Halloween 50

This morning I awoke to discover fifty pink flamingos in the front yard!  And right behind those flamingos was a sign that read:  "50 Years Flown Away."

Yes, they flew by rather quickly.  As you yourself probably will discover some day, or perhaps you already know.  It doesn't seem real.  I think the one thing that helps it not seem real is the fact that I haven't ever really "grown up."  That being said, this sort of thing seems rather surreal.  

Surreal or not, according to the birth certificate, there it is.  And according to the fifty flamingos in the yard, it must be true.  The flamingos don't lie.  How funny to see them all lined up there in the yard.  In fact, they stayed there all through the day, and into Halloween night, which was fun for the kids to see.
 

We had a rather full day today, one where we kept busy doing those things I like to do this season.  One of those was making cookies!  

We did our traditional pumpkin cookies for a little while, making funny faces and abstract faces too.  We made nicely decorated pumpkins, and then some ugly and funny ones too!

Madison and I spent a good deal of time on these, and that's one thing we just seem to do every holiday.  Looking back on this blog, you can see all the cookies we've made over the years, and it's been fun.

Okay, I do like this one.  Madison made an actual graveyard out of a pumpkin cookie.  It might be a little difficult to eat, perhaps.  But perhaps not for Madison, who likes eating these afterwards.  We line them all up on the tray, and then pop them in the oven to cook up.

It's fun and relaxing!  Madison and I were enjoying a bit of this on a beautiful day today.  It was a beautiful day too, with the rain all gone and the weather nice and sunny.  Tonight, the moon was full as trick-or-treaters would be out in hordes, breaking out from the containment our governments have inflicted upon us.  There would be no holding back our neighborhood tonight.  Everyone has been posting online that their house would be welcoming to visitors, with or without masks, in order to hand out treats!

But I'm getting ahead of myself, because the next thing we did was carve a few more pumpkins!

That's right!  We did some more work on pumpkins this afternoon.  Madison's in the front was a little more simple, but I was hoping to do something with Mary Poppins, and that was a little more elaborate.

The plan was to do something even bigger, with buildings and even Burt jumping in the background, but time was fleeting by this point.  So I made do with Mary flying through the clouds - you can see the parrot umbrella handle there, and of course the bag she's carrying. 

Before the evening began, we light them up and put them out on the front porch to help decorate the area.  Every year we have visitors compliment us on our creations as they come up to trick-or-treat.

These pictures I usually take at the end of the evening, when it is dark and they are all lit up.  We leave for trick-or-treating before it gets dark though, because there's a long evening ahead, one filled with adventure and special Halloween candy!

This year, we had Nana on the porch to help out with passing out the candy.  Both she and Mom were there to greet the kids, and we were prepared this year again with a huge amount of candy.  We don't see the amount of kids the main stretch of the road sees, where we were heading off to, but there's still a good bit of visitors each Halloween.  And with all the conditions of this year, and with the weather conditions as they were tonight, all was perfect for everyone, for a night of trick-or-treating.

Mommy and I posed for a picture together - doesn't she look great!  I love that sweater vest she found.  And of course, I've been using the David S Pumpkins costume for a few years now.  It's just perfect for a night like this!  We posed for one last picture before it was time to venture out to our next great trick-or-treating adventure!

Our friends from Lumpkin County dropped by, the Wellborns.  They don't live in a community like ours, so they joined us once more in our driveway so the kids could have a place to go for a guaranteed big haul of candy.  And yes, there was a huge haul of candy tonight.  It was pretty epic.  

The neighborhood was decorated, the full moon was out, and there were hayrides, movies projected on big screens, smoke machines, and creepy music all around.  Kids were running all over, zooming from house to house as parents staggered behind with the ones who tired out too soon.

It was super fun.  We were out there for a few hours, until the kids were good and tired, and things were starting to wind down.  But that took a long time.  We were out there walking from house to house, and so many kind neighbors were there, and in the spirit of things.  One garage had a miniature haunted house in it that the kids dared to venture through to get some candy.

