The Beginning of the Halloween Season

It was sunny and clear when I awoke around 8 this morning. I turned on The Breakfast Club and wrote in my journal. It was still pretty nice while I ate breakfast. However, by the time I was dressed and heading out to Westmont, clouds were starting to roll in. It never did rain, but the on-and-off clouds lingered throughout the day. It remained chilly and very windy...perfect fall weather.

My first stop was Dollar Tree to stock up on more of those thicker sponges I like. They did have the three packs this time. I bought two. I had less luck with Super Fresh. There were no good cereal sales.

Next up was this week's volunteering session at the Haddon Township Library. There weren't many books to return, so I mostly concentrated on DVDs. I found a History Channel special on Halloween that looked similar to the one on Christmas that Linda Young sent me a few years ago and grabbed that. I also took out the Barbara Streisand-Robert Redford weepie The Way We Were, Charlie Chaplin's last silent movie Modern Times, and two collections of Max & Ruby and Angelina Ballerina cartoons that included Halloween shorts.

I made a quick stop at WaWa for a drink and a pretzel on the way home, then went straight to the apartment. I had a quick yogurt-peanuts-and-fruit lunch, then went out for a walk. By this point, it was partly cloudy, windy, and cold. Just about the most perfect Halloween weather. I strolled around in the neighborhood between Kendall Boulevard and the creek, enjoying the brisk weather and all the Halloween decorations that are up now.

Spent the rest of the afternoon at home. After I got in, I watched Max & Ruby and Angelina Ballerina and worked on dusting.

Ruby, the eldest of the two bunny siblings, wants to be Cinderella for Halloween, and Max must be her Prince Charming. Trouble is, Max would rather be a vampire. I think Ruby was being a bit of a snot here. So the kid doesn't want to be a prince? It's his costume, not hers.

Angelina's Halloween tale came off much better. Actually, it revolved around her little cousin Henry. Henry's been spooked by Angelina's dad's tale of "The Chipping Cheddar Witch," an evil being that turns residents of their sleepy English village into stinky cheese. Is that witch that Henry and Angelina's friend William see a real witch...or is it just someone in costume?

I switched to two spooky soundtrack LPs for Young Frankenstein and the first Ghostbusters movie as I finished the dusting. When the dusting was done, I finally pulled out the Halloween decorations. I have quite a bit for someone who really isn't a huge fan of this particular holiday. I especially have several Halloween stuffed animals, including four Beanie Babies (a ghost, a ghostly bear, a wolf with red eyes, and a sparkly mini-bat), two WebKinz (a Bat and a Black Cat), a bat made from polka-dot fabric I bought at a yard sale, and a crow with a scarecrow's hat that came from the thrift shop.

When that was done, I started the Baked Chicken Legs with Lemon-Wine Broth, Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary, and steamed green beans I was going to have for dinner. I ran The Haunted History of Halloween while I ate. I've enjoyed starting my Christmases these last few years with the Christmas Unwrapped History Channel special Linda sent me, and thought this could perform a similar function to kick off this year's Halloween season. It discussed the origins of Halloween, from it's Irish Keltics roots to the modern costume-oriented celebrations of today.