TheBanyanTree: Celebrating Autumn

[Margaret R. Kramer]

As I read through in the newspaper all the fall and Halloween activities
scheduled for this weekend and through Halloween on Wednesday next week, I
can’t help but remember that a few years ago, like in the 70s or 80s,
Halloween almost disappeared from the map.

Somehow the Tylenol arsenic poisonings in Chicago back then affected
Halloween.  Parents of small children were scared that someone would try to
put arsenic in candy for trick or treat, so they kept their children inside
on Halloween night.  That’s when the malls and stores began their own trick
or treat activities.  Parents felt there was safety in well-light, known
stores rather than taking their chances tromping down dark streets and
accepting gifts of food from people they didn’t know.

So Halloween began to shut down and some people feared that it would become
a quaint custom that might inspire mild interest from future generations.

But then something happened, I think in the late 90s that inspired interest
in Halloween all over again.  Perhaps it was the retail industry pushing
Christmas shopping into summer that prompted people to say, “Hey, wait a
minute, we don’t want to be rushed into spending our money,”  Hay rides,
corn mazes, apples, and harvest festivals proliferated around the
centerpiece of Halloween.  Adults gave themselves permission to dress up in
crazy costumes and have wild parties.  Now Halloween flourishes as the
second largest shopping spree of the year.

I’ve always loved Halloween, so I’m glad to see it make a big comeback.  I
love the rituals of fall, gathering in the harvest, putting the garden to
bed, getting the home ready for the days of winter, cooking pots of comfort
food and baking cookies and cakes, and finally, gathering with family and
friends as the nights get longer and colder.

After the deluge we’ve had for the past two months, the rain finally
stopped, the blue sky is a background highlighting the golds, reds, and
yellows of the last gasp of autumn.  We’ve had no rain for a week!

The grandsons have two football games this afternoon, make-up games from
rain outs.  They play flag football, there’s no tackling, and they’re just
little kids, so it’s not a big deal to them to be physically active for most
of an afternoon.  It’s going to be a nice day, too, just perfect to watch
some football.

I have bills to pay, some paperwork to fill out, and I’d like to bake some
pumpkin cookies later on.  I’ll put the flannel sheets on our bed.  I’ll put
out the winter bird feeders.  I’m hoping to have tomorrow to rake leaves and
get my garden beds ready to be covered.  We still haven’t had a frost or a
freeze yet, so the flowers are continuing to bloom their hearts out.  I’ll
mow the grass one more time before Ray can winterize the lawn mower and
stuff it in the back of the garage and bring out the snowblower to be front
and center.

Finally, I’ll store in the garage the last item from summer, our long hose
which is in the backyard.  Then