spooks on second street
Posted by kellyhogaboom on Nov 1, 2010 in Uncategorized | 5 comments
I live in an economically-depressed area hit hard – and not-fully recovered – long before the recent recession made the news. It seems every few days I hear of someone who’s lost a job through downsizing or is currently experiencing underemployment. Homes are lost to the bank and the proverbial belts are tightened. Nevertheless that didn’t prevent homes last night – even those here on “the flats” as opposed to (as my daughter’s friend’s mother called it) “snob hill” – from opening up and offering a bounty of candy; most houses did not do “one apiece” and more than I would have thought offered up full-sized candy bars. The children also came home with packages of the beloved Play-doh, a large pretty comb for each, a Barbie, and homepacked parcels of several selected candies in bags printed with adorably-creepy critters.
Really I don’t know why I was surprised at the generosity and openhanded nature of our neighbors; trick or treating in Hoquiam has always been deeply satisfying – very old school.
By the way, Nels eschewed his ghast costume this night and went as a ‘zombie’ – fully in character with his sounds and walk, but a treacherous ghoul indeed as there were no physical markers designating him as such (he wore clean, intact clothing and had no makeup – in other words, he looked just like Nels does every day).
One of my favorite things to observe when out on the streets are the many impressive Halloween displays and the talent involved in pumpkin-carving (and one day I hope to have a camera up to photoblogging these in their splendor). I complimented many a pumpkin and took many pictures, to the delight of their artisans.
Phoenix is such a sweet, friendly little girl; nevertheless in her ominous garb everything she did had the effect of looking like a prescient vision of Death (here she is petting a curious cat):
Una arana grande a la casa de mi madre, flotando por encima de la puerta:
After trick or treating we set up a projector and sheet for movie watching. My mom prepared a lovely little cheese and veggie platter, wine, juice, and an altogether delightful spread for her guests (my foursome and our friends Steve and Kit). We hosted the last leg of Trick or Treaters, many teenagers. Later we got takeout dinner at Casa Mia and followed this by slices of a lovely pumpkin pie (made by yours truly and involving delicious home-roasted pumpkin) while watching The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra on the “big screen”.
Good times.
5 comments on “spooks on second street”
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I also enjoyed the pumpkin-carvings. One of the houses we stopped at had six of them on a table side-by-side. I walked up to examine them closely and pointed out my favorite to the lady sitting next to the table. I chose the one that appeared to have been made by a very focused child. It had a few extra noses and eyes, but I thought it was perfect. Sometimes I think you can just see honest effort in stuff like that.
Anyway, after I pointed it out to her (labeling it my favorite) she explained that it was made by her 8-year-old son with down syndrome.
I’m not exactly sure why this was cool to me other than the fact that I had just blindly critiqued this boy’s work with my uninfluenced opinion. Many times I feel pressured to keep my mouth shut when I want to compliment someone that has been presented to me as disabled (or whatever) because no matter how I say it it always sounds insincere or fabricated to my own ears. The fact that I AM sincere would normally get buried in that upfront knowledge.
It was so dark that I couldn’t see the mother’s face, but as she told me who had carved it, in her voice I could hear surprise, then pride and a smile.
My point is that it felt great to be able to compliment someone that might otherwise be labeled as less than a person by society without the prompting of that label glaring at me in the face. It was a great pumpkin and no one could tell me that I was “just being nice”.
…and how could you let Death touch that poor kitty?
@Kidsync
“I chose the one that appeared to have been made by a very focused child. It had a few extra noses and eyes, but I thought it was perfect. Sometimes I think you can just see honest effort in stuff like that.”
Oh my gosh! I heartily concur. In so many of the pumpkins I saw last night you could see the ones that had a tenderness and/or focus. Not always the “picture perfect” ones either! That sounds like a lovely evening for all of you.
It sounds like an amazing time. Unfortunately we have many older or childless people living on our street and they don’t participate in any kind of trick-or-treating. A few do – including a Turkish couple newly moved onto the end of the block. They didn’t really understand the whole concept but they were down with the candy, although the girls laughed afterward because it was Christmas candy in all its red and green glory. And then there are the families who go elsewhere to trick-or-treat, making it necessary to also go elsewhere if you want to hit more then a half-dozen houses. Which means that almost nobody comes to the house. Seriously – I had 2 trick-or-treaters and now have a ton of leftover candy.
SInce nobody showed up and the neighborhood was deserted, we ended up packing up the 3 and going to a small street about 15 minutes away that has a decade-long tradition of everyone decorating their houses and closing off the street so that more people will come do the Halloween rounds. It’s so popular that they get 1000 or more people that come through. It was pretty cool, but I wish our neighborhood was more like yours.
@Jen
“[...]a decade-long tradition of everyone decorating their houses and closing off the street so that more people will come do the Halloween rounds. It’s so popular that they get 1000 or more people that come through. It was pretty cool, but I wish our neighborhood was more like yours.”
Yes! This is what went down the town we used to live in. And of course that street is always awesome and funky. But we have those places here and we have the old-school. I didn’t realize how fortunate we were until I started realizing how many neighborhoods no longer have this going down.
Usually we take trick or treaters as late as we can then – when it’s time for us to go – leave a bowl with remaining candy… even tho’ the bowl empties of course, the Halloween lights and bowl show the neighbor kids it isn’t a non-participating house, just one that had to be vacated so we could party!