The Pope Stops Here
Hello World,
Happy November! Well, this was certainly a busy week, with Halloween on Monday, followed by All Saints Day and the Mexican Day of the Dead, plus EID which represents the last day of Ramadan. How the year has flown, and more's the pity I'm sure, although I feel it would be safe to say that there are probably millions of people who will not miss 2005 when it's done and gone for good. With Halloween out of the way, Christmas now has a pretty clear field in the wonderful world of retail, and when we went to CVS after dinner, the shelves were awash in reindeers, snowmen and candy canes. Thanksgiving may be a popular family holiday, but it's not much in the way of merchandising, so once the skeletons and goblins are out of the picture, it's nothing but ho-ho-ho all the way to the end of the year. And that will be here before you know it, just you watch.
Of course, Halloween was on Monday, and around here, that's considered a very big deal. I don't know why, but this year the holiday seemed much more subdued than usual. Even the outdoor decorations didn't seem as prevalent or elaborate as years past. As usual, I had a couple of costume ideas I had been working on, and one of them came together pretty easily, while the other continues to resist all my efforts to round up the necessary parts, so that is how I ended up being a Pope for Halloween. Personally, I feel that Protestant women have been woefully under-represented in the annals of Popes throughout history, and I really believe that the time has come for a change. Actually, I just thought it would be funny to have a short and dumpy woman in a pontiff costume, and I hoped that people wouldn't be offended. I have enough trouble with grouchy Lutherans as it is.
The first thing I was looking for was the miter, because once you have the right hat, that's half the battle right there. I was lucky to find a complete costume with a wonderful robe, sash, gold capelet and hat that was so beautiful considering that it was very inexpensive. After that, it's usually the accessories that cause the problems. I was looking for an ornate cross but couldn't find one, so I bought one in a plain gold color and attached my own paste jewels to it. I also got what they called a shepherd's crook, which had a very handy feature of disassembling into shorter pieces, which made it easy to get into the car, rather than one long piece. Then I got a big costume ring, and I was as set to be Pope as I'm ever going to be.
Here's where that very low-key part of Halloween started to present itself. I was going out to the car in my full papal regalia and passed one of the neighbors on the sidewalk, who nodded at me and mumbled, "How ya doin" as if they see the Pope in the street in our neighborhood every day of the week. When I got to the parking lot, the intersection with the blinking light where you take your life in your hands just to cross (even in the crosswalk!) was entirely deserted, without a car or pedestrian in sight. I actually thought that was too bad, because I figured for once, I could cross the street with impunity since nobody would run down the Pope! The first building that I go into has our out-patient clinic, which is usually crawling with people all over the place, and I can count on my costumes causing quite a stir among the crowds. But on Monday morning, there wasn't a soul in there, and not even the Pope could get a reaction out of the furniture. The next stop is the computer department, where they are always happy to see my costume, but their door was locked, which surprised me because I know that there are people running the hospital computers 24 hours a day. Somehow I managed to cover the entire distance from the parking lot all the way to my office without setting eyes on one other person. I was beginning to feel like Pope Invisible the First.
The people in my office liked my costume, although I expect they would say that anyway, just to be nice. And one person who was planning to take the day off, came in instead so as not to miss it. But unlike other years when people would come from other buildings to see my costume, no one came to see me, or called on the phone to make sure that I would go to their office on my rounds later. In fact, when I did go around later, I was surprised at all of the people who had taken the day off, so I missed many of the people that I always make a point to stop and see. It was just one more odd part of an oddly humdrum holiday that is usually more of a fun kind of event at the hospital.
Everyone knows by now that trick-or-treating at the hospital doesn't get you much in the way of candy, but I do it just to show off my costume and have some fun along the way. This year, I was surprised to get candy in Engineering and Admitting, where they usually don't have any, but not in Administration or Medicine, where they usually do. Even the O.R. and Lab came up empty, and I turned down an offer of electrodes from Pulmonary. When I barged into the annual party in Adult Day Care, they gave me a glow-in-the-dark skeleton and a spider ring, but no food as in previous years. (I always take a pass on the Ensure and graham crackers, but they usually have holiday cookies and cupcakes, which are a nice treat.) The biggest disappointment of all was finding out that there was no Halloween party in the nursing home, which is something I look forward to every year. For some reason, they already had their party on Friday, which makes no sense to me, so I missed having a chance to enjoy that as I usually do. Now that they've stopped having parties in the Lab and Physical Therapy, it's getting to be pretty slim pickings for entertainment on Halloween any more.
