October 31, 2020

In The Clear.

From a 1982 commercial for Zayre Department Stores. I never did figure out where to buy a clear bathtub.

Neighborhood.

I was encouraged by the number of Trick or Treaters in the neighborhood late this afternoon. Parents and kids were going from house to house. Familiar calls of “trick or treat” were yelled from the sidewalk.

The majority of houses had a table set up on the front lawn with an assortment of candy and a bottle of hand sanitizer. I saw a half dozen houses with some sort of candy delivery system, usually a bunch of discarded paper towel rolls affixed end to end. A grown up would send candy down the chute to the waiting child with a trick or treat bag. One house had a witch’s hat in the end of the delivery system, and the candy shot out the witch’s hat.

This little slice of normal in the neighborhood raised my spirits a lot. Of course, we don’t get trick or treaters, being five stories up in a condo building, but Earl and I are eating the candy in the spirit of the holiday. It’s the American thing to do.

I was happy to see neighbors still decorating their houses. This has been an ongoing thing since the beginning of the month.

It certainly helps the mental state of the neighborhood. Happy Halloween!