Madison took all these pictures, as this year I was determined not to drag a camera around.  Instead, I found myself helping out as I always do, carrying a few of the kids' heavy candy bags for them.  Some of these candy bags were about as heavy with candy as the kids themselves!

Here's Madison's costume for the night.  She was looking sharp, and the good news was that this year it wasn't as so cold outside.  We all returned home, and said our goodbyes to our trick-or-treating friends.  Mom and Nana still had some candy left, but the visitors were dying down somewhat.  I was at the front porch for some of those later stragglers, but soon enough, the evening's fun was ready to close down.  It's always a bittersweet moment there on the porch, as you wish all the fun wouldn't end.  But it was chilly outside, and the girls were inside counting up candy, and maybe getting a few of their favorites.  Halloween candy is a sacred thing!  Fortunately, Madison has enough to last for a month.  Or maybe at least two weeks...!

It was a good Halloween.  We've been under duress a bit lately, but it was a blessed day today, a well-deserved one for the kids, and a memorable one for the rest of us.

"There's nowhere to go but up."

Edgefest 2020

Here we are at another Edgefest, the trunk-or-treat spectacular that we've been going to for quite a few years now.  For Madison, it all started here for her taekwondo.  It was at this very same trunk-or-treat event a few years ago that she first came to Edge ATA.  Now she's on her way to the black belt, a seasoned professional!

One wonderful blessing of the evening was a complete lack of surprise with the weather.  We've never had it rain on us, but there's frequently been the threat of a downpour, and with last year's event, it was just about miraculous that it didn't rain on us.  We had a ton of rain with Zeta yesterday, and that sort of pushed all the moisture off and away.  It was still cool outside, but we'll take that.  It's supposed to be cool in late October, right?

As you can see, Madison was dressed as Princess Leia tonight.  And you can also see the continuing theme of Mary Poppins.  I had no idea that Bart and Chris would be dressed up as Mary Poppins and Bert!

Earlier today, I carved a pumpkin for them, one you can see in the dark here.  It looks great all lit up.  It took me a little time to get this one, but the lettering and so on were a bit more precise than your standard pumpkin.  Anyway, it turned out well, and it looked great on the deejay table tonight.

Madison brought a friend from school, Sophie, and the two spent the night gathering candy and running about from station to station.  Madison broke the thickest board yet, using her fist to crack it.  She was quite proud of that one, and of course we get to keep the wood afterwards.  Which is a nice way for Bart and Chris to clean up afterwards!  But seriously, she did great with that, doing something I saw many others struggle to get through.

Her favorite station had to be this one here, themed to "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"  This mom had a themed scavenger hunt going on, one where you had to take a selfie with a princess, or find a mummy and so on.  If you collected all the items on the list, you got a special prize, which of course Madison and Sophie did.

There were plenty of cars out there, plenty of decorated cars with themes of Mario or Wonderland or Starbuck's.  That last one was a favorite with the adults.  The deejay kept the music going, and there were a lot of people in costumes here tonight.  I think being cooped up all year has really made this fall season explode when it comes to these outdoor events.  There are still many, many things being cancelled due to the pandemic.  So when things like this come along, I think there's a bit of a "resistance movement" going on.  

The girls got a lot of candy, of course, and it was a fun time for all.  I had my camera with me, taking a whole lot of pictures for the family social media site.  I'm sort of the unofficial photographer for the studio, but at the same time I like going around and snapping photos for everyone.  

But Madison was snapping photos too!  Part of that was for her scavenger hunt, but she too also likes to take pictures, and had about twenty or so when the evening was done, including this one above.  Of course, she didn't take this one, but it was on her phone.  She's sitting there, posing with Bart.  Or Bert.  It's up to you.

