls are at the door, one dressed as a flapper, the other a 50s girl:

Me: "Wow! What a great flapper costume!"
50s girl to Flapper Girl: "See, I TOLD you people would know what you were."
50s girl turns to me and says, "I've known about flappers since second grade."
Me: (handing out the goodies): "Well, you seem to be a very smart young lady."
50s girl: "Actually, I've known about flappers since PRESCHOOL."

Door opens to reveal a kid in an astronaut costume.

Mary: (handing out candy): "Nice costume. Can you do the moonwalk?"
Astronaut kid (with an air of enormous weariness): I am NOT an astronaut. I am a
STAR WARS GUY!

Door opens; two girls are standing on the porch. One is in a fairy costume, the other in a blazer, dark skirt, blouse, and turtleneck.

Mary (to the girl in the blazer): "Are you a businesswoman?"
Blazer Girl (proudly): No, I'm a TEACHER!

Door opens to a kid in an indeterminate pajama-like costume. He immediately bursts into tears.

Sad Kid: I WANT TO GO HOME!

We gave him a lot of candy...

One of Mary's friends also made homemade cookies and I was shocked to see Mary bag them in wax paper bags and HAND THEM OUT! Yes, folks, I live in a tiny town where people still hand out apples and baked goods at the door, and nobody worries that they have bad things in them, other than a lot of calories. I did realize that my Los Angeles Halloween sensibilities are still deeply ingrained--"Don't take anything but wrapped candy when you trick or treat. There might be a razor blade or a needle in apples. Hippies might put drugs in cookies, so don't eat them if you get them as treats!" I don't know if they still do this, but for years, Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz used to let people visit on Halloween to get their kids' candy X-rayed. But tonight, there was none of that paranoia--we handed out cookies and tons of candy to over a hundred kids, and got to see such wonderful costumes as an angler fish (with a glow stick dangling on a wire at the top for an angler fish light), and the most adorable baby girl dressed as an angel (Mom was a stunning and formidable angel herself, complete with white feather wings).

It was all incredible fun, and when it was over, I drove for a few minutes through the streets I used to walk with my kids, going over memories with happiness and a tinge of sadness. Most of the houses were dark, but some folks had left their pumpkins lit, and they looked like small orange spirit-lights in the charcoal darkness. So many leaves have fallen, tucked into hedges and scattered on lawns and in the street, confetti of a dying season, and the cold deepens a little more every night, wrapping itself tight to the landscape and settling in as we slowly tumble towards winter.