If you were to ask me to name my favorite season I’d hesitate for a moment, then pipe up with an emphatic, “Autumn!” when Halloween rolls in on a pumpkin tide (thank you, Richard Brautigan for the first poem I remember reading) and the weather turns cool in Sleepy Hollow, where legends swirl of the Headless Horseman (wonderful Washington Irving) and when I, as an adult, remember the heightened sense of anticipation, walking in bands of costumed friends — cackling and jostling and chorusing through the night — in pursuit of candy.
When I moved to the suburbs from under the Hollywood sign, one of the motivating factors may have been that in the 10 years I lived in a marvelous Mid-Century house, the neighborhood (windy, hilly, no sidewalks) wasn’t conducive for trick or treating. Every year I’d carve a pumpkin (sometimes three) and no one would appear. Now it’s a cavalcade of kids until I turn off the porch light.
I saw this fine specimen, possibly more suitable for a magic coach than a jack-o’-lantern, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania…
And lacking a winch, five hundred dollars pocket money, and a team of horses I let the Great White Pumpkin be. Now I’m selecting a suitable gourd and stocking up on sweets. Come Saturday, let the festivities commence, Happy Halloween!
HA! We had a long dinner party debate a couple of days ago regarding whether we should or should not have candy as we now live in town… No clear conclusion was reached.
Hello, darling! As it turns out a very dear British friend of ours is spending Halloween with us and I take the liberty of quoting her, “I’ve never actually participated in the American ritual of handing out legal drugs to children dressed up as odd popular culture figures so this is a treat for me.” Indeed, a treat for all! And I owe you an email. xox, V
Crikey, who would pay $500 for a great white!
Exactly, and how on earth would anyone get it home?
A Fairy Godmother would be required to turn it in to a carriage but then footmen and horses would be required as well…..difficult, difficult, all round.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
And unseasonably warm, I just checked the forecast for Halloween, high eighties, toasty!