Halloween...the real thing

Happy Halloween.

We spent the morning trick-or-treating in Ann Arbor, followed by lunch at the Jolly Pumpkin (where else???). The event in Ann Arbor was sadly disappointing. A disappointing parade of uninterested kids strapped into outrageously expensive strollers being pushed from treat giver to treat giver by parents who were jabbering on cell phones. Where's the fun in that? At least two daycares worth of children were trudging along, kid tied to kid, while care providers walked into stores and declared that they needed 12 (or so) treats while the kids waited outside. I heard no fewer than three parents complain about the store that was handing out stickers instead of candy.

But Calvin and I had a great time, and a great lunch, and a great visit with the owners of our favorite book shop, one of which turned out to be a real Antarctica aficionado who fell in love with my little penguin and invited him back to view his Antractica collection some time.

The afternoon we spent resting and reading before making what we call Halloween soup (vegetable beef barley) and Italian bread. And, of course, trick-or-treating. This was the first Halloween that Calvin was really into the trick-or-treating activity. In the past he was curious, but not completely into it. This year it was hard to slow him down between houses, where I think his favorite part was actually saying "trick-or-treat", always followed by "thank-you" and/or "Happy Halloween". At one house he quite cheerily noted that "there's a dead guy in their front yard" (giggle, giggle).

We traveled about half of the neighborhood, collecting candy all the way, then returned home where he counted his candy, converting it to money, while snacking on grapes. He reveled in handing out candy to the later visitors. We read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow before bed. That's an all around great holiday.

Fall celebration at Parker Mill

Making our tax dollars work for us—we've certainly gotten our allotment of fun out of the county parks service this year. We've always enjoyed hiking the area parks, and we've attended a handful of their events in the past, but this is the first year that we've participated quite so heavily. Or maybe they are offering more events this year, because we've enjoyed guided hikes and naturalist education programs almost once a week since mid summer.

The other amazing thing about is that there are still parks we have never visited. Today was fall celebration day at Parker Mill Park, a new one on us. It started chilly and a little damp, but the sun finally came out while we were making bird houses and fall crafts. We shelled corn, ran the mill stones, and watched a heron fish on our way to the head race. It was a good day.

Pioneer Days

In a tiny township not far away, a well organized group of history lovers gathers every fall to present the surrounding communities with Pioneer Days. The event is put on by seasoned reenactors as well as local volunteers and even a few families who live today in the manner of yesterday.

Fall seems to me like a great time to discover history, and one of the neatest things about an event like this is being surrounded by people who really care about our past and its preservation. The reenactors are there to spend the weekend living in the world of over 100 years ago, and it is fascinating to watch them do it. Sure they're putting on a show, but it's not a start, stop, rewind, replay show like in a museum, it's a whole weekend long show, and if you stop by and see them cooking in the morning that's because they are already starting the meal they will actually eat later that night. Most reenactors are plenty happy to share information about their activities and the world in which they (are pretending to) live, while a few would rather be left alone to the living itself, teaching onlookers merely by doing.

These local, historical society organized events can be a great place to really touch, smell, hear, and believe history.

From watching the shearing of sheep, to the carding of the wool, to the spinning, and then to the booth where you can by the yarn.

Churn the butter, and taste some that was finished earlier while you're at it, then go inside and see how that butter is being used to start dinner.

Help shred cabbage for the making of sauerkraut...

help collect, clean, and press apples, then taste the cider...

Then go for a hay ride—and not just any hay ride, but a ride through the still active farm fields that belonged to the family that lived in the house you've been visiting. This is the ride the workers would have made to look over the crops, and to bring stores from the barn.

Then go around the corner to the one room school house that the children from the farm would have attended.

That's living history.

Fall weekend

Tailgating, football, cider mill, and a little seasonal clothes shopping. Though last week was miserably windy and cold, and yesterday's early morning tailgate left a little to be desired, by noon the sun had come out and the air was warming to an enjoyable fall temperature. It was our little village's fall festival celebration, with hay rides, cider, ponies, you name it. I missed it because I was lucky enough to be at the game, but the boys  had a great time with all the activities while I enjoyed the trouncing at the stadium. And the weather looks promising for the rest of the week, too.

Dexter Daze

Once a year our little village comes alive with all the party that a little village can muster—live entertainment, "art" booths, fundraiser food, kiddie fun, and a beer tent—and every year we make our way down to our little main drag to take part. The stores take advantage of the increased traffic and hold sidwalk sales, the neighbors take advantage and have garage sales, and I spent most of the time cooped up in the library basement running the biggest used book sale of the year. The boys, on the other hand, took advantage of the mock train rides, the bounce house, and the instrument petting farm. And there's always the food. Friday night we ate home cooked pulled pork and cupcakes, Saturday lunch we ate grilled chicken at the local church, and Saturday dinner we made our way into the beer tent for brats and brew, and then to the Dairy Queen for dessert. And when a weekend goes like that, there isn't room for much more, nor energy with which to say much more.