Oh Joy, Oh Rapture ! The Spooky Season has truly begun… In spite of the weather still being warm and muggy here in Central Arkansas. This time of year, I should be in Ohio enjoying the crisp nights and cider laden breezes. I think I must really get something new created so I can get myself invited to the big convention held every year near Columbus at Hallowe’en. I can’t think of a better way to enjoy the season than to spend it with a hoard of sci-fi and fantasy fans. I still know my way back home to Ohio….
I bought my first pumpkin of the year today, a wee white Boo. But, as I look at it I am reminded of the one person who should still be on the planet and who will always be Hallowe’en to me, Ray Bradbury. It is sad that I never actually met him because we wrote back and forth for awhile and I miss him dearly. Well, honestly, who doesn’t miss Ray dearly ?
We shared chats about Ireland and the wonders of early years growing up with the smell of chimney smoke and the sound of crackling leaves when Fall came. Pillow cases full of candy, homemade costumes, carmel apples cooling in the kitchen and kids running and laughing up and down the streets. How lucky to have grown up in a place and time when it was safe for us to venture out alone in the dark from house to house.
Of course I recall with delight that all the candy we got then were full bars… Huge candy bars so much bigger than they are today. Gosh, just one Baby Ruth seemed to weigh a ton. If we were to trade candy after a Hallowe’en haul I’d be after your Payday, Baby Ruth and Zero bars as well as a handful, of Mary Janes, Hershey Kisses and those weirdly orange Circus Peanuts.
What would be your favorite candies ? I’d love to hear about your Hallowe’en memories so tell me a story or two here, ok ?
There’s nothing like a good Autumn tale to get me geared up for making Scarecrows and ghosts.
😉 Meg
Meg Davis Music and Arts 
What a great story, I guess I was too busy collecting pillow cases full of candy to pull any pranks so I’m glad someone else was up for it.
As you can imagine, running around Hyde Park and Mount Lookout on Hallowe’en was a dream come true when it came to candy quality and fun. There were plenty of huge houses done up as haunted, spider laden crypts and we had to brave many long, dark hallways to get at the treasure.
Like you, we now have just a few kids to treat each year so we buy treats mostly for ourselves : Kit Kat, Baby Ruth, Snickers, Reece Cups and Skittles. We are outside Little Rock and get about 18 kids. I love them all and look forward to see their costumes each year because most of the people out here are transplants, like us, and make their own costumes. I’m actually glad we aren’t over run with tricksters….. My sister, back in Cincy, gives out candy to 200 kids. That’s a heck of a lot of candy to pay out.
It sounds like you’re moving yourselves to New Orleans. I too had always wanted to celebrate Hallowe’en season there. Let me know where you end up. Just drop me a line here and I’ll email you to exchange addresses.
Happy Haunting !
LikeLike
Heya, Walter, nice to hear from you. Most of my album art are pre-Raphaelite paintings that I have
Loved over the years. I’m really flattered that you feel I could achieve art on that level….Lord knows, I’m working on it.
It’s so nice to be thought of by old friends and I’m glad to hear you’re still able to tour and share your music with the world. Of course, my life plans would have had me doing the same thing all this time if this darn MS hadn’t hit. I’d still be enjoying my life in the highlands of Scotland…ah, how I miss the sound of the pipes.
What’s it like playing in N’orleans these days ? I used to dance with Cajun friends at Mulate’s in town and near Cecilia. Mmmm, I can smell the spices from here 😉
LikeLike
BTW- nice artwork. Yours I presume?
LikeLike
Let’s face it- odd as it may seem, I was an odd kid. If it had chocolate and/or peanuts, Moon pies, and for heaven’s sake- FRUIT- I was in. Them there orange peanuts, jellied-with-sugar gummy stuff, candy corn (or anything vaguely related), taffy, sugar dots on paper and lollypops, i gladly traded away. I was very good at telling what the other kid would like and getting deals.
I ate a lot of apples and never found a single razor blade- or a double edged either. Nor did i fall prey to poisoned home made cookies.
I participated in one trick in 1954 down in Lake Charles, LA. We lived, for a short while (we were military) in a development with a 1950s style rent-a-cop. Being old, slow, and portly, he was a local joke-butt who drove a 1949 Chevy with a chrome plated, bullet shaped light and siren combination about 2 1/2 feet long. We snidely spoke of the fifty dollar cop car with the two hundred dollar siren on top.
Now- realize that on Halloween night, his car was sitting in his driveway. I don’t think he took his job too seriously. There being several empty houses without secure doors, we acquired a commode from one and set it on top of the car, right behind the light. Everyone agreed that it looked right in place there. An hour or three later, it was still there so we guffawed in our coarsest teen-aged boy voices that he must like it too. We decided to celebrate and fired an aerial salute firework at it. It missed and hit the side of his house and bounced off. We called it a night and went of to gorge on the extorted gains of the evening.
The year after that (I was 14 and we were now in Omaha, NE) we knocked on a door and a guy stepped around the edge of the porch and hosed us down. It was just above freezing. It was a short night. I never went Trick-or-treating again.
This year we are in Wisconsin- probably for the last Halloween up here- and have usually not had very many kids come by. Too far out for most folks, but we always have good candy that WE like. That way, if nobody shows up… Next year we will spend it in New Orleans. That ought to be more interesting. We had a few last year and it was fun being on the other end of the occasion.
By the way- I thought I had your info but looks as if not. We travel thru Arkansas on a regular basis. I would be delighted to have tea and a natter some time.
LikeLike
I’m envious. Being in my Forties, I missed the times when it was truly safe for us kids to be out after dark. During the day was fine, and I have great memories there. Still, your mention of the man himself, Mr. Bradbury, makes me a bit wistful for the times of which he writes in Dandelion Wine and related works. I met him once in the Eighties, but only briefly. I’m still grateful for the chance I had to shake the hand of the master. If I could name one all-time favorite author, it would probably have to be Ray Bradbury, especially his more horror oriented and speculative work. Thank you for your memories. From Octobe 1 through Dec, 31 is my favorite time of year, incompassing both of my favorite occasions, Halloween and Christmas.
LikeLike