Halloween and other fun.

The weekend really started early Friday afternoon as I left work to get home early to get the boy ready for Halloween. We successfully recreated and improved his makeup from the previous week. He looked scarier than ever. We gathered the neighbor kids and parent to trek out to another neighborhood to do the deed. We have been going to Hyde Park to trick or treat since the boy was in 2nd grade as his best friend from the Indian summer camp lives out there. We have just continued the tradition, and coincidentally the neighbors have also gone there because a relative lives in the neighborhood. It is a little more affluent part of Boston, and there are many more houses than in our neighborhood, and ripe for the picking.





Mrs. went along this time for a change; usually she stays at hone and waits for the 12 kids who do knock on our door. (I think they are all out in Hyde Park like us.) It was a warm and clear night, perfect for trick or treating, the kids ran ahead while the parents followed at a leisurely pace. The boys costume got lots of comments. At one particular house that does a whole ‘exhibit’ in the garage, and is populated by the residents dressed as witches and various goblins they actually wanted to recruit the boy for their display. He was flattered but the call of fee candy was stronger. Surprisingly the kids wore out before the parents did. And of course they declared their exhaustion at the point that we were furthest from the car. We meandered back stopping at a few promising houses along that way. The kids were satisfied with their take, and I swear that the boy scored close to 5 lbs of candy. We all went home exhausted. Later the boy fell asleep on the floor in front of the television while Mrs. and I relaxed with vodka martinis.



Saturday morning dawned with both Mrs. and the boy suffering migraine headaches. Could it have been an overdose of Vodka and chocolate respectively? I am not allowed to comment on either of those concepts. But suffice to say that we skipped the grownups karate session. We got the boy there, but he claimed to be in too much pain to participate and just sat and watched.

Following karate, he had a birthday party to attend at a local rock climbing gym. He said he was still suffering from the headache, but thought that he could work through it for the sake of the birthday boy. What a trouper. He has been to this particular gym before and is pretty good at climbing the walls and is relatively fearless. We stuck around for a bit and watched and chatted with other parents of the attendees. We are all in awe of our respective offspring at how they have grown and changed in the last year or so. At least one parent who had not seen the boy in a while hardly recognized him. While the rock climbing continued, we slipped out and did our monthly Costco run, making it back just in time to pick him up and head home.



Groceries put away, I had to head back to work for an event in the theatre. The annual Step Show competition sponsored by the African Student Association is the first big student event of the term. Step show groups from all over the greater area are invited to compete, and it big event both on campus and off. This year was a little smaller that in the past with only about 10 groups competing. Past years have brought as many as 16 groups and over 200 performers. I was glad for the smaller show this year, it was easier to manage, and having inexperience house managers it made my task easier. As it was the house was full and we went up almost 15 minutes late trying to get everyone in the theatre. Fortunately the producing group was well organized and other than a couple o little problems the evening was nearly flawless. My green staff performed well too. I can tell who the good house managers are going to be. I appreciate it when they can see what needs to be done without asking. The other advantage of the reduced number of groups is that I got out of the theatre earlier that I might have, but it was still midnight when I got home.

Sunday was not a day of rest. They were all the Saturday chores like laundry and house cleaning to catch up on, and while I was doing that and doing my weekly shift in the help desk for my favorite video chat program (the help desk was dead by the way) Mrs. and the boy were helping wit the open house at the boy’s school.

Enough, there is still an election this week, and I am exhausted already.

The Week in Review, Part 1

I managed to get the pantry reassembled; final reconstruction took place Sunday, the paint job followed on Monday and selves were refilled Tuesday after the paint had dried. I ended up painting it the same light olive green that we used for the hallway. I happen to have a spare gallon of the color in semi-gloss, which I had accidentally purchased instead of eggshell. (No returns on specially mixed paints you know) It is a little dark for a closet/ cupboard, but I figure it won’t show dirt as would a light color and I had the paint. Hopefully in the process of rebuilding the pantry I blocked all the mouse entry points, so I wont have them nibbling on the instant oatmeal anymore. Time will tell.

Saturday afternoon we took a field trip over to Cambridge to visit the Boston Costume / the Garment District to shop for Halloween stuff for the boy. It is more of a warehouse than a store that houses both businesses, and it is hard to tell one from the other once you are inside. It is located about 5 blocks from the T-stop, and while there were no signs directing one to the store, it was easy to tell which direction it was from all the shoppers heading back to the T carrying the distinctive pink shopping bags from the store. As one might guess, the place was packed on a Saturday afternoon a couple weeks before Halloween. Never the less, we had a pretty clear idea of what we were looking for, so in spite of a certain amount of browsing we were able to zero in on the important things. The boy decided that he wants to go as a Wraith as featured on Stargate Atlantis. The Wraith is an alien species that feed on humans by sucking the life out of them via a special organ on their hands. Easily identified by their long white/gray hair, pale greenish skin and ancillary nostrils. Their wardrobe usually consists of long coats, usually in black.. Easy ……
A Wraith

In the makeup department we found a cheap silver gray wig and the appropriate makeup colors along with a bottle of liquid latex to build some face appliances from. Both the Mrs. and I have a fair amount of theatrical makeup experience so it really isn’t an issue, and might be a lot of fun. It turns out that the Garment district portion of the store in part a huge vintage clothing store. The 3 of us spread out with a mission in mind and before too long had found some pieces that would work for the boys costume. I admit to getting sidetracked in the men’s 1950’s rayon shirt section for a little while, and Mrs. found a raincoat for herself. Somehow we managed to escape the store in a little over an hour having spent about $100 including the coat for Mrs. you can be sure that I will post some pictures of the final product.

A bit of a surprise this week, construction has started on the long vacant lot behind our house. The lot is about 100-foot square, and has for a couple years been slated as a site for 2- 2 family homes. The project has been floating around for a couple of years, and given the economic situation and the housing glut, I thought the project might have died, but I was wrong, I first noticed spray paint markings on the street and sidewalks last week, and then Monday stakes had been driven in the ground at certain point marking the corners of the structures, by the next day, a power shovel was parked in the lot and on Wednesday they were turning the earth. Then by this morning all the trees had been taken down and foundations dug. I was ambivalent about the trees that were mostly volunteer maples that I would thin every year so that we would get a little sun in the postage stamp back yard. Now with them all gone it feels really exposed.

I am not looking forward to a winter of construction going on next to us. I for you have followed the earlier version of this blog on Yahoo 360, you know that we Endured almost 18 months of construction while 3 - 3 family homes were built across the street, which was followed by 3 months of work while all the utilities buried in the street were replaced.

Some construction photos: Before the digging began.

The first bites.

A view of the back of the house.