Friday, October 31, 2008

champagne & rockets

I absolutely love halloween.  the costumes, the spooky, the paranormal, bring it on!  i'm sitting here in my living room, lights dimmed so the candles in the windows can flicker by their own light, with a bowl of candy beside me waiting for little fists to knock at the door.  we don't get many kids where i live but the one's i've seen tonight look fantastic.  witches, transformers, cats, indiana jones', dinosaurs, they're all so shy when i tell them to just dig into the bowl and take whatever and as much as they'd like.

a little boy, the transformer, came to the door and his mom waited on the sidewalk.  his costume was incredible, i caught myself before fully uttering "holy shit" when i opened the door and saw 3 feet of foam and paint holding out a little bag.  i told him his costume was fantastic and his mom told me that his dad made it.  his mom had a magical witch costume on, this was no dollar store witch hat, it looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale.  the little dog she had who was sniffing our lawn was a fireman, i think.  i was so excited at how great their costumes were.  i pictured the dad at home, nights before now, painting and cutting out pieces of foam, sizing it on his son then going back to make adjustments.  i love when parents dress up with their kids to take them out, you're never too old to play with costumes.

next year halloween is on a saturday and i want to go all out with decorating.  we're usually always rushing home from work to greet the kids with sugar but next year, baby next year i'm making our house the place to be!  we live in a little village in an old house that was built in 1865 (that's our dining room pictured up there).  it has so much halloween promise.  i love living in an old house, i much prefer that to a "new build".  i like the idea of the history, the many feet that have walked through the doors.  i'm sitting on the original hardwood floor as i type this, 143 years of stories under my bum.  being halloween and all, i just have to say i'm sure this joint is haunted.  i've seen many a thing out the corner of my eye and our cats enjoy staring at the staircase with ears back and large eyes.  anyway, it must be friendly or i'm sure we would have been forced out by now.  unless of course there's some 5 or 10 year anniversary (we've only lived here for 3) of a violent event that will shake the house to its core, spill dark shadows out of corners, write frightening sentiments in condensation on the bathroom mirrors, etc.  but until then i will enjoy living here with the apparition that floats through my peripheral vision.

speaking of 10 year anniversaries, i realized this morning that Damian & i have been together for 10 years today.  he asked me out on halloween.  we wanted to get married on halloween but it fell on a wednesday the year we knot tied.  so, we did it on the backwards version, 13.  friday the 13th!  i'm enjoying some champagne in celebration... that and i just love bubbles.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

neige

Woke up to about 2 inches of snow this morning, i loved it! it's the second snow in 2 weeks and we haven't even hit halloween yet. all i've heard is complaints, i must be the only one wanting more. on the news they always say "but don't fret, by the end of the week we'll be back in the double digits". this is canada, it snows here....every year.

i adore it though, that white blanket out there on my lawn is magic to me. it's even better when it's a surprise, like an unexpected gift. my favourite snowfalls are at night, watching it fall in headlights and streetlamps, going for a walk in the stillness and coming back inside for hot chocolate (with marshmallows of course) or tea.


snow conjurs up thoughts of fires, baking, the smell of cloves, snowflakes on mittens, christmas shopping in little villages, mulled wine, rosy cheeks, cuddling up, decorating the tree, twinkling lights, cozy pubs, cobblestone streets, blizzards that keep me housebound (from work, yippee). i could go on but there's already too many commas.


bring on the brrr.