last day of October

The month of October is showing off with a spectacular final act.  The skies are hazy at first, but the air is gently warm, in an autumnal kind of way.






(The cheepers follow me to the front yard, rustling along the golden maple carpet.)






For the next few months, Sparrow will be adding Wednesday mornings to his time with me. He shows up early, dressed for the last day of October.
Can you say boo?  Oh, that sounds more like an ahhh. Good enough!






(Like any 4.5 month old, Sparrow loves to stare at himself in the mirror...)






The little guy eats, but we put off our own morning meal until later. Ed isn't ready for it, I'm not ready for it.

Finally, long after he leaves, we do a proper later morning breakfast.






As the day progresses, the skies clear. The kids could not ask for a better Wisconsin Halloween! Such a beautiful, beautiful day!

The robins are frantically going after those apples. I love watching them, but there is a price to pay for all that apple consumption: the birds do not digest the seeds and crab apple seedlings sprout everywhere! And what doesn't fall to the ground falls on the cars that are parked under the great willow where the birds like to rest after their eating frenzy.






Never mind, it's all rather beautiful. Red birds, red apples, red sheep shed -- all in a petticoat of gold.






In the afternoon I pick up Snowdrop. (The little girl and her puffin who goes back and forth each day with her, except on the day she forgot him. That was a morning of great drama. But not today -- today the hazy sun is with us and puffie is firmly in her grip.)






(At the farmhouse: so many stories in that little head waiting to come out...)






In the late, late afternoon, I tell her it's time to head home for Halloween!

 Okay okay okay! Right after a quick romp with the chickens.





Trick-or-treating from one pumpkin  bedecked door to the next is such an American kid ritual! True, when I was a child living in a Manhattan apartment, I felt shy and silly going from door to door. I had a UNICEF box and I hid behind it and tried to collect pennies for that worthy organization instead of candy for myself, even though I was nuts about sweets in those days. Still, it felt strange knocking on doors. Then came Halloween in Madison with my own kids. Now that was a big deal!

And it is a big deal for Snowdrop too! Here she is, getting ready to set out with Sparrow. She is  Princess Aurora, he is Orca the whale.






Since their dad has work commitments tonight, I am stepping in to help. A sitter comes over to stay at the house and give out candy (the sitter has many, many sitting talents; one I love is her ability to fashion anything and everything out of Snowdrop's hair; tonight, she crafts for the girl a princess bun).






We eat a quick dinner then set out. (Sparrow is in the stroller where he promptly falls asleep.)






The night grows dark, the girl grows bolder...






... then, after many many houses and a bucket full of candy, she wears out. Double strollers were invented for the long walk back after a Halloween night out.

And Sparrow? Well, he doesn't get the candy, but he enjoys chewing on his whale fin.






Snowdrop gets her sweet allotment for the night...






She's happy as can be, even though she can't finish her three wee sized pieces of candy.





The pleasure is all in the beautiful evening, surely not just in the swizzler stick (deep pink!) or in the Reese's peanut butter nugget.