works of wanderlust

Tag: halloween

  • weekend wrap, twenty one

    October turned to November and with just a couple months left in 2025 its tough not to get all waxy poetic here. We have a vacation incoming this month, I finished my summer work, I completed my October challenge of suburban sketching, and I don’t have much going on in the training department (at least until we’re back from our trip.)

    That said, this first weekend of November was busy-ish:

    Friday night was Halloween, obviously. We’ve been going thru this transition while the Kid was in High School where she no longer hung out with her old man to go out and do Halloweenie things. As a result, through most of high school we spent October 31st evening camped in our living room to hand out candy to the fewer-than-twenty kids who wandered by.  This year, we ditched. She’s in Uni and opted to stay home and take over the candy biz (for what turned out to be ten kids total) and we went over to C&A’s house for an “empty nesters” jam. Sure, we’re not quite empty nesting, but some days the Kid no longer being a kid hits more real. 

    Saturday was chill. I barely got off the couch, if I’m being honest. We got our annual flu shots on Friday afternoon, so by Saturday I was feeling the residual ache of my immune system reacting. I spent some time on my 8r4d-stagram code base—which consequently noted turns three years old today!— and made a couple more pre-trip tweaks to the place I’ll be posting most of my photos.

    We made stew for supper and settled in to watch a movie. Chill.

    Sunday morning was daylight savings time. It was the good one… the extra hour of sleep one. The dog didn’t care and wanted her breakfast at the regular time tho, so I’ll have to claim my extra hour incrementally over the next couple weeks as I adjust her to the time change.

    We met and ran eight klicks in the chilly pre-winter air. It was harder than it should have been, but my whole body is kinda settling in for the season I think. I need to re-energize before our trip somehow, but maybe candy, slouching, and flu shot were not the way.

    And then as sort of an epic conclusion to the weekend, the Kid, I and nine of the run clubbers met at West Edmonton Mall to go to the IMAX rerelease of Back to the Future in celebration of it’s 40th anniversary. That was the real party. 

  • All Hallows’ Eve

    Happy Halloween!

    With near certainty, within a week or so I’ll be shovelling the sidewalk clear of fresh snow and contemplating pulling my cross country skis from storage.

    But … as of right now it is still October, the air is crisp but not quite freezing, and as the sun starts to set over to the west I’m busy putting out the last few decorations and readying a big bowl of candy for the inevitable arrival of wee trick-or-treaters.

    We spent the better part of the weekend cleaning up the backyard, raking the fallen leaves from the grass, and stacking the outdoor furniture in the shed.

    This year I again set up a cozy set of wooden benches around my backyard firepit and kept the campfire supplies handy near the front of the storage area so I can attempt some winter cookouts outdoors. Last year the snow fell and I piled up small heaps and built burms into a campfire cove in the middle of the yard where we cozily cuddled around our old fire bowl. This year I hope to improve on the design and add the cooking capacity by making use of my new-this-season fire pit. What would be more fun that toasting a big pot of chili over the fire come December, warming up that big cast iron Dutch oven for a steamy winter wonderland feast right in our backyard?

    Still, we have a few days of pre-snow to enjoy the dwindling remains of the late-summer and autumn.

    In the neighbourhood one subdivision over they are likely to send off the month with a celebration of Halloween fireworks. I’ll hand out some candy from our front door, click off the lights as the evening grows later, and wander across the street to check them out.

    Boom! Crack! Pop!

    And … boo!

    Then. It’s basically winter. Alright, that is a little scary.