It IS Hallowe'en, After All

10-ft. Lego Man: Costume or Hucksterism?

What seemed to befuddle those on the scene seems elementary to me: weeks after the opening of LEGOLAND in Florida, a huge lego guy washes up on the beach in...Florida! If there's a mystery here, it's one that involves the investigative powers of local television stations.
But, then, it IS Hallowe'en. I love this holiday though I might be the only one in my family who does. It's just the memories of bags of candy, apples and popcorn balls (for some unknown reason) that make me break out in a sugar rush. My job usually amounts to handing out the candy and being sufficiently scared by the really scary ones. Face it, though, a junior high kid wearing no costume, holding out a pillow case defiantly and refusing to even say the "magic" words CAN get a bit annoying. I love to see the really little kids come to the door while Mom or Dad waits on the sidewalk, saying, "Remember to say'Thank you'" every time. It just kills me.
This year, as always, we were besieged by hordes of kids dropped off from minivans, obviously NOT from our neighborhood. While the Facebook page of the neighborhood association was filled with grousings about it, I don't mind. Hey, I walked all over town for hours when I was a youngster...though maybe driving them around in a minivan might not be the best...at least make them walk for a bit of exercise.
But my favorites this year were a group of six adults: they all had their really small children in wagons and were letting them get out to beg for candy; while I knew some of them, some were strangers...though THEY all knew each other. Each of the adults was walking down the street carrying either a bag of candy or pulling the wagon...and drinking beer. I laughed at first when I realized what it was...then, I thought about giving them a lecture about good example to youngsters...then I just laughed and enjoyed the evening filled with locust-like masses of kids having fun, adults having "fun" with their kids, and all around good times in the neighborhood.
And not one junior high kid planted toilet paper in my trees...though one brandished a roll at me as he left.