New Traditions

I didn't get a chance to do much of anything to celebrate Halloween this year. No parties to attend, so no costumes were assembled. I'm a little disappointed because I do love getting dressed up & it's especially fun to see what everybody else comes up with; picking out the most original or elaborate or funniest costumes is always inspiring. The sexy costumes usually abound, so in that spirit, check out some of these naughty Halloween picture galleries:

As with everything else in my life right now, Halloween had to be put on hold if I'm going to get this damn house sold. The good news is I'm done with the mitre saw (radial saw?) & I didn't lose a finger. Yay! Cutting big pieces of baseboard or trim was fine, but sometimes I needed a small piece to fit at the edge of a closet or door. Even that was OK because I'd make the cut from a longer piece (which totally threw off my estimates & had me running back to Home Depot twice). But what happens when you've got the perfect little piece at the proper 45 degree but it's just a hair too big? You'd try to take off a few mm with the saw, right? But when the piece is so small that the only place to hold it leaves your fingers dangerously close to that 100 tooth carbide blade, you might let go of the piece of wood & scream like a little girl & then have to start all over again. I wouldn't do that, of course. But you might. I'm just sayin'.



With Halloween over & plenty of fun-sized chocolate bars left over after my whopping TWO trick or treaters have come & gone, I'm thinking about another holiday that's celebrated in many Latin countries - Day of the Dead. (On a sidenote - those fun-sized chocolate bars really *are* more fun!) My Protestant European background doesn't include Día de los Muertos, but I think it should. I'd like to start a new tradition at least in my own life, if not with my family too. I don't think I'll be running out to scour the shops of Edmonton for dancing skeletons, but having a meal, lighting a candle & pausing to remember the people who've passed seems like a lovely thing to do tomorrow.

One of the things I remember vividly about my grandpa was picking raspberries with him in the backyard. My grandmother would send us out of the kitchen so she could get dinner ready & we'd pick heaps of raspberries from the bushes to put on top of our nightly dessert, vanilla ice cream. So many raspberries would end up in our mouths instead of the bucket that we weren't really hungry for dinner, but even as a little girl I knew better than to turn down my grandma's home-cooked meals. Those bushes would be covered in snow by now, if they're still there at all, but I think some raspberries & vanilla ice cream from the grocery store will do nicely.