Happy Halloween!

(The pumpkin turned out to look much cooler when lit, didn't it?)

My cheesecake rocked. I came home with one piece left, and got many compliments. Tomorrow night I think I'll make one for my friends to take to the game, since the springform pan will be free. Now I've got the jack o'lantern lit and the Halloween stuff ready in case I have trick-or-treaters. That will probably be a no, especially with very blustery, cold weather with a threat of frost and snow. I brought the geraniums in just to prolong them a little while, as they are blooming nicely.

Listening to Loreena McKennitt

which is appropriate for this time of year, as the album has both 'The Lady of Shalott', which I am dressing up as tomorrow for our trick-or-treat at work, and 'All Soul's Night', which is almost upon us. Right now, I'm listening to 'The Stolen Child', which I find to be quite haunting. I have my skirt and blouse all ready for tomorrow, and a wig that is a bit darker than Loreena McKennitt's but in the same style, with bangs and long waves, so in a way I'll be dressing up as both her and the doomed Fae.

Tonight I took a friend to an appointment and helped him with something. Tomorrow there's the dress-up and trick-or-treat, and I need to wish another friend a happy birthday, as he catches up with me in age. Tomorrow night I will be carving or decorating a pumpkin for a contest on Friday, fixing some cut fruit for a breakfast baby shower in my new department, and baking a gingersnap pecan caramel pumpkin cheesecake for another contest at work. Then Friday night is not just Halloween, but Samhain, a religious holiday for me. I never seem to get kids coming for candy to the door--I live in an apartment, and I guess people just aren't comfortable with that. But I'll get a little candy just in case. But I will also put together a libation and spend some time remembering the dead.

Okay, time to add a couple of touches to the costume--I'm going to print out the Tennyson poem for my cubicle and take a magnifier that doubles as an ornate necklace and copy some knights out of one of my books on the Middle Ages and use that as my 'mirror' tomorrow, hopefully without cracking it from side to side. :) [Image: John William Waterhouse]

Trick-or-Treat was kind of a bust from my point of view

I was actually home through most of it, but not one trick-or-treater came by looking for candy. Granted, I live in an apartment complex, but still. I thought I might get a few, and I always feel bad if I don't have anything at all for them. But, alas, they missed out, and I went on over to my friends' house with about a half an hour to go till the end of the trick-or-treating (it was moved to this evening due to the severe weather of yesterday). Also, apparently the place to go after trick-or-treating is McDonald's, because I went over there right before 'Grimm' to get us some food and it was crazy. There were about 20 cars in the double drive-through, with more waiting to get into the lot. I went on inside and placed my order, and I'm sure I got it long before some of those people did, but it was very busy inside as well. I had no idea what a happening place it would be!

Now I'm home. My upstairs neighbour has lights up for Diwali (actually, there are quite a few light strings throughout the complex, as we have quite a lot of people from India and South Asia here. It's very cheery. So, happy Diwali this weekend.

I think I'm going to listen to some music in the bedroom, maybe read awhile, and just relax, then head on to bed. Hope you had a good week and have a great weekend ahead of you! Good night.

Happy Halloween

After much debating and little execution, I dressed for Halloween at work as Death, on of the Endless from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics. I had a black top and pants on, a black wig, and the requisite Death makeup. We had trick-or-treating with the kids this morning, as they made their way around the various offices. Each office had previously picked up donated candy. It was great fun.

I felt a little bad because I didn't have candy for tonight's trick-or-treating, but I wasn't sure if anyone would come, either. So when I got home, I took a nap, keeping the house dark. I never heard a peep from anyone. I guess that's what you get with apartment living.

So now I'm up and considering how best to celebrate the holiday, which is a religious one for me (Samhain). For libations, I don't have any wine to offer the dead, but I have oil and honey, which both count as possibilities. No pomegranate this year, but I do have garlic. Ah, the problems of being poor and pagan.

For now, though, I think I'll check out the news and see if anything of interest is going on for this last day of October.

Because robbers usually knock politely on the door at Halloween

Police: Man feared trick-or-treater was robber: Boy, 12, shot dead in S.C. after approaching home; father, brother wounded

SUMTER, S.C. - An ex-convict who thought he was being robbed gunned down a 12-year-old trick-or-treater, spraying nearly 30 rounds with an assault rifle from inside his home after hearing a knock on the door, police said Saturday.

Gods, can't people with AK-47s at least invest in peepholes? Or does this just go under a case of a paranoid ex-convict (for drug charges) shooting first and damn the consequences? I mean, okay, it's within the realm of possibility that someone might try a home invasion during trick-or-treat hours, but what is it with people shooting first before even looking at the person they're shooting at? We've had one of those cases in Lexington recently and the person was acquitted. They're dangerous, loose cannons, as far as I'm concerned, if they shoot a gun without even looking at the person at whom they're shooting. There's no sign that he was on drugs or alcohol at the time of the shooting, although a woman in the residence ran away with thousands of dollars and has been charged with obstruction of justice, so that may explain the paranoia of robbery, but you also have to wonder why anyone would keep that sort of cash in the house.

Seriously, though, my thoughts and prayers are with T.J. Darrisaw's family. It's a horrible tragedy, and I hope the shooter is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.