Here's just one costume of the night, and I loved it because it is a Mandalorian armor completely made out of cardboard.  I'm not sure if the Armorer would think "this is the way."  Which is a nice way to tie-in to what we did when we got home:  we saw the premiere of season 2 of "The Mandalorian."  It was a great new start to a new season, and we're pretty excited about the possibilities.  I'm a huge fan of Boba Fett, the Tusken Raiders, and even R5-D4, so let's just say today's episode was just amazing.

When we got home, there was a birthday surprise for me on the table, a little early.  Nana and Mommy had a few things set up for us on the table when we got back, including a few presents too.  I got some ties and an ornament, along with a few other things as well, very nice!

Nana was struggling a bit in the morning, so we were out and about at the local plant nursery, and then over to Kinsey Farms to look around, and get another pumpkin too.  We fed the animals there for a bit, which was nice for Nana.  It was cooler today, but the sun was shining, and it wasn't so bad if you were wearing long sleeves.  It's just a sudden shift from hot to fall-like weather.  

Madison had a great day at school - it was a costume day for the students, with a donation of one dollar.  Which begs the question about costumes, of course.  What is a costume, and what is considered something you could wear every day?  I mean, aren't the kids already wearing masks all year round?  I'm not being serious of course.  Madison was Princess Leia at school, and for tonight too, all dressed up for the day.

Mommy and Nana were watching "Enchanted" while we were away, snuggling on the couch under the big blankets.  We have nice, warm blankets!

We said our prayers late tonight, and it wasn't much longer after that we were asleep.  It was quite a full night!

Zeta

This morning we woke up to nature's alarm call, and I'm not referring to a need to use the restroom.  It was the howl and super scary sound of roaring winds racing across the North Georgia area.  Hurricane Zeta became a tropical storm by the time it got here, but it was still mighty powerful.  It was pre-dawn, and it didn't make for the best sort of sleep, all of us constantly waking to make sure all was well out there.  The area was hit hard though - we lost a lot of trees locally, and over in Hall County as well.  Many roads were closed because of fallen trees, including the one over by Nana and Ye-Ye's house.  Fortunately, nothing hit their house.  Been there, done that.  Power was out all day and into the next for many.  Trees and debris were everywhere.  Tonight as we rode over to taekwondo, we saw the remnants of five or six trees that had formerly blocked some of the roads we take to get there.  

Speaking of taekwondo, here's a picture of Mommy and I, founding members of the Candy Corn Club.  We're with Nana tonight, watching Madison spar, and practice using her sword.  She was also practicing some routine techniques, possibly preparing for a team performance in the near future.

Today we were out shopping with Nana, getting out of the house.  We went over to Wright's Fish & Chips,  taking Nana over to a place to get some English fare.  It just so happens that the owners there are from Newport in Wales, which is exactly where Nana lived for a time.  They had a lot to talk about!

We were over at Goodwill after that, looking for costumes for Madison.  She had the day off today, as all schools in Forsyth were closed due to the weather system coming through.   It was a rough one, and not "just a little rain," as evidenced by the telephone poles down over Little Mill Road, even into the next day. Seriously, dropping off Madison the next day, one lane was closed as a big telephone wire dangled perilously low over that side.  

The costume we were looking for wasn't so much a costume as an accessory to the outfit she's making up for Halloween itself.  She found exactly what she needed.  I found some Blu-Rays super cheap there, and we just spent some time looking around to kill time after eating.  

The church office was closed today - no power.  It didn't have power the next day either.  Our power blinked on and off a few times, and we had to reset our electric clocks in the morning.  But otherwise, we're blessed where we are.  It was a full and eventful day, and we're safe and warm and dry.  We said our prayers tonight, blessed and happy and safe.

