Wilma's Holiday

Wilma behaved beautifully last night and didn't bark at any trick-or-treaters. After the festivities, I asked her how she was feeling.

"Bring me a lemon coke, child," she said. "Mama needs to rest."

Happy Halloween

Have fun out there.

Zen Monday #266

 

Zen Monday is the day you tell us what the photo's about, rather than me telling you. Please join us in the comments and have some fun.

Be Afraid

Happy Halloween. Get scared but not too scared. Have fun. And if I come trick-or-treating at your house, please don't give me any candy. Just admire my costume and send me home.


(Scary guest photographer John Sandel says, "ooga-booga marriage.")

All Hallows' Eve

This is the time of year when the real and unreal come closest together, when what we know and what cannot be known are almost--almost--the same.

Magic happens on such nights. Are you ready to meet it? How? and Where?

Halloween Quiz

The weekend was good preparation for tomorrow's freaky fun. I saw kids of all sizes, all over town, heading out in their costumes. Some were on their way to parties, some were shopping, one was just going on a hike with devil horns on her head.

Here's your quiz: take a look at this decorated yard and see if you can identify the one scary object that's a permanent fixture.

Happy Halloween

This guy looks happy, right?

John and I saw him in the window of The Kitchen, a gourmet catering and gifty shop. It's in that "bonus" part of Pasadena that's so far west on Colorado Blvd. it's almost in Eagle Rock--but it's still ours.

Okay, this is it. Pasadena (even the bonus part) is decked out for Halloween. Tonight the holiday season begins in a big, loud whoosh!

We'd like to think no, we've got almost a month before Thanksgiving, but it's really only three weeks and that goes by fast. Then a month until Christmas, a week until New Year's, and poof! Where did the time go?

So I'm trying to think right now, to remember: savor. Savor the little kiddies coming to the door, savor the autumn clouds and crisp air, savor the parties even if there are too many, savor the food (of course), even savor the crowds at the stores, dammit, if that's what I have to do. I'm going to have fun this holiday season. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it, from the weird decorations to the traffic, so that every gift I give arrives in the hands of its recipient loaded with good vibes.

If this sounds like a resolution, it is. Feel free to call me on it if I start complaining.

Happy Halloween, for starters.

***********
I promised to announce the winner of the PDP/PPM Books Contest Week 2, and tada! It's Melinda Baumle of Pasadena! Congratulations, Melinda. Melinda's name was randomly drawn from among all the correct answers to Friday's contest question by my cute, innocent neighbor, PDP's resident geologist Becca. (What can I say? The neighborhood kids must have been working on their costumes.) Melinda says her prize, a brand new copy of Hometown Pasadena 2009-2010, will come in handy because she has little ones and is always in need of new things to do to entertain them. Hometown Pasadena has a good kids' section.

Hometown Pasadena makes a great gift, too. I have more to give away. We'll play again Friday.

Update: I forgot to say what the answer to the question was! The Braley Building is owned by the Church of Scientology.

Acknowledgment

It's about time I acknowledged that Halloween's coming tomorrow. Better late than never.

I like this holiday because of its roots in the Celtic holiday of Samhain (the Wikipedia article is well-researched). We've strayed from those origins, but there's still something pagan about dressing up as someone you're not and running around in the dark, begging for treats while threatening to play tricks if you don't get them.

Around my neighborhood, styrofoam grave stones fill the yards, ghosts dangle from trees and skeletons rise out of grassy front lawns. Horrid goblins hang from the neck above doorways, spiders crawl along rooftops and certain doors, when opened, emit screams.

I wonder how parents explain all this death to their children. My first thought is this is a good way to introduce them to it. Death is fun! It's only scary in a Boo! sort of way. Maybe the subject of death doesn't come up, at least not with the littlest ones. Maybe it's all just candy and costumes.

But of course Halloween is about death. That's what the Celts celebrated at Samhain--the end of autumn, the approaching winter, the symbolic death creeping over the land. It's a fine time, at season's change, to note that we walk in a world others once walked, and to acknowledge that in some ways they still do.

We live in the homes they built, we absorb the art they created, we learn, over and over again, how their actions shaped our lives. If we're lucky we get to see the ruins they left behind in Rome, in Paris, or in Altadena. We live among the dead and this is a good thing. This weekend we acknowledge and celebrate them.

Making Something

Koi at Houston's Restaurant

Boz and I took a walk last evening and got a look at some of the Halloween decorations going up in the neighborhood. Some people do the same thing every year. (If it works, don't fix it, right?) Some people try new things. It's fun to see folks being creative.

So far the Pumpkin God has not appeared. I hope he does. He's my favorite. But that display is a lot of work and maybe his creator wants to try something new this year. Or maybe he'd rather put up nothing at all. I don't blame him. I usually stick a couple of gourds on the front steps, and rarely do they even get carved.

I guess people are creative in different ways. There's the chef, the painter, the tailor, the interior designer, the architect, the gardener--these people do things I envy. Then again, I'm glad I get to take pictures and write stories. (And as soon as my talents make me enough money to hire all the aforementioned people, then perhaps I can stop envying their talents so damned much)

Sometimes I do the same thing because I know it works. Sometimes, I like to shake it up.

Halloween

Hey. It's the day. I wanted something truly weird.

Here's a good article about Halloween. Paragraph two tells you how to correctly pronounce "Samhain" and impress your friends.

You might enjoy this delightfully sinister animated short film called The Sandman, directed by Paul Berry. (You might not.)

Have fun out there tonight! Be safe! Be spooky! Eat candy!

Octoberish

It's still more than a week 'til Halloween and the pumpkin patches are up all over town. They're like Christmas tree lots. (Sure enough, once the pumpkins are gone the same lots will be stocked with trees set out to dry.)

You've got eight days--well, nights--to get on over to East Jackson Street and see the Halloween decorations. I don't want to build it up too much for you. It's just a nice block with nice decorations, better than most blocks. There may be others that do it up bigger. If you know of any let me know in the comments and maybe I can get some pictures. But if you go to Jackson, start at El Molino and walk west. The Pumpkin God, at the west end of the block, tops it off.

And you must go at night.

If you see me out there with my tripod, say hello.

The Pumpkin God

There may be spookier decorations than those in the Orange Heights historic district, but no All Hallows' Eve display has ever captured my imagination like the Pumpkin God on Jackson Street.

That may not be his name, but surely he's some sort of pagan deity. In the darkness at the end of the road, he looms above his yard in all his ragged splendor.

Tonight, after the little ones have gotten their candy, I recommend a stroll down Jackson Street to give yourself a thrill.