Treats and tricks, Halloween

Is your mouth watering? This is another example of how spoiled I am. Raspberry pancakes! Served with a nice pot of Earl Grey tea (Twinnings, of course). My little corner of the world is most certainly civilized.
Last week I promised more photos of Halloween decorations. We are lucky enough to have several items from my Sweet Husband's childhood. This pirates costume from the 1950's probably looked adorable on him. Do you remember these big masks with the little eye holes? I remember a Cinderella costume with a similar mask (pretty with plastic blond hair of course). I also had a witch costume one year where the witches hat was molded as part of the mask. It was not round, so if you can imagine this black cone stood up in front but when I turned around, you could see the inside of the mask at the top. I didn't care. There was a magical excitement involved in putting on a costume like this.

If I close my eyes I can see Monroe (the street we lived on back then) it is dark, but every house has the porch lights on. Most have Jack O'Lanterns out front. You had to lift the chin of the mask a little to go up and down steps.
It was always at least a little chilly, some years we had to wear coats over our costumes (if it wouldn't fit underneath) so the mask had to be a good one or no one could tell who you were pretending to be.

I remember my big sister Margaret taking us around. I am sure there were more fun things for a teen to do, I don't know if my parents made her take us, or if she volunteered, I do know that she made sure we had fun and she kept us safe. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a teen aged girl was all that you needed to be safe now? Margaret paid attention with us as to what treats came from where. Back then, we still got home made treats from a few people. If we knew them, we could eat the treats (not before we got home and had them all inspected even then, 1960s for me,
there were a few spoil sports out there).
These trick-or-treat bags were kept from my Sweet Husband's childhood. I carried some a lot like these. Some years it was a pillowcase. Some years stores would use treat bags instead of plain brown paper for the week before Halloween.

Close your eyes again and remember with me (or imagine) you can smell the wood smoke from peoples chimneys. There are big dry crunchy leaves on the ground, maybe a light sprinkling of frost or even snow. There are little groups of giggling children running from house to house (with grown ups or older siblings calling to tell them not to run). We knocked on the door and called "Trick or treat, trick or treat, we want something good to eat". The we waited with glowing faces and sacks held open to see what sort of delights might be dropped in our bags. Some years we also took little cartons for UNICEF. Pennies were collected then taken back to church and sent to UNICEF. I think the idea was that we should trick or treat for UNICEF instead of for candy, but we did both and no one seemed to mind. I hope we always said "Thank you" I do remember doing so. I remember Mrs. Norda trying to guess who we were, there was always a twinkle in her eye, since we were there with Margaret, it would be easy to guess, but we didn't

think about that. All we thought about was fun.


Our Halloween decorations are a mix of old and new. A brewery called The Shipyard produces "Pumpkin Head Ale" a tasty treat for the grown ups and the bottles are worthy of display. The paper Pumpkin and Halloween post cards are vintage and tons of fun.

I'll show you more decorations next week.

Little Spontaneous is not scared of Halloween, we had a scary thunderstorm the other night. She took refuge under a chair. Doesn't she have the most expressive little face? She did get thoroughly cuddled after I took the photo. How could I resist.

The season is changing slowly and gracefully. My Sweet Hubby suggested that I should post a photo of the dogwood each week as it progresses into winter. I think it is an excellent suggestion, so here is the first. If you look you can see the little red berries and some leaves are starting to turn red.

Here in the woods, this time of year, mushrooms are popping up all over. My front lawn, at first glance,
looks like it has been used for putting practice. There are little white mushroom balls all over it. I took this one on the way back from our walk the other night. It was starting to get dark. Isn't it magical? The next picture really is of blue mushrooms. I don't know what causes the color but these are very blue. The big one looks, from the top like a blueberry doughnut, perhaps just a little ghostly.

The creative process is messy. I took a little time out from work and school to play with my sewing machine. My project is almost done, I just need to finish up with some hand work. Shall I show you next week what it is?

Another treat, German Apple Pancakes. The pancake is literally a pan cake, it forms the bowl. The filling includes apples and bananas and cheese and all sorts of lovely spices, topped up with a little dab of lemon curd. The tea cozy is one we brought back from the UK, it is currently keeping another lovely pot of "Twinnings" Earl Grey, warm (yes, I am spoiled rotten)!

Last, but not least. The other night, when I got home from work, I was greeted by this adorable sight. My Sweet Hubby and that silly cat. It makes me smile. Most evenings are getting a little chilly so snuggling is once again a very good idea.

I hope your evenings are snugly and full of purrs.

See you next time,

Kat

from Kat's little corner of the woods.