Notorious Notaries

Tonight on the way back from piano class, we had ourselves a Hallowscream ice cream, which is basically vanilla ice cream, colored orange.  It has fudge and peanut butter cups in it too, and though it isn't necessarily my favorite, I do like to try new things.  Madison is a big chocolate fan.  We enjoyed a quick ice cream, a nice quiet moment before heading home to watch "Mary Poppins Returns" again with Nana and Mommy.  The soundtrack has been in my head for weeks now, and it's such an uplifting and fun movie.  I actually enjoy it as much as the original at this point.  

Tonight was all about "the calm before the storm."  We've got a hurricane/tropical storm coming up from the Gulf of Mexico tonight, and it should be here in the morning.  Despite all the storms the coast has endured this season, we haven't seen anything from that here in North Georgia.  But tomorrow, we will, and it's supposed to be kind of rough.

Speaking of which, today we were going all over the place in search of some notorious notaries.  Or, at least some notaries.  We had to get a lot of paperwork notarized, and the bank was actually pretty good about that, although they are super tight with their regulations in regards to this year's pandemic.  We had to wait a good bit for there to be an opening, but when that happened, we were pretty satisfied with the overall experience.  It just took a few tries to get there, visiting a few different banks and so on.  Eventually, we mailed off the notarized documents, and we should be in decent shape.

School tomorrow is cancelled.  That's a good call.  Work may be cancelled too, at least with us working from home.  We'll see how things go tomorrow.  We were praying, obviously, and we read from our devotional and from the Star Wars book too.  We were pretty tired tonight, so it was easy to get to sleep. We have the option of sleeping in, but I think the weather is going to be so rough tomorrow that we'll likely be up anyway.  We'll see how that goes.

We were prepping for the storm, taking down things and putting things up.  Moving things into the garage too.   Tonight's piano class went well, or at least "the same as always" for Madison.  She's got a recital coming up, so she has to decide what song to play.  That'll be on her mind this week, along with the other homework assignments too.  She's keeping busy, but also we have a fun weekend ahead of us with Friday and Saturday.  And what a blessing that this storm will move through... and leave us with a gorgeous, but slightly chilly weekend.  It should be really nice!

Spooky Neighborhood

 

Madison took this photo on the way home from taekwondo tonight - it's just one of the many houses along our neighborhood that is decorated for Halloween this year.  It's a tradition to go about the neighborhood listening to some music and seeing all the decorations, almost like we do when we're looking at Christmas lights.  

Everyone in the neighborhood is going all-out this year, as it has been a challenging one to say the least, and the kids have earned a good Halloween.  Fortunately, the weather is looking better for Halloween this year, although that may come at the expense of some crazy weather in just two days:  Hurricane Zeta is coming.  It's sudden, and it is fast-moving.  It's coming through the poor state of Louisiana again, the fifth named system of the year to visit their coastline.  This time, it is coming directly over us, and we'll have to be alert early Thursday morning.  

Nana went with us for the ride, and she was with us for taekwondo as well tonight, watching the numerous students spar and practice form.  Madison was in the midst of them as Nana looked on with Mommy.  It was nice to get out and go for a ride. 

Madison had spaghetti for dinner tonight, and we all watched "Paddington Bear" as well, one of my favorites.  I figure we could watch a few movies with an English twist to them, and these have been welcome choices.

Nana and Mommy were at Goodwill today, and then doing a bit of shopping.  Madison was at school, of course.  She's writing a "break-up" letter with England, I believe, or at least with someone or something that demands a more formal letter of division.  She got a 100 on another Spanish quiz, and just seems to be sailing smoothly through this year so far.  "So far" is the disclaimer she gives on algebra.  This has been advertised as "getting harder later on."  We'll see how it goes, but we know Madison is pretty bright with math and numbers.  She's bright all around, and I'm not just saying that because I know she'll eventually read this.  Okay, maybe I am, and I'm afraid she'll kick me.

Anyway, it was a good day, a decent day for weather although on the cool side.  I wrote the skit for Sunday, and it has Madison in it once more.  We said our prayers tonight, and we read as well.  And then, we were all asleep, still exhausted from the day-to-day.  It was a good day with Nana, and we'll take those as they come.  We're believing things will get better and better as time goes on. 

