Halloween

I know several of my family members don't feel about Halloween as I do -- now, not as I did when I was a child.  That aside, I must reference my niece's BLOG for today where she talks about her children going from house to house.  Her son didn't want to go out in the daylight, and so they left near sundown so he could have some time in the dark.

All I wanted to say was that when I was growing up, I NEVER went out in the dark, and I was always angry with my mom and dad for not allowing me to do that.  At least on that day I was.  But at night when I was counting up the money I had collected, surveying all the great candy bars I had gotten, and looking at that apple taffy I got at Gardner's I knew my parents were the best.

You see, if I had waited until dark, I would have missed out on the great candy bars, because after talking with several of my friends who only went out after dark I found out that the great candy bars were gone by dark.  Same with the money places.  And, ditto with Gardner's and the apple taffy. 

So, while I didn't like what my mom and dad insisted on, and while they were just trying to protect me, I suppose, I see that they were smarter than I thought, and because of their insistance on me going out before dark, I was able to collect the best of the best of the candy, money, and that wonderful apple taffy!

Before I sign off, I have to apologize for any misspellings.  Apparently Blogspot doesn't have spellcheck any more, so I may have some words wrong.  So sorry.

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I lost my list

I had a list of items about which I wanted to write.  I lost it.  Well, misplaced it.  I'll find it one of these days, but not today.

It's a beautiful fall day here in Northern Kentucky, the leaves are still hanging on the trees, barely.  I know that after tomorrow's weather comes through all the leaves will be gone.  We're supposed to have t-storms and high winds.  Today, though, is a good day to get outside and enjoy the porch. 

Wish I was still at 116 E Second and enjoying that porch. 

I recall that Alan's and my first home had a wonderful front porch and the children were either babies, toddlers, or very young when we lived there, and the porch was the perfect place for them to play as long as the temperature was conducive to outdoor play.  That house was NOT in Runnemede, but it was a Runnemede-type home, old, in need of some repair, not exactly a money-pit.  But, I loved that house.  Of all the places we've lived, I loved that house more than any other.

Yes, even more than the home where I grew up.  And probably more than the home where I now live, which I really, really am enjoying in my elder years.

At this point in the year, the windows on the Pike in Runnemede would have been painted by the 8th graders with Halloween pictures on the inside.  The bad kids, or children whose parents didn't care, were getting their eggs ready and stashed for their mischief-night escapades.  It was considered a right of passage, I supposed to go down on the pike and egg the Halloween windows, so that on Halloween, they were a mess.  I never heard of toilet papering a tree until we moved out here.  Do they do that back east?

I never participated in the egg throwing, but I suppose my brothers did.  We didn't have a car so we never suffered the egg-throwing in that way either.  When I finally got a car, on mischief night I parked it out behind the house between the house and the church where no one would see it.  It was safe there.  Dad would light up the house and watch the school across the street just in case.

It looks like that even without "my list" I can come up with something to remember about Runnemede, and this beautiful day in N. KY evoked those memories.

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October is upon us, in full bloom

The trees are turning so fast.  I wrote about the leaves turning in September, and I couldn't believe it.  Well, they are turning so fast now.  I must get a picture to post to show you.  But that's here in Northern Kentucky.  In Runnemede, I don't know, and since all my early pictures of my favorite town are in black and white, I won't be able to post a Runnemede-in-the-fall picture.  Bummer.

I heard from Bill T. again.  October is his favorite month.  And I can understand why.  The weather is at its best if you don't like hot or cold.  I mean it might get up to 60 degrees today, which for a woman who still gets hot flashes (and I know that's more information that you need) 60 degrees is just about right.  Which reminds me that I pushed the thermostat back to 65 and Alan was freezing so he put it back up to 74, and then I pushed it back to 68 where it sits right now.

Back to Bill T.  He mentions the beautiful colors of the leaves, and I do recall the vividness of the colors on the trees.  Out here, the leaves are not the beautiful oranges or pinkish reds that the leaves in Runnemede had.  I know the tree brands are the same, and maybe it's because we are warmer here, I don't know.  I miss the beautiful hues of the trees I enjoyed as a child. 

Remember gathering leaves and then pressing the best of the best between two sheets of wax paper with an iron to make a place mat for the table?  My mom had us do that almost every fall, and those place mats would sit on our table for at least a week before they got all rumpled by us rowdy kids.  My sister and I would carefully cut a scalloped edge to our placemats, while my brothers just yawned, did the ironing, and went off to play.

Bill reminded me that the new models of cars came out in October.  He mentioned to me that every male went to see these new cars.  Hey, Bill, so did a lot of females.  I always walked down to Campbell Chevrolet to see the new cars.  Baseball?  I'll have to leave that to my brother who still collects baseball cards at the young age of 61.

And I see that we all went to the same places to get our treats on Halloween.  Gardners being the prime place.  But I remember that you had to get there early or all those candy apples would be gone.  Gardners was always the first place I went.  Then I would do a figure 8 around town hitting the houses I knew either gave out money or gave out nickel candy bars. 

And we used to gather the leaves and burn them in the incinerator we had in our back yard.  Burning trash was acceptable back in those days of the 40s and 50s.  Who knew that we were killing future Americans with all that smoke we were putting into the air.  Seems that my age group is getting older, so I guess we didn't inhale as much as the eco-friendly people thought we did. 

Again, I have to thank Bill for reminding me what I loved about Runnemede.  For those of you on Facebook, there is a page entitled:  Good Ole Runnemede and the folks who talk on that thread talk about Runnemede back when.  Just search Facebook for Runnemede NJ and the link to Good Ole Runnemede.

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Apple taffies

Also known as candied apples. Only apple taffies always have a red, hard, candy coating with NO nuts. All you get is apple and hard taffy.

So why am I writing about apple taffies? Well, Alan and I visited the local Piggly Wiggly today and there they were -- red taffy apples, just like I used to get in Runnemede on Halloween from Gardner's Funeral Home. That was the "treat" they handed out to the first 100 or so children who showed up at the Home. I made sure I got there as soon after school as I could so I could get one of those delectable treats.

So, I'm sitting here, writing about candied applies or apple taffies with a taffy in my hand between sentences, biting the delicious crunchy taffy and getting a mouth full of delicious applies (that's also Delicious Apple -- the type -- a very sweet, hard apple works best). Yummmmmmm.

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What is it about holidays?

I have written a couple of remembrances of holidays as I remember them. What is it about holidays that makes one remember smells, tastes, laughs, and other things with such fondness?



My sister was recalling Halloween. We don't "honor" halloween any more. We didn't "do" halloween when my children were growing up either. Without getting "religious", let me just say that I believe Halloween is the devil's holiday, wholly. And because of all the evil things that transpire on that day or around that day, we felt is was a safety thing for our family to ignore the day and think on Godly things.



That said...



How can I explain what Halloween was like when I was a child. It was fun! And I guess for some today, it is also fun, but all I can see is the dark side of Halloween. However, when I was a kid, I would rush home from school on October 31 (I wasn't allowed to participate before I went to school), and since I had a costume already for school, I just checked in with my mother and off I went with my bag.



There were certain places in Runnemede that I had to get to before they ran out. Gardner's Funeral home always gave out apple taffies. Not the nut covered kind, but the red-hots covered kind. They were soooo good. Then I went to Calenders, on Clements Bridge Road, two up from the church, because they gave out nickles. There was a home (don't know who's it was) on Knight Avenue that gave out dimes. After that circle was completed, I methodically went up and down the pike, because the stores gave nickle candy bars (50 cent candy bars these days). Then after I got up to 8th Avenue, I would work my way back going back and forth on the various avenues. Now, I didn't cross the railroad tracks, there was enough good stuff on our side of the tracks. And, I had to be home before dark (which was at 5:00 p.m.). I was never allowed out after dark.



I don't recall any reports of razors or pins in candy, or poison, or any kidnappings or beatings. We just had fun.



I'm sure my banging on Halloween might offend some family members, but that's okay. You have to come to a conclusion on your own, based on your understanding of God's word about "fleeing evil", etc., and because some in my family still celebrate Halloween, doesn't mean I love them any less, or think that God isn't pleased with them. It's just something Alan and I determined and we stuck to it.



But this muse was not supposed to be about Halloween, it is supposed to be about holidays.