BOO!

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. Halloween is also my most difficult holiday of the year. Here's why I feel so tortured during this very scary season. 

Whenever I go shopping in the month of October I have to wear blinders. Target is the worst. Last week I made a quick trip to Target and temptation was on every aisle - Halloween ghost plates, Halloween black cat shirts, Halloween skeleton earrings...I think you get the idea. The problem is if I could, I would decorate me and every room in my house – both inside and outside - with bats, goblins and pumpkins. 

But, at my age I just can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on costumes and decorations to use just once a year. So, I just take out my bat sweater and earrings for that one special day of celebration. And we eat Halloween candy. 

Sadly, no one knocks on our door and screams Trick or Treat.  Guess the spirits that roam the earth on October 31st are on a diet!

 

911 Glitter Fire

One of my favorite Halloween memories happened in the late 1970’s. It started innocently enough when I went to get the mail. I opened the mailbox and saw a cardboard mailing tube. Curious, I didn’t wait until I returned to our condo but opened the tube in the entryway. As I did, the tube spewed glitter and black plastic spiders. So many that I literally had to go to my condo, grab a broom and sweep up the Halloween confetti.  

But back to the tube - It was an invite to a costume party given by a friend, and I immediately went into costume mode. I spent weeks searching for 2 fireman costumes which included hats and boots. We looked adorable and the party was amazing. But I do have regrets. I so wish I had at least one photo. 

Think this one will have to do.

There's Never Too Much Love

I love my little 9’ x 12’ backyard shed. Originally, it was my craft studio, but it has morphed into our home gym. Both Tony and I use the treadmill at least 4 times a week. He listens to music while I watch films on Netflix and Amazon. 

The room is filled with my favorite things. Frida, RBG, and of course pictures of Cassandra. Still, I needed just one more thing to make me smile. So, I purchased a small magnetic board where I could post photos. Currently I have 2 of Cassandra with her 2 loves – Sean and Whitney, 1 of Tony with his love - baseball and 1 of me at Yoko Ono’s Art Show, which I loved. 

 

It’s Tap Time - With the Family

Who would ever have thought that little ole me would be tapping my heart out twice a week? It's getting easier and I'm having more fun. To be honest, each lesson is just 30 minutes, and I am taking the easiest class on YouTube. But what matters, is that I am not allowing my age to determine what I can or cannot do. I think The Adams Family, who loved their bizarre hobbies, would have approved of my tapping. 

“So get a witch's shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
The Addams Family.”

 

The falling leaves drift by the window... Nat King Cole

Fall has always been my favorite season of the year - Halloween, Thanksgiving, flannel pj’s and falling leaves. Growing up, a common Fall ritual was dumping bundles of fallen leaves into garbage cans and setting them on fire. The scent of smokey leaves is still one of my favorite scents. Yes, I knew it was a fire hazard, but I had no idea it was also a health and environmental hazard.

It seems that when galvanized steel heats up, it releases zinc-oxide which can cause a disease called Metal Fume Fever. This condition can result from exposure to the toxic fumes produced during the heating process. Symptoms resemble those of the flu, and typically include muscle aches, chills, nausea and fever.

Eventually burning leaves in garbage cans was banned, but no one can ban my memory.

 

To die would be an awfully big adventure – Peter Pan

Tony and I have a list of important things we need to do before we pass. It’s called "The Death List" and last week we checked off a very important thing – our cremations. We signed up with the Neptune Society and afterwards we celebrated with wine and toasted to our good health. It is a bit weird preparing for our death when we are in good health, but death is a part of life.

 

Change

My high school was approximately a half mile from the most popular store in Elizabeth, NJ - F. W. Woolworths. Also known as the original five and dime store, they carried a wide variety of items guaranteed to fulfill the wish list of every man, woman and child. 

I loved their pizza – freshly made – and after school we gals would sit at the lunch counter for gossip and malted milk shakes. All that changed in 1960. The South was still segregated and that included Woolworth’s lunch counters. In Greensboro NC, four heroic black students said enough was enough. In just five months their small protest grew to 55 cities in 13 states. And on Monday, July 25, 1960, Woolworth’s lunch counter was finally integrated.

I still shopped at Woolworths, but I never again sat at the counter. A small section of the actual lunch counter with 4 bar stools is on display at the Smithsonian’s African American Museum. Let's hope the orange turd doesn't remove it.