Halloween weekend

Oh how I do adore Halloween. This year came on fast and hard. Perhaps because the weather has been so gorgeous and sunny, it hasn't really felt ready to be Halloween. Or perhaps it's because at school we focused on Dia de los Muertos, so Eliana didn't come home with pumpkin crafts and spooky songs like she did when she went to daycare. But even without a lot of build up, today was fantastic.

We woke up to gray and rain. A perfect excuse to stay in our jammies all day, bake a funky Halloween cake and practice our face painting skills. After an early nap for both kiddos, we got ourselves together to join the North side posse for a potluck and trick-or-treating. Eliana was so content to be with her little buddies. They were quite a force when they hit the houses. Talk about a posse. The collective excitement as they made their mass descent upon another house. Such pure sweetness.

Saturday we took a much needed hike in the Rattlesnake to look at the larch. I have a crazy thing for the larch.

It's so wild to me. I didn't grow up with leaves that changed color. I didn't grow up with seasons. I knew about fall from picture books, but the images were always of maples and such. Big, flat red and orange leaves. No books talked about the golden larch. The magic golden larch. Eliana learned about the magic golden larch wizard and his famous yellow needles. She spotted tree after tree, asking again to hear about the wizard and his ways.


Whatever jazzes things up enough to keep her moving on the trail. I adore that child. Her imagination, her determination, her wonder. She wanted to, "paint her pumpkin all herself." After lots of paint, lots of glitter glue and meticulously cut pieces of notebook paper, she managed to create a, "super spooky pumpkin face." See for yourself.


It was so nice have two mellow days with her. No rushing out of bed, to bed, to breakfast, to school. Just taking it slow.

And Big Sol. You know he just kinda rolls wit things. If it hadn't been raining, I would have perhaps attempted to put a proper outfit together for him. Instead I settled for a sort of Kurt Cobain grunge thing; Sol in his black Blondie onesie, baggy jeans and retro looking cardigan. I didn't really get a good shot of the get up. And the lion hat sort of trumped the whole image, messing it up entirely. But Big Sol could give a hoot. He just wants to be close to his people.



So there it is. Another October, come and gone. My mama had her birthday yesterday. My Fall Maiden. After I finally remembered (that really shows how nutty things are right now...there are a few birthdays I never forget, her's is at the top of the list), we talked. All my sisters were gathering at her place for a little dinner fiesta. I felt my familiar pangs of homesickness, wished I could hop to Cali to be with my people. But then I look out my window. I think about this little community we have. So different to hot, palm tree Halloweens. Not better, just different. And mine. Ours, for now. The last golden days.