As a costume, I will say that the Pope was nice and comfortable, and not hard to work in. Monday turned out to be a beautiful day and must have been 70 degrees, so I was glad that I wasn't wearing something warmer, like a woolly gorilla suit or worse. After being the best Pope I could be at work, for a Protestant woman anyway, I hurried home so Bill could take pictures, which is always fraught with peril and beset by problems. After that, I ate something fast and got ready for our callers, because you can never tell how early or late they're going to start coming. With the weather being so mild, I was expecting a lot of visitors, and I had already made 80 goodie bags of assorted candies and a toy. I figured I could make more bags if I needed them as it went along, because I was sitting by the door with the candy anyway, and I fully expected over 100 trick-or-treaters. I admit I was somewhat disappointed when we had only 89 instead, especially considering the weather.
My biggest costume this year was vampires (8) for some reason, followed by witches (7), ninjas (7) and Scream (5.) Coming in at three apiece were Spiderman, SpongeBob SquarePants, Darth Vader, cats, Jason, aliens, angels and Skorpion from the game Mortal Kombat. I had 2 zombies, 2 skeletons and 2 princesses, plus singles of Superman, Batman, Phantom, Cinderella, Freddie Kruger, Michael Meyers, Grim Reaper, Power Ranger, Hulk, the big bad wolf, cheerleader, basketball player, spider, SWAT team, Minnie Mouse, a pirate, a cow, a turtle, a bunny, a scarecrow, a ghost, a unicorn, a devil, and one little boy who was Bruce Lee, which is certainly a first for me. I found the costumes unimaginative for the most part, although I thought the unicorn was adorable. But unlike previous years, I had no one that showed up without any costume at all, so at least I can appreciate that some effort went into it, and that counts for a lot with me.
My favorite callers were my first, who included Spiderman, who was probably about 6, coming with his younger and very blond brother being Superman at around 4, and their baby brother the turtle, being carried in his father's arms. While I was complimenting their costumes and handing out goodie bags, and unbeknownst to me, one of our cats must have run behind me to hide in the kitchen, and entirely out of the blue, we hear Superman exclaim, "Kitty cat!" and off he toddles from the front door right into the kitchen after the cat. I found out pretty quickly what his name was (it wasn't Superman) when everyone started yelling, "Dylan!" and chasing after him. The mother kept apologizing to me, and the father kept telling me how nice I was being, and poor Dylan couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. That was certainly a first for me, when I had to corral a whole family of errant trick-or-treaters out of the kitchen, instead of staying at the front door like they're supposed to. I thought that was the funniest thing.
For people keeping track, here are the stats for the last few years:
YEAR DAY CALLERS WEATHER
1997 Friday 70 N/A
1998 Saturday 112 Clear, warm
1999 Sunday 108 Clear, warm
2000 Tuesday 113 Clear, cold
2001 Wednesday 31 Cloudy, warm (50 days after terrorist attacks)
2002 Thursday 53 Clear, very cold
2003 Friday 63 Clear, warm
2004 Sunday 96 Clear, warm
2005 Monday 89 Clear, warm
It's interesting to see over the years, how often the weather has been unseasonably mild for Halloween, and no rain. It's also plain that we have never bounced back to our pre-2001 levels, when even the day of the week made no difference in the numbers. Of course, that may be that we don't have the same amount of youngsters as before, or other factors that we don't know about. But at least we averted the major disaster that I was most worried about. We have the most enormous spider on our porch right over the door, that we call The Jumbotron and for good reason, and I was so anxious that someone might bump into the screen door and he would pick that time to decide to just drop down onto their head or something, and the screams would be heard in towns miles away. It's a good thing for all concerned that he didn't do that, because I'm not sure even the Pope could have rectified that, and I ought to know!
Happy November! Well, this was certainly a busy week, with Halloween on Monday, followed by All Saints Day and the Mexican Day of the Dead, plus EID which represents the last day of Ramadan. How the year has flown, and more's the pity I'm sure, although I feel it would be safe to say that there are probably millions of people who will not miss 2005 when it's done and gone for good. With Halloween out of the way, Christmas now has a pretty clear field in the wonderful world of retail, and when we went to CVS after dinner, the shelves were awash in reindeers, snowmen and candy canes. Thanksgiving may be a popular family holiday, but it's not much in the way of merchandising, so once the skeletons and goblins are out of the picture, it's nothing but ho-ho-ho all the way to the end of the year. And that will be here before you know it, just you watch.
Of course, Halloween was on Monday, and around here, that's considered a very big deal. I don't know why, but this year the holiday seemed much more subdued than usual. Even the outdoor decorations didn't seem as prevalent or elaborate as years past. As usual, I had a couple of costume ideas I had been working on, and one of them came together pretty easily, while the other continues to resist all my efforts to round up the necessary parts, so that is how I ended up being a Pope for Halloween. Personally, I feel that Protestant women have been woefully under-represented in the annals of Popes throughout history, and I really believe that the time has come for a change. Actually, I just thought it would be funny to have a short and dumpy woman in a pontiff costume, and I hoped that people wouldn't be offended. I have enough trouble with grouchy Lutherans as it is.
The first thing I was looking for was the miter, because once you have the right hat, that's half the battle right there. I was lucky to find a complete costume with a wonderful robe, sash, gold capelet and hat that was so beautiful considering that it was very inexpensive. After that, it's usually the accessories that cause the problems. I was looking for an ornate cross but couldn't find one, so I bought one in a plain gold color and attached my own paste jewels to it. I also got what they called a shepherd's crook, which had a very handy feature of disassembling into shorter pieces, which made it easy to get into the car, rather than one long piece. Then I got a big costume ring, and I was as set to be Pope as I'm ever going to be.
Here's where that very low-key part of Halloween started to present itself. I was going out to the car in my full papal regalia and passed one of the neighbors on the sidewalk, who nodded at me and mumbled, "How ya doin" as if they see the Pope in the street in our neighborhood every day of the week. When I got to the parking lot, the intersection with the blinking light where you take your life in your hands just to cross (even in the crosswalk!) was entirely deserted, without a car or pedestrian in sight. I actually thought that was too bad, because I figured for once, I could cross the street with impunity since nobody would run down the Pope! The first building that I go into has our out-patient clinic, which is usually crawling with people all over the place, and I can count on my costumes causing quite a stir among the crowds. But on Monday morning, there wasn't a soul in there, and not even the Pope could get a reaction out of the furniture. The next stop is the computer department, where they are always happy to see my costume, but their door was locked, which surprised me because I know that there are people running the hospital computers 24 hours a day. Somehow I managed to cover the entire distance from the parking lot all the way to my office without setting eyes on one other person. I was beginning to feel like Pope Invisible the First.
The people in my office liked my costume, although I expect they would say that anyway, just to be nice. And one person who was planning to take the day off, came in instead so as not to miss it. But unlike other years when people would come from other buildings to see my costume, no one came to see me, or called on the phone to make sure that I would go to their office on my rounds later. In fact, when I did go around later, I was surprised at all of the people who had taken the day off, so I missed many of the people that I always make a point to stop and see. It was just one more odd part of an oddly humdrum holiday that is usually more of a fun kind of event at the hospital.
Everyone knows by now that trick-or-treating at the hospital doesn't get you much in the way of candy, but I do it just to show off my costume and have some fun along the way. This year, I was surprised to get candy in Engineering and Admitting, where they usually don't have any, but not in Administration or Medicine, where they usually do. Even the O.R. and Lab came up empty, and I turned down an offer of electrodes from Pulmonary. When I barged into the annual party in Adult Day Care, they gave me a glow-in-the-dark skeleton and a spider ring, but no food as in previous years. (I always take a pass on the Ensure and graham crackers, but they usually have holiday cookies and cupcakes, which are a nice treat.) The biggest disappointment of all was finding out that there was no Halloween party in the nursing home, which is something I look forward to every year. For some reason, they already had their party on Friday, which makes no sense to me, so I missed having a chance to enjoy that as I usually do. Now that they've stopped having parties in the Lab and Physical Therapy, it's getting to be pretty slim pickings for entertainment on Halloween any more.
As a costume, I will say that the Pope was nice and comfortable, and not hard to work in. Monday turned out to be a beautiful day and must have been 70 degrees, so I was glad that I wasn't wearing something warmer, like a woolly gorilla suit or worse. After being the best Pope I could be at work, for a Protestant woman anyway, I hurried home so Bill could take pictures, which is always fraught with peril and beset by problems. After that, I ate something fast and got ready for our callers, because you can never tell how early or late they're going to start coming. With the weather being so mild, I was expecting a lot of visitors, and I had already made 80 goodie bags of assorted candies and a toy. I figured I could make more bags if I needed them as it went along, because I was sitting by the door with the candy anyway, and I fully expected over 100 trick-or-treaters. I admit I was somewhat disappointed when we had only 89 instead, especially considering the weather.
My biggest costume this year was vampires (8) for some reason, followed by witches (7), ninjas (7) and Scream (5.) Coming in at three apiece were Spiderman, SpongeBob SquarePants, Darth Vader, cats, Jason, aliens, angels and Skorpion from the game Mortal Kombat. I had 2 zombies, 2 skeletons and 2 princesses, plus singles of Superman, Batman, Phantom, Cinderella, Freddie Kruger, Michael Meyers, Grim Reaper, Power Ranger, Hulk, the big bad wolf, cheerleader, basketball player, spider, SWAT team, Minnie Mouse, a pirate, a cow, a turtle, a bunny, a scarecrow, a ghost, a unicorn, a devil, and one little boy who was Bruce Lee, which is certainly a first for me. I found the costumes unimaginative for the most part, although I thought the unicorn was adorable. But unlike previous years, I had no one that showed up without any costume at all, so at least I can appreciate that some effort went into it, and that counts for a lot with me.
My favorite callers were my first, who included Spiderman, who was probably about 6, coming with his younger and very blond brother being Superman at around 4, and their baby brother the turtle, being carried in his father's arms. While I was complimenting their costumes and handing out goodie bags, and unbeknownst to me, one of our cats must have run behind me to hide in the kitchen, and entirely out of the blue, we hear Superman exclaim, "Kitty cat!" and off he toddles from the front door right into the kitchen after the cat. I found out pretty quickly what his name was (it wasn't Superman) when everyone started yelling, "Dylan!" and chasing after him. The mother kept apologizing to me, and the father kept telling me how nice I was being, and poor Dylan couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. That was certainly a first for me, when I had to corral a whole family of errant trick-or-treaters out of the kitchen, instead of staying at the front door like they're supposed to. I thought that was the funniest thing.
For people keeping track, here are the stats for the last few years:
YEAR DAY CALLERS WEATHER
1997 Friday 70 N/A
1998 Saturday 112 Clear, warm
1999 Sunday 108 Clear, warm
2000 Tuesday 113 Clear, cold
2001 Wednesday 31 Cloudy, warm (50 days after terrorist attacks)
2002 Thursday 53 Clear, very cold
2003 Friday 63 Clear, warm
2004 Sunday 96 Clear, warm
2005 Monday 89 Clear, warm
It's interesting to see over the years, how often the weather has been unseasonably mild for Halloween, and no rain. It's also plain that we have never bounced back to our pre-2001 levels, when even the day of the week made no difference in the numbers. Of course, that may be that we don't have the same amount of youngsters as before, or other factors that we don't know about. But at least we averted the major disaster that I was most worried about. We have the most enormous spider on our porch right over the door, that we call The Jumbotron and for good reason, and I was so anxious that someone might bump into the screen door and he would pick that time to decide to just drop down onto their head or something, and the screams would be heard in towns miles away. It's a good thing for all concerned that he didn't do that, because I'm not sure even the Pope could have rectified that, and I ought to know!
posted by El Tango Fandango @ 8:46 PM
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