Halloween 2010

I love Halloween!!! Robin and I don't hand out candy due to the fact that we have four insane dogs who bark very loudly at the slightest noise. They even bark when they hear a doorbell on the television! I can't imagine how it would be when children come to the door every few minutes asking for candy! Also, I seem to remember that the last couple of years that my Mom handed out candy in this house she said that there weren't as many trick-or-treaters and that she had a ton of candy left over and that's the last thing we need!

I really wanted to do something for Halloween! A couple of months ago I made plans to do the first annual Charleston Zombie Walk but unfortunately, it was the same weekend as my radiation quarantine. No zombie walk this year but hopefully we can do it next year!

We wanted to get out of the house on Halloween night so we didn't have to hear the dogs barking at the slightest sound of children walking around the neighborhood. Being that it was on a Sunday night and I had to work the next day I wanted to do something low-key so, after being inspired by Joan's Charleston Daily Photo blog entry and also the entries from Roaming the Holy City blog about the decorations downtown, Robin and I decided to take a walk to see them... I just had to do something for my favorite holiday!

We parked on Legare Street and immediately after getting out of the car we met Jack... the Superdog.

Nothing is cuter than animals in costumes!!

We weren't disappointed! We turned and walked down Gibbes Street and were met by some really loud barking. We looked across the street and saw a couple of dogs in the cutest costumes. I really wanted to take their photos but the barking was insane! After a minute, or so, the owner came out and chatted with us a bit. She even tried to get the doggie trio to pose for me. They weren't really having any of it.

Astro as The Scarecrow

Unfortunately, we didn't get the The Tin Man's name.

Maggie as Dorothy

Astro was super-friendly! So friendly that I couldn't get him to move away from me and the camera so I could get a photo of his whole costume which, by the way, the owner made! Love it!

We roamed the streets... going up and down each one looking at all the fabulous decorations. It made me a bit sad that we didn't decorate or really do anything for Halloween. Robin joked that if we did put any decorations outside they'd be gone by the morning. Sadly, she's probably right.

Gotta think of the trick or treating pups! - I love this!

Trick or Treating - 29401 style - on a golf cart!

The photo above was taken just after a young girl knocked on the door of this house on South Battery. 'The Scream' character answered the door and all we heard was a loud, shrill scream and saw the girl running down the street! I managed to catch a blurred photo of her on the run!

'The Scream' said "Did I do something wrong?" I yelled to "it" from across the street that I thought they might have a lot of candy left at the end of the night if things kept going like that!

After walking around for a while I had to go to the bathroom so we walked back to the car and drove to the store. After a bathroom break and a drink we drove back to the same neighborhood and parked on a South Battery this time. It was now dark and a totally different scene! I never realized how many people actually drove carloads of kids in from other neighborhoods to trick or treat on The Battery! Wow.

After darkness had fallen all the cute little trick or treaters had gone home and Robin and I could not believe what we were seeing. First of all, most of the trick or treaters that were out after dark had no costumes on. What is that all about? Secondly, is there an age limit for trick or treating? We actually saw a woman that was 50+ years old asking for candy! That's another thing - these older "kids" were so rude. Earlier in the day we heard young children saying "Trick or treat", "Thank you" and even "Have a happy Halloween!" When night fell, we hardly heard "Thank you", let alone "trick or treat"! It was a totally different scene when the sun went down!

Robin and I were discussing what we would do if we owned one of these beautiful, expensive, historic homes and all these kids were trucked in to get our "better" candy... what do you do? I guess it's better to just give a "treat" rather than get a "trick" later on! Right?

It was so nice to get out and walk in this beautiful, cool weather! I remember when I was a kid up North we would go out to trick or treat and you couldn't even see our costume because it was always covered with coat, it was so cold!

For some bizarre reason my Mother LOVED to dress me up as a gypsy every year. That's really the only thing I can remember being. That, and one time she dressed me and my sisters up as old lady bums (or something to that degree!) I hated being a gypsy because Mom would always draw a "beauty mark" on my face with her eyebrow pencil. It was always so prominent and dark. I hated it and would always wipe off by the time I got to school. It's kind of ironic I actually ended up with a permanent one! Mom was always my room mother and when she came to the school later in the afternoon to bring cupcakes, or whatever she volunteered to bring that day for the Halloween party for my class, she would notice the absence of my beauty mark and would just give me "the look". I never got in trouble, or anything, but I knew that she disapproved of my alteration of her masterpiece of a costume.

Several times I won the costume contest in class with the gypsy costume. When I would get home and report to my Mother she would always give me the "See! I told you so!" lecture. Also, I remember going to a costume party at the Moose Lodge in 1978 - I have no idea how or why we were there since my parent's were not members. I was dressed as a gypsy (Imagine that!) and I actually won the costume contest, there also. I won a Baby Ruth candy bar, which I have never liked. What kind of prize is that, anyway? Cheap bastards. I always wore big hoop earrings as part of my costume. They were clip ons and they hurt my ears. I wasn't allowed to get my ears pierced until I was nine, but that's a whole other story!

One day I will have to recreate the gypsy costume in Mom's honor. I don't think I would mind it as much these days. However, I still might protest the fake beauty mark and go without. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone and will be a zombie gypsy for the zombie walk!

Hmmmmmm...