Twas the night of Halloween

When the strangest things are seen!  What a night.  We were able to get some fun time in with the boys after I managed to work an account for most of the morning.  After pizza at Pizza Hut for lunch, we went to the usual cemetery visit, picking up where we had left off with the Mom and little'un the night before, spooking around and looking at the reminders of just how precious life is.  What better focus on that day before All Saints?   

The great Griffey Boys cemetery ghost hunt, 2011

Don't know what they're doing, but either it's funny or frightening

Then we took an excursion through the woods at nearby Blue Limestone park, known to be haunted by restless spirits owing to a train wreck in ages past.  Alas, rain that morning and in previous days made it impossible to get into the tunnel where the ghost is believed to dwell.  So my intrepid sons decided to make for another way, discovering a 'path' and climbing up and around the leaf bare woods. 

We came out at a point not less than 40 feet above the lake beneath us.  That was enough to assure my sons that it was time to turn back.  That the woods also reminded one of the same forest in the Blair Witch Project, added to the urgency. 

Adventurers to the fore!

Seeing things from an angle we've never seen before.

Then we came home, met up with their Mom and our youngest, and began preparations for the annual candy frenzy.  Through cleverness and resourcefulness, a makeshift cemetery was placed in our front yard.  And where dampness and winds prevented the usual display of artificial webbing, a rather dismal and haunted looking graveyard took shape.

Yes, there's a cemetery there.

Then on came the costumes.  Despite weeks of wanting to be a pumpkin, our youngest balked at the last minute and could only be convinced to wear his pumpkin costume under an Ohio State jersey while carrying a wooden dagger.  The Ohio State shirt must have been in celebration of our stunning victory over Wisconsin.  The dagger?  Don't ask me.  With my Mom living with us, we had him covered and ready to go.

It's a pumpkin dressed in Ohio State fan garb with a wooden dagger thing.

His traditional pumpkin face, with a little help from his Mom

Next was our 11 year old, who wanted to be a thief.  Originally looking to a Robin Hood thief, or one from the pages of an old D&D Players Handbook, he settled for all black with face paint, ala Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief.

Always dashing and full of charisma, even before his black face paint

I'm sorry, but his design looked doofy

Then our 13 year old stood firm on his desire to be Gandalf the Grey.  Not Gandalf the White, but the Grey.  Because Lord of the Rings is not the latest, hippest, the marketing machines of Halloween did not supply us with the needed $40.00 costume.  So we improvised, with grey bathrobes, powdered hair, one store-bought beard, and an old limb from one of the trees that recent storms had dismantled in our backyard.  After taping a light stick to the top, he was ready for action.

You shall not trick!

Always the most intricate, because he doesn't have to carve it

Now our 16 year old is pretty much done with tricks-or-treats, but he did agree to take our youngest around the block once with everyone else, then bring him home and stay to help me pass out candy.  What to wear though.  He's built a reputation on thinking outside the box.  Two years ago he was a mummy.  Not original, but well done.  Last year he was the Invisible Man, completely outside the box and much noticed.  This year, as we've been overdosing on Hammer Horror films, he got the last minute inspiration to go out as none other than the master sleuth himself.  Donning an overcoat and a Holmes hat, with pipe in hand he once again upped the ante on originality, culminating with a search for clues in the graveyard as the evening wound  down.

Son, you astound me (bonus points for keeping his sideburns)

He has this geometric shape thing with his pumpkin designs

The family was over, though it was sad without Dad around.  His Alzheimer's had made it tough in recent years anyway, and I think we chose not to dwell on that too much.  My sister and her husband brought her granddaughter over, looking pretty and charming. 

As cute as a princess, if not overwhelmed by the boys

She had to leave earlier than usual, but indulged in the usual Halloween music with Lon Chaney's original Phantom of the Opera on the big screen.  After the tricks-or treats, the kids came in and we settled down for candy, pumpkin seeds and apple cider while watching Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein.  I love that our kids can be wowed by such movies in the age of Avatar. 

On a Halloween of neat things, a bird of prey lands in a nearby branch just in time for me to get this shot

And that was that.  Showers then off to bed after a brief cram session for a social studies test scheduled for the next day.  Though Dad wasn't with us, I hope he was able to follow along and see the fun we had.  It was the type of fun he always wanted us to have around such times, as he was never given that opportunity in his Depression Era upbringing.  So Happy Halloween Dad, we all made it another wonderful celebration and can't wait to come back to you in a couple days.

Ooooooooo!

Twas the night of Halloween.

Ooooooooo!

When the strangest things are seen!

Ooo.

Ooo.

Ooo.

BOO!