The morning is just so pretty. The sun is bright. It is fall sharp. Everything seems to pop in the light. It is in the high 50’s, and the strong wind is finally gone, but an every now and then wind still blows. The world is awash with leaves and pine needles. They cover everything. Even my driveway has disappeared. Some fallen branches and limbs are strewn about the yard. Leaves still hang from branches but most are brown. I have no plans for today. I do have a list of things to be done, but there is no timetable. I may vacuum Henry hair. It is back.

The mouse count is now 6. Only one of the mouse hotels was occupied last night. The mice are all small. I’m thinking a family, and the first mouse I saw, bigger than all the others, might be the patriarch.

Last night I had maybe twenty trick or treaters. The first group was the largest, 6 boys around 11 or 12. Each of them wore a costume. Every one of them was polite and said thank you. I heard them talking as they leaving, marveling at getting big bars. I know that feeling. Little kids were next. Their parents hovered around near the car. One little girl had a cascade of lights hanging behind her. She was a dancer. A parent yelled and said this was the best house on the street. She had seen the Hershey bar in her daughter’s bag.

When I was a kid, we always had the day after Halloween off. It is a holy day of obligation, All Saints Day. I had to go to mass or suffer the pains of hell. I used to go early to get it over with. I sometimes saw the public school kids walking to school. They didn’t get to stay home, watch TV and eat candy.

I always thought of fall as my favorite time of year even back then, but for different reasons than I do now. They were kid reasons. First came Halloween. Everything was good about it, and we got the next day off. Thanksgiving was close. We got to have turkey. When I was young, we only had it for Thanksgiving and Christmas so it was special. After Thanksgiving, all my thoughts were of Christmas. It took so much planning. It was the best day of the whole entire year.

Last night the wind howled. The windows shook, branches bent sideways and the leaves and pine needles fell like rain. Oh yeah, about that rain! It poured. It beat against the windows. The dogs took one look and backed into the kitchen. Later, though, the rain stopped but not the wind. The dogs got brave and went into the yard. Henry was alert. He watched the trees. He jumped a few times.

The clouds are hanging around, but the sun is making an appearance. It is relatively warm at 58°, but the wind is still strong. It is a day best seen through the windows.

The mouse count is now 5.

On Halloween, the school day seemed endless. At recess we all talked about our costumes. Most, like mine, were homemade. We talked about witches, ghosts and goblins haunting the night. None of us admitted to being afraid. We scoffed at the thought. We were too old and sophisticated to believe in scary creatures, but at night, it was different. I remember walking home in the dark. Most house lights were off letting us know their Halloween was over. The sidewalks were dark. There were still streetlights and below them on the road were circles of light. We talked loudly as we walked. We were sometimes the only kids still out. We’d eat a piece of candy or two on the way home to keep us fortified. We were always glad to get home.

My mother would give each of us our own bowl for our candy. I remember the bowls with tulips on them. We’d empty our bags into the bowls and then the negotiations would begin. We’d swap candy giving up sometime we didn’t really want for something we did. We’d munch on our candy as we watched scary movies on TV. They were the black and white movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf and The Mummy. I still love those movies and am watching The Invisible Man on TCM right now as sort of inspiration. I’ll be watching TCM all day. They are showing the classics.

Happy Halloween! Keep an eye out, be alert. You never know what might be lurking in the night.