All things Halloween

Halloween has come and gone, thank goodness. I don't know about you, but when did this holiday become such a big deal? There are so many houses on our street decorated to the gills with grave stones, fake body parts protruding from the ground, fog making machines (I kid you not), cob webs galore and hazard tape. What ever happened to a Jack-o-Lantern in the window and that was the end of it?

As you can see, we didn't do any Halloween decorating, even though we were heavily lobbied by the girls. Murray actually went out and got cob webs and hazard tape, but neither of us managed to find the time to put it up. My pumpkins and fall mums in the urns had to do double duty for Thanksgiving and Halloween. The three little pumpkins above the door did their part to make Halloween scary by randomly dropping on people's heads if they slammed the door too hard.

Here's Caroline, our little Swine Flu victim dressed as a dark fairy (with scarf that Mummy made her wear). Sarah wasn't sick so she got to go to her friend's sleep-over. Caroline had to stay home, but we let her go to a few houses so she wouldn't be too disappointed.

Earlier in the week, we made a batch of Halloween cookies. The girls decorated them with gusto and not a small amount of icing and sprinkles. Don't ask me why Caroline chose to wear her winter hat while doing this.

Caroline also did the honors with the blackboard wall in the kitchen and got it ready for Halloween this year. I particularly like her witch.

Apple Picking Time

Every fall I take the girls to a nearby orchard to pick apples. We end up with a giant sack of various types of apples - current favorites are Honey Crisp and Cortlands - that find their way into school lunches, pies, apple crips and tack boxes as treats for the horses. So this Sunday after riding lessons, we headed out to Pine Hill Orchard in Hammond to pick our fill. The girls' friend Hannah came along and the three of them spent more time climbing trees and sampling than picking. It was a beautiful September afternoon, too bad there were so few apples. The weather this year was very hard on the areas' apple trees, so we weren't able to get our usual amount. Still, a good time was had by all, and it's not so much the apples and the experience. We'll be back again next year, hopefully mother nature will be a bit more generous with her apple crop.

Sandwich Board Wars

Here's further evidence of the rich social life a village affords. Last week two sandwich boards appeared at the main intersection in the village. Both advertise that mainstay of village life, the community dinner. One is for a church dinner at St. Mary's in aid of their on going restoration of the 100 yr old stone church that anchors the corner of Colonial and Trim road. There's nothing like a country church dinner on a fall evening.

The other is for a Lion's Club dinner with proceeds to go to FoodAid, a charity that supplies area foodbanks with beef from local farms. Both will be sold out I'm sure.