Halloween Treat

Happy Halloween! I started off a gorgeous, windy, blue-and-gold day with the second half of Ghostbusters and some spooky cartoons. I did It's the Great Pumpkin first, then Garfield's Halloween Adventure and two horror shorts each from Disney and Warner Bros.

The Looney Tunes made quite a few horror-oriented shorts over the years, possibly more than the family-aimed Disney. I checked out two of the most famous. Hair-Raising Hare is Bugs Bunny's first encounter with Gossamer the Red Furry Monster in sneakers. Bugs is lured to a Peter Lorre look-a-like's castle by a mechanical female rabbit. He's supposed to be dinner for Gossamer...but after all, monsters are such "interesting people." It's some of the least-like likely creatures who finally send Gossamer fleeing...the audience.

Broomstick Bunny is, like Disney's Trick Or Treat, actually set on Halloween. Witch Hazel mistakes Bugs' very good witch mask for a real ugly witch. She gives him a potion to make him pretty, so he won't be uglier than her. Later, when she discovers he's a rabbit, it turns out he's perfect to complete her current potion. Not the best Bugs cartoon, but fun for the holiday.

Called Mom while the cartoons were running. Didn't talk long. Mom was on her way to pick up pumpkins to carve. She does some wonderful things with pumpkin carvings. Every year she does at least one very elaborate jack-o-lantern. I never bother carving pumpkins. I buy one small pumpkin to display indoors until Thanksgiving or it goes bad, whichever comes first.

Keefe was already out for the day. Apparently, he was going trick-or-treating with his girlfriend. He dressed as a woman for Halloween this year. My sister Anny was getting ready to take her boys Skylar and Collyn trick-or-treating later in the afternoon. Six-year-old Skylar was Captain America; almost two-year-old Collyn was a dragon.

Went to work shortly after Broomstick Bunny ended. This time, it was too windy and chilly to be wearing a skirt while riding the bike. I wore my knit pants and changed in and out of them at work.

Work went very well. It was busy for most of the day, until about an hour before I left. I saw several kids in costumes early in the day. One of my first customers was a completely adorable Minnie Mouse toting a stuffed Minnie. She even had little bloomers! Too cute. There were two little ladies as an Inuit maiden and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. A young boy was Spider Man; another was Buzz Lightyear.

Though there were as many employees in costume as yesterday, I still saw a couple of people who were dressed. There were a few people in football jerseys for their teams. (No Eagles jerseys this week - this is their week off.) One teenage boy was a hockey player in a Flyers jersey. One woman in the bakery was a blue M&M. Another teenage boy was a sterotypical nerd in taped black-framed glasses, a gray sweater vest, and red suspenders. A college girl...well, I'm not sure what she was supposed to be, other than a black raven-girl in a short skirt with a huge, elaborate feathered mask and laced peasant top, but the costume was cool.

My dad's girlfriend Jodie came by my register about half-way through my shift and invited me over to her house for tacos and to talk to my sister Rose and see my baby nephew Khai. I was more than happy to accept the invitation. I wasn't over there as fast as I would have liked. It took me a while to find the batteries, which had been moved to a small display in the front of the frozen food aisle. I needed drain clog remover, too.

I did finally make it home. I poured the clog remover down my drains. The bathroom sink in particular has been really slow lately. After that, I changed back into the skirt and went to Jodie's. I wanted everyone to see my Velma costume.

Jodie, her sons TJ and Jesse, and a friend of the boys' were still giving out candy when I arrived. Rose and Khai were there, too. He's getting so big! His hair is much darker now, and he looks more like a real little person. Rose says he's in the midst of teething, too. He chewed on slices of cantaloupe and honeydew in Jodie's arms while his mother and aunt chatted. He was a skunk for Halloween, but alas, he'd spit up on the costume before I could see him in it.

I had tacos for dinner with Rose, Jodie, and the boys. While the boys watched Cujo, we ladies talked, played with Khai, and had strawberry shortcake from Super Fresh for dessert. I left shortly after Rose did.

I made pumpkin-apple muffins while watching the early East Side Kids movie Spooks Run Wild. It's far more ghoulish and atmospheric than the later East Side Kids scary story Ghost On the Loose or any of the Bowery Boys horror comedies and thus, perfect for tonight.

Spooks Run Wild ended just in time for tonight's Dress Circle. (I skipped the Brunch With the Beatles show this morning to watch cartoons.) Naturally, the Dress Circle had a Halloween theme. We heard music from the off-Broadway shows Bat Boy: The Musical, Zombie Prom, and The Toxic Avenger, the Maury Yeston and Andrew Lloyd Webber versions of The Phantom of the Opera, the currently-running musical version of The Addams Family, the original German version of Dance of the Vampires, and the musical episode of the TV version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I just switched over to the Original London Cast Album of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Phantom. This is my special Halloween tradition. I've listened to this every Halloween night since I was in high school and had to borrow Rose's cassette copy of the Highlights album. I'll put on the X-Entertainment Halloween Jukebox after Phantom ends.

I hope everyone else had a fun and (at least slightly) spooky Halloween!