Halloween only comes three times a year

(find instructions here)

We spent an inordinate amount of time creating Calvin's costume this year, and he'd been so excited about being a train that I decided to make this once annual event last a bit longer. Dexter had their annual downtown costume parade and trick-or-treat on Friday so we traipsed through town collecting candy from our favorite local businesses and workers.

On Saturday Kerrytown had trick-or-treating at the Farmers market, along with free donuts and cider, so Calvin got a second chance to done his beloved train costume. My favorite part of the event was hearing him describe the costume to all the questioning onlookers (of which there were many). The second best part of the event was the occasional booth that was handing out real goodies—apples, dried corn, or gourds instead of candy.

And of course, then there was Halloween. Jon's parents and sister came to enjoy the evening with us, his mother sporting pumpkin orange and Ann the good witch in white, and we all took turns carting the railroad crossing signs on our forays into the neighborhood. The longer that we've been in this house the more we get to know our neighbors, and that makes Halloween exponentially more fun—we know them, they know Calvin, it's a good time.

 With all that Halloween one might be concerned about a major sugar high. What exactly will this do to our healthy diets? Like last year we offered Calvin the opportunity to trade in any of the candy he collected for a quarter per piece—money that he could use to buy any item he chose. On Thursday, after his trip through Dexter, he decided to eat one piece of candy after lunch and traded the rest in for money. I wondered if after that first taste the decision might be a tougher one, but actually the one piece of Kit Kat he had was apparently enough—he traded in all the rest of the candy which we handed back out to our neighbors. At a price of $25 (the total he accrued) it was probably the most expensive Halloween candy we've ever bought, but I figure we paid a premium to keep the household sugar intake down, and to give Calvin a chance to make good choices with lasting outcomes.

Costume sneak peek

It's probably not a long shot to guess what he's going to be (for some reasons more than others)...

Most photography in this post is by Calvin.

Fall splendor

Fall is my favorite time to run outside—the temperatures are perfect, the colors beautiful. When I get to run outside I take a route into town that, for the lack of sidewalks, goes through the cemetery. The cemetery is vivid with the colors of fall and on each trip through it I've promised myself that I'd come back later with a camera and a kid (preferably mine). Today I finally kept that promise. Fall is so beautiful.

It's that time of year again

And we love that time of year: warm apple cider, gourds all over the house, pumpkin flavor in everything from pancakes to beer (being better in the first than in the latter); the leaves are brightening, taking on the hues of the dying summer; long pants, long sleeves, a warm dinner at night. No season is richer than the fall.

Gathering Leaves

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight;
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?

—Robert Frost