July is October

Happy Halloween All,

Strangely Halloween here bears a striking resemblance to the 4th of July... This is the weekend of fireworks...people have been setting them off all weekend. It's kind of cozy, sitting in my warm house while it's rainy and dark and the fireworks give the impression of a thunder storm out there. The laws pertaining to fireworks must be really different here cuz these are the real thing, put away your bottle rockets. I've been watching explosions outside that more closely resemble the displays on the esplanade than a back yard barbecue. Very pretty (but it is amazing that nothing gets burned down!)

Other than the firworks, it's been a quiet halloween although I got a couple of my neighbor's kids trick or treating and did manage to carve myself a jack-o-lantern yesterday. I guess the days of turnip carving may be coming to an end! Imported pumpkins have appeared in the supermarkets here in the last few years (although they come with instructions for how to make a, "lantern"!) Even though I'm halfway across the world, it still smells like Halloween here and the night has that cold, dark quality to tells you that winter is on its way (although here the dark is much more pronounced than the cold.) When I woke up this morning, I couldn't tell whether it was 4am or 11am...it's just that dark. I could definitely hibernate.

night,night.