Almost There

We watched "The Princess and the Frog" tonight, possibly because of the pumpkin I carved at the party.  It was on our minds somewhat, so that was the decision, and that is the soundtrack we're still singing along with even afterwards.  There are a lot of great songs on this movie!  Above you can see the pumpkins we lit up again - these are the ones that Madison and I carved, and they're still in decent shape a few days later.  

Nana was good today, although a bit weepy throughout the day.  There were moments of difficulty, and these are hard to get past sometimes, as she's agitated about this or that.  But the underlying motivation is a desire to go somewhere else, and not exist anymore.  She wants to be with her husband.  Why didn't you take me with my husband, she asks God.

Again, no one can judge.  Imagine having your beloved spouse taken from you after 65 years of marriage.  That's a long time.  So we're giving her that space and that time to grieve, just giving her all the permission she needs to be or do whatever she needs.  We have to be protective of her and others, of course, but we're doing our best to help her heal from this.  It's a deep wound, of course, and we're hoping for reconciliation soon, between her and God.  Pastor Lance has talked to her about this, as did my mother the other day.  Diana spoke about it, as have others - there's been a somewhat relentless witnessing going on, and it's been gentle and hopeful and most of all anointed each time we plant those seeds.

Madison was at leadership tonight, swinging her sword around, and a little more confident in the idea that she likes the bo staff best of all.  She's enjoying the sword, but it is getting a little challenging.  She'll keep at it, and the idea is that someday she can swing around a lightsaber like a real jedi.  Give it time!

We have a new Supreme Court Justice, and the controversy of late is that they actually filled a vacancy in the court.  One political party is crying out that this isn't fair, as it is so close to an election, and of course everyone knows that this political party would never, ever do something like that at all if they were in the same position.  Heaven forbid!  No, that party wouldn't dream of doing something like that at all if they could.  Yes, the last three sentences are sarcasm.  All this complaining is for show, because they were powerless to stop this judge from coming in.  She's a good one, and thus far, we've got three new judges already in the last four years.  Wow.

Madison is doing well at school, so much so that there's not as much to write about.  She's studying bonds in chemistry, and has a letter to write for homework about dissolving a relationship.  She's not enjoying PE so much, but drama sounds like a lot of fun.  She's in a drama class, and there were some improv exercises today that were always a lot of fun before.  I miss our acting class.  Too much stuff going on right now to do it.  I guess you could say there is too much drama for drama.

Anyway, it was a better day overall.  We said our prayers tonight, and we were on our way to sleep after reading a bit about Mara Jade, Han Solo, and Princess Leia.  Speaking of which, Madison is going to be Princess Leia this weekend for Halloween, and we're happy to see that this hurricane is not going to affect our seasonal activities negatively.  The weather will clear up just in time for Edgefest, and for Halloween itself.  It's going to be rough soon, as this tropical storm or hurricane will swirl right over us.  But once that is all said and done, it should be smooth sailing for the weekend.

Eleventh Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

We had our Eleventh Annual Pumpkin Carving Party this afternoon, and it was a lot of fun with great friends.  This morning, we started out Sunday with KidPak at our various campuses, but somewhere around 2-3pm, people started showing up at the house with pumpkins, ready to have a nice afternoon together.  Madison did a "porg" from Star Wars, and you'll see the masterpiece that Camille put together below.  Josh always does a unique creation, and of course there was one with a mask on.  I did "The Princess and the Frog," and we had some newcomers this year.  There were plenty of younger carvers this year as well, and of course some old friends who join in with us each fall.  Everyone was so kind, bringing food and friendship and support to us, and it was just a wonderful afternoon together.  Pictures say more than words, and for this blog entry, I'll just let these pictures below - taken by Josh, Madison, and myself - describe our afternoon together.