"In this sticky web that we're all in, behaving decently is no small task." -- Novelist Stacey D'Erasmo

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Summer Leaves, Autumn Nights

     I don't know what's it's been like where you live. But where I now reside, in southeastern Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, the weather is still warm -- 74 degrees today -- and because of the unusually warm September and October, the leaves have yet to turn in any significant way.


     My windows are open. The air is humid. And darned if I didn't get a little sunburn when we were lying out in the backyard yesterday afternoon.


     Still, the season is upon us. And no matter the weather, the ghosts and goblins and skeletons come out to play.


    What I didn't know, before we moved here, is that Halloween is taken quite seriously around these parts. We used to live in the Hudson valley of New York, where Washington Irving's headless horseman haunts the byways and highways.
  
    
     But something is spooking the Delaware valley as well, though I don't know what it is. Even a harmless lawn chair makes you wonder: Who was sitting there, where have they gone, what happened to them?

   
     To bolster our defenses against the encroaching darkness, B sent me out to buy a treasure chest full of candy. If our clean living is not clean enough, if our good deeds are not good enough, then we are prepared to bribe any and all specters and phantoms to entice them to go haunt other victims.

   
     I happen to know, from previous experience, that Skittles are a favorite of any beguiling young enchantress who might happen by the house one evening.


    And we now have sugar-coated ammunition to fend off the pirates who might wash up on our shores in the dark of night.


     So beware, don't let the benign summer weather, the pleasant breezes that linger into fall, lull you into thinking that all is right with the world. Be afraid of the darkness, my friends. Do not venture down that empty lane, for you know not what evil lurks on the other end.

16 comments:

Meryl Baer said...

Uh oh. gotta stock up on the sweet stuff to ward off the evil ghosts and goblins!

Olga said...

I wonder if I will get any trick or treaters in this gated over 55 community? It is pretty well decorated.

Anonymous said...

Nice photos. I don't celebrate Halloween and few kids come to our door for treats, anyway. Bah, humbug.

DJan said...

I have few kids come to my door, but I always have something just in case. In nine years I've had fewer than ten, total. :-)

Tabor said...

Great humor and great post...no one stops by here...the good thing is that I never have to worry about leftover candy!

stephen Hayes said...

Thanks for the warning. I have a bag of trick or treat protection to hand out.

Silver in AZ said...

those are some great yard/patio set ups!!!

Tom said...

B said she's concerned about leftover candy. I told her not to worry; I'll take care of it. (I'm pretty good about helping 'round the house.)

Barbara said...

I love the photo of the skeltons crawling up the building. I need to find a way to incorporate that on my balcony. So cute.

Anonymous said...

I love Halloween... the spookier, the better. We just bought a couple of bags of candy. Unfortunately, we don't get many trick or treaters on our block but - amazingly enough - the candy we bought happens to be my husband's favorite!

Barb said...

While we are fully decorated around here, last week we had a whole five doorbell rings,so this year we may not bother with the cand.

Celia said...

We don't get trick or treaters in the condo complex we live in, At the house we lived in I used to buy Snickers bars because I don't like them but they are really popular with the kids small and large. :-) I really have no self control with Halloween candy. Happy Halloween.

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

Good to know all is ready.

Rebecca Olkowski said...

I've been out shooting photos of Halloween lawns too. It's been so much fun!

Still the Lucky Few said...

For me, nothing will surpass the fun I had hosting Hallowe'en activities for my primary aged children when I was teaching. We went all out trying to make the best costumes, create the most scary halls and classrooms. All in the spirit of learning (LOL)! It's a bit more scaled down where I live now, in a condo complex!

Jennifer (UnfoldAndBegin) said...

I like calling candy sugar coated ammunition! Use it to fight off the ghouls and ghosts and monsters and pirates. Aargh!!