Out To Sea

Hello World, Happy November! Nowadays you have to be on your toes and not just step blithely into the eleventh month unawares, because what is lurking right around the corner is the dreaded "fall back" into Standard Time from Daylight Saving Time, which will happen on Saturday night, ready or not. This hare-brained malarkey will send everyone scurrying to reset all of their timepieces and devices that don't automatically reset themselves - or like most of mine, that eagerly reset themselves, but under the old schedule, so they're always 3 weeks too early or too late, thanks not. One thing that didn't happen in November was the World Series, as the Boston Red Sox prevailed over the St. Louis Cardinals in 6 games, finishing up while it was still October, and winning their first world championship in historic Fenway Park since 1918, much to the frenzied delight of their euphoric fans. (When Boston won in 2004 and 2007, they were the visiting team in the other city's stadium, disappointing the hometown faithful to an agonizing degree.) So I guess the time has come for us to shut the door on October and get on with our lives facing forward. Not so fast! Besides the World Series, October has other events such as Columbus Day and Halloween, and I will admit that up until now, I never thought of combining the two in any way. But inspiration struck, so I turned to our friends at Heritage Costumes for a Christopher Columbus costume that would fit the bill, and they came through with flying colors. (As a matter of fact, I recognized the exact same costume from a newspaper picture of a float in the Yonkers Columbus Day parade, so I'm in good company when it comes to costume choices.) It looks really elaborate, but it's actually all one piece, so it's very comfortable and easy to wear. I already had a brass telescope, just perfect for all of my exploration needs, so I was ready to set sail. At work, I was variously addressed as a king, pirate, my lord, or a knight, and I have the feeling that the great explorer of lore and legend probably would not have been overly thrilled at the multitudes who described my appearance as "adorable." I had to run an errand to another building before my regular trick-or-treating rounds at lunch time, and was surprised to get candy anyway - in fact, two ladies chased me down the hall to hand it to me, and that has never happened before. I'm thinking of remembering this idea for next year, to go around early before the treats run out. They say that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but when it comes to fun-size candy bars, timing is everything. Of course, everywhere I went, I laid claim to the area in the name of Queen Isabella of Spain, which was accepted with good grace by the inhabitants, and the use of force was successfully averted in all quarters. I navigated over to the perennially rollicking parties in Adult Day Care and the nursing home as usual, where I explained to everyone that they were now all Indians, since Columbus was searching for the East Indies, and everywhere he landed, he called the locals "Indians" to bolster his credibility. They were happy to go along, if only for the sake of harmony, which is probably something that Columbus himself could only have hoped for 500 years ago in his travels. Others may challenge his supremacy on the high seas, but I doubt they could rival his popularity at the employer of last resort, where the costume was a big hit from one end of the campus to the other and back again. And as an added bonus, I am now more than amply prepared if called upon to be the Grand Marshall of any upcoming Columbus Day parades, anywhere and at any time, not to mention, at the drop of a hat. A fancy black velour hat with a purple feather, that is. Meanwhile back at home, I can't ever remember the trick-or-treaters starting so early - they were already in the streets before we even got home from work and took costume pictures. Luckily, I always leave a candy bowl in the vestibule just in case folks show up when we're not there, so they're not cast adrift in a sea of holiday indifference. After all, our old house is a long walk from the street, with lots of steep steps to scale on the way up to the front porch, and costumed candy-seekers could be easily worn out by the time they get all the way to our door, so we certainly don't want them to leave empty-handed after all that. I noticed that even the older teens who usually come straggling in later at night, after the toddlers and their parents have packed it in, instead came early this time around, while it was still light out. We had the bulk of our callers between 5:00 and 7:00, which is definitely earlier than usual in these parts. It was fun to see all of the neighbors' children, including the irrepressible Emmett and his 2 younger sisters, plus plenty of babies in adorable infant costumes that were just too cute. There were the usual multi-cultural visitors from beyond our neighborhood, who don't understand English well enough to explain their costumes, and in situations like that, I have long since learned that all the pantomime and hand gestures are hopelessly inadequate to get the concept across. (Although one plucky youngster insisted that she was Snow White - however, since she was wearing a headband with bright red sequined ears at the time, I felt that her grasp of the character had to be called into question to a serious extent.) My personal favorite was a young lady dressed as a cupcake, complete with sprinkles, and a hat shaped like whipped cream with a cherry on top. She looked good enough to eat, and I don't say that lightly. Ordinarily, this is where I would be rattling off the details of costumes in order of popularity, but that only works because I have a tape recorder which I use to keep a record of their costumes as they come to the door - since they often show up in bunches at a time, and I can't write them down fast enough before the next bunch comes a-knocking. Unfortunately, the tape recorder malfunctioned at its utmost indispensable moment, and I was left to rely on my admittedly faulty memory to reconstruct the gaps in my list. So I really can't give an accurate breakdown of costume choices, without my tape to refer back to, except to say that I remember a lot of ninjas, and I know that there were 3 cheetahs, and what seemed like an endless parade of princesses. I also distinctly recall a pint-sized Batman, who accepted his treats with good spirits, and then trotted right into the house, as if he planned to settle in for the night. The masked munchkins were coming thick and fast, and it seemed like things were going great guns, so I was expecting some big numbers for a change - but then it cut out at 8:00 PM like turning off a light switch, and we had not one single solitary soul after that. I found out later that it had started raining, and I think we probably would have done a lot better except for that. Even without the tape, I can be sure that we had 56 visitors, because I always make 100 gift bags, and I still had 44 left after all was said and done. I was somewhat disappointed at the turnout, but it was still way better than last year with Hurricane Sandy (when there was nobody at all) or even the previous year, when a freak snowstorm caused municipalities to cancel Halloween throughout the region. Of course, it doesn't take a Christopher Columbus to tell you that there's nothing that can be done about the weather, heaven knows, so all we can do is set our course and hope for the best. If you bump into any Indians, tell them Queen Isabella sent you. Elle