It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween

Pumpkins now line the porch, and spider webs the shrubbery. We've had our traditional Irish meal in honor of the celts (who gave us Samhain), brought the candy bowl out of repose, and I've worn several pairs of orange socks this week.

We're on the second round of costumes. We've watched The Phantom of the Opera (The Lon Chaney version) and the The History Channel's Haunted History of Halloween.

Today was celebration day on Michigan's campus, the day of the Halloween party at the Exhibit Museum of Natural History and the Halloween Concert given annually by the School of Music.

It's really feeling a lot like Halloween these days.

Hallowe'en Nights (Greenfield Village)

We've been to the Christmas event at Greenfield Village, but not to Hallowe'en Nights, and never to the special dinner before one of their period events. What a fantastic night! Dinner was delicious, and shared with many in the warm, inviting setting of the town tavern. It was served by reenactors who really seem to enjoy what they are doing, which held true not just for the period people in the tavern, but for everyone staging the event outside as well.

After dinner we walked along a jack-o-lantern lined path on a magical evening that thankfully held it's rain and wind until the night was over. We were stopped here and there at treat stations, but more exciting were the various story-telling spots and staged scenes: Hansel and Gretel, The Tell-Tale Heart, and, of course, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The story tellers were so powerful it would be hard to express their talent in my own words, and the staged scenes (the headless horseman chasing Ichabod Crane, the mob hunting down Frankenstein's monster, the pirate ghost ship) were just just the right balance of humorous and spooky.

Costumes were highly encouraged, and we brought the train out of retirement for this one because he could easily slip it off for dinner. With Calvin chugging around dressed in the era of steam travel, Jon went as a conductor and I as a Victorian traveler. Very appropriate for Greenfield's own target time period, and I like to think that the costumes got us into just the right mood for the event.

We were spooked, but not scared out of our wits, by the spectre in the carousel, the man hiding among the trees, the suddenly living scarecrow, and the portal of the covered bridge. There was a barber shop quartet of jack-o-lanterns, death standing out in a field (watch out, he'll point at you!), and ghostly brides and witches, all followed by hot cider. We ended our evening with a telling of The Tell-Tale Heart just as the wind was picking up, and Calvin fell asleep on the way home as the rain drops just started to spatter down. Timing was our friend this night.

Leaves in a blur

Two weeks

Last week: the weather was pretty, the leaves really started turning, Jon got older so we baked him his favorite (pumpkin cheesecake) and there was a party thrown by his boss, then Calvin and I headed up north for a few days to take in the colors.

This week: up north we experienced a veritable monsoon, we discovered that Calvin outgrew all his winter pants sometime over the last three weeks, we bird watched; back home we ran an experiment in measuring friction, we beat the Yankees, my brother surprised us by coming home for the weekend, and we beat Michigan State.

That's the short of it, and really the long as well.

Apple Daze, small town fall fun

The fall color is here, and with it arrived the crisp fall temperatures and our annual Apple Daze festival in town. Sadly there were no local apples to be had this year, but that didn't stop the festival from happening. Also somewhat sadly, the festival always falls on the same day as the book sale at the library. I made it to into town for brats, cider, and donuts with the boys at lunch time, and we walked through the old cars, but the rest of the day I spent inside hawking tomes to fellow bibliophiles.

Jon and Calvin, though, got the full Apple Daze experience. They took the hay ride to the cider mill and had their goodies by the river, they played the carnival style games and won tokens and prizes, they played putt putt, Calvin bounced in the bounce house, and, because we happen to know the right someone, he even got to sit in a pretty sweet old Rolls-Royce.