Happy Halloween

It is Friday October 31, 2008 Halloween. It is also the last day of October. November starts tomorrow and so does my last bout with making phone call surveys for the local Democratic Candidate. After this coming Tuesday, the election for President will be over. The political signs will come down. The local political races will also be decided. The new month will focus on Thanksgiving turkey day which includes football and food. There will be lots of both. I can only hope we have some cool weather to go with this Thanksgiving. I have a lot of memories associated with past Thanksgiving dinners. My Aunt Jean was a very big part of those memories. She was a perfectionist with the food, the place settings, the living room and the stereo music. There was never a bad turkey or a silver setting that was dirty and out of place. The music she listen to was from the 1940's big band era on the local radio station. She outlived my dad and my Uncle Paul from North Carolina. She even outlived her husband Tom which we didn't know had been married before until after he passed away. Going back in time when my dad would drive mom and I over from Oakland, Florida to New Port Richey we would see the wild flowers growing along the road. They would be small pretty flowers and have many different colors of purple, pink and different shades of maroon. I don't think we ever stopped to pick those flowers, but I always thought it would have been nice. We always seemed to be on a time schedule, but in a round about way would end up slightly a little late. We would make one or two stops along the way to stretch or take a restroom break. My dad would get there in an acceptable time and we would be committed for staying one or two days afterwards. My sister got out of those commitments most of time, because she worked and had animals to look after. My Aunt Jean and my Uncle Tom adjust well to Florida living. They had lived in Indiana, but chose to spend there retirement in Florida. They even had a local Catholic church across from their subdivision so they didn't have far to travel to attend church. Halloween was more my holiday. I as a kid would make a once a year house to house search with two big paper sacks to collect candy from neighbors I didn't even know. I felt like I made out like a bandit and no one ever did anything cruel like put razor blades in the candy. I did hear rumors, but fortunately they only stayed that way for me. It was also a chance to get creative with the costumes. The older I got the more creative I tried to get. There was the time Rosie O'Gradys had the Halloween costume contest. I tried to make a paper Ms. Pac Man. I didn't win anything, because the people there were far more creative than I dreamed of being. I under estimated my competition. This year mom tries giving the hand out tooth brushes. We will see how well this is received. I hope there will be a good old scary movie on. The picture is of two guys we met last night who went fishing underneath the North bridge where the pylons are located. Their oars are shovels which double as scrapers of the oysters which grow on the pylons. This action brings the fish to the surface and they bring home a lot of good eating fish.