I'm a Halloween Scrooge

Happy Halloween!

I’m kind of a Halloween Scrooge.  I don’t have any deep rooted opinions about Halloween.  I don’t care that it teaches children to get something for nothing. Hey, it’s only one night a year. It’s been my experience that they need more repetition than that to change behavior.  I don’t mind sharing my candy or answering the door.  In fact, I love to see the creative costumes that show up on my door step and the happy faces of my little friends.  I even like to bake ghost sugar cookies and decorate them with chocolate chip eyes. I’m a Halloween Scrooge because I’m just not very good at it!

When my children were small and Halloween could have been fun for them I was intimidated by the elaborate costumes my friends were sewing for their children.  Really?  I remembered as a child decorating brown grocery bags and cutting eye slits in them for weeks before Halloween.  I tried to make a scary mask, but it always just looked silly.  One year my little sister and I decided to be gypsies.  We asked our brother-in-law to do our makeup because he was an artist.  His vision of a gypsy and mine were quite different.  I bawled at the old hag that looked back from a mirror.  I thought gypsies were supposed to be gorgeous! My daughter was a witch for 5 years running only because we had a hat. One time I fashioned a cape out of a garbage bag and painted my son’s face white to make him an instant Dracula.

Perhaps I would have been better at Halloween if it didn’t always creep up on me. I always find myself unprepared.  The big night is two days away and I just pulled a jack-o-lantern, a witch, and a cat out of the holiday decorations this morning.  I place them on the front doorstep and called it good.  My husband had to remind me for several days to purchase candy for the Trick-or-treaters.

It could be more than that.  It could be possible that I don’t like to invite scary things into my life.  My five year-old granddaughter feels the same way. She wants to opt out this year. Too bad she isn’t here.  We could hide from the goblins together! Nevertheless, I am prepared.  Maybe I will bake up some sweet ghosts on Friday so I can embrace the holiday more fully.

Happy Halloween and Happy Reading!

Poetry: My writer's block weapon

 

I've added another page to this blog.  From time to time I practice rhyming and such as a way to fend off writer's block.  Poetry, and I use the term loosely, is not my strong suit. I do like things that sound fun when read aloud.  That is mostly what you will find on the new page, Poetry (Sort of). 

Happy Reading!

Before I die

I ran across this blackboard sign on the beach in McCall, Idaho yesterday. The two columns read "Before I die I want to __________________"
Passersby have written their wishes on and around each line.  I stopped to read a few of the wishes of those who have taken the time to contribute.

Some were frivolous -
Marry Kelly Clarkson ...
Meet someone famous ...
Go to Disneyland ...


Some were unrealistic -
Cure death ...

Others were solemn and touching -
Cure Cancer ...
Make peace with my family ...

Many were goal oriented and I was surprised to see how many of them I had actually accomplished without thinking that they were "Before I Die" worthy -
Ski on water ...
Write a book ...
Publish my manuscript ...
Visit a foreign land ...
Run a half marathon ...

The experience made me think about a few of the things I have pursued and accomplished. Am I ready to die?  No, but I haven't missed out on too many opportunities either.
 
I would like there to be a cure for cancer.  I would like everyone to make peace with their family.  I don't see curing death as valuable, because death is not an illness.  Death is a step in progression - a transition to the next thing.

I didn't write on the blackboard.  I wasn't sure what to write.  I thought about answering to the book writer, "You can!  Call me ________!"

Mostly,  I pondered about the comments and the people that made them.  Who were they?  What had happened to the individual that wanted to repair family relationships?  How young was the one that wanted to marry Kelly Clarkson? Should I be setting some loftier goals?

What would you write on the board if you had a chance?

Grand Teton Relay Report

Jackson Hole is down there somewhere.

 

Okay, I promised a report on the Grand Teton Relay, so here is the link to the post.  It's only a recap of my personal experience, so ... I may be posting additional snippets as the mood strikes me!  I have to say ... it was one of the coolest things I have ever done! And ... the top of Teton Pass ALWAYS takes my breath away!  Maybe it's the elevation.

Grand Teton Relay 2014 - the recap

Enjoy!

Summer is gone

This little guy made me smile.

 

It was a crazy summer.  You can tell that by the dates on my last blog post!  Shame on me for being neglectful.  I have a few excuses.  My two adult sons were home for the summer and I was busy feeding them.  I trained for and ran a half marathon with a new running buddy.  I was blessed with a new grandson and I spent a few days in New York via an air travel experience worthy of documenting – later.  I participated in the Grand TetonRelay with friends and family – also to be documented later.  My 91 year-old mother passed away and we gathered in the land of my roots for a celebration of her life. I had my grandchildren home for a visit. The list goes on …

 Oh, and we put in a new lawn! I didn’t do a lot of the physical labor.  Hey, I had two grown boys around to help and I was feeding them.  There were times, however, that I thought the grass would never grow!  So much dirt.  So much dust. So much patience!

How can this make a lawn?

When these few blades of grass poked through the ground I was both excited and skeptical.  How would they ever fill in to create a green carpet?

Time has a way of repairing and rebuilding things.  I stepped outside the other day to discover a lacy mushroom – the likes of which I had never noticed before - poking his little head through the now thick green carpet of grass. Gone are the weeds and piles of dirt that plagued our yard this summer.  Gone is the dust!

Gone is the summer.