A treat and three tricks….

"Stick 'em up, pardner!"

First, the treat. Happy Halloween! Even here in Germany, Americans celebrate Halloween with trick-or-treating on the US bases. At our home, Halloween is Andrew’s absolute-most-favorite holiday (even more than Christmas!) and he has been anxiously awaiting this day for months now. He made up his mind ages ago he wanted to be a cowboy this year, and he never deviated from his plan for a moment. He had help putting his costume together from Grandma and Grandpa Wallace, who shopped for his kerchief, striped cowboy’s shirt, and even the guns and holsters in the US and shipped the necessary items to us. Since the weather turned colder this week, Grandma and I went to the thrift store on base to look for a “cowboy-ish” jacket and found this terrific jean jacket which really fit the bill and kept our young dude warm as he trudged up and down the hills and streets trick or treating his way through Patch Barracks.

Now for the tricks: The first trick was on us two days ago (Thursday morning, 10/30/08) when we awoke to SNOW!

This photo was taken from my balcony on the morning of October 30th!

And it was more than just a dusting — we had over an inch of the heavy, wet, white stuff! I can’t remember the last time it actually snowed before Halloween, but fortunately, all traces of it had melted by 7pm. Still, the temperatures have remained cold.

For trick #2, here’s a little tidbit I thought I’d share with you from Quilt Market to make you smile. Of course I saw many marvelous new products while I perused up and down the aisles, and most everything I saw was indeed fabulous. But there was one particular product that was a real, well, shall I say “stinker?” It actually made me giggle. I wish I could have found a tactful way to take a picture of this product being demonstrated, but it really would have been obvious and I would probably be sued for slander. And I can’t actually give you the name of the product either — but I can describe the basic premise of this new “invention.”  Simply put, it is a rubber mallet that flattens the little “hump” in basic four patch units where the seams come together. There was a man sitting in a booth with a stack of four patch units and his rubber mallet. And he was merrily slamming away at the center of the squares, one at a time, to literally flatten the seams like a pancake. I watched the woman in the booth across the aisle from him as he slammed these seams repeatedly trying to flatten them, and the look on her face said it all. She was NOT amused by the noise he made with his rubber mallet! And the cost of this little gem? I think it retailed for around $15. So, how’s that for your Halloween trick #2?

Ok, for trick #3, here’s a photo for you to consider. Look closely.

Does anyone else out there think this is just ridiculous?

Now, tell me, what’s wrong with this picture? (smile….)

Yes, I took this photo myself on Halloween evening when we stopped at the BX mall at Panzer Kaserne in the food court. I couldn’t believe it! The mis-match of decorations says it all. As Americans, I think we have become way too commercialized when it comes to holidays. So much so, in fact, that I think most people are numb when it comes to decorations! Does the combination of spooky spider webs, skulls, and holly mixed in with Christmas greens and ornaments offend anyone else? And what happened to Thanksgiving? Shouldn’t there be a turkey or a pilgrim displayed as well? It sure made me laugh. I couldn’t believe someone at Pizza Hut actually hung these at the same time!

Anyway, happy belated spook day to everyone out there. Hope you all got lots more treats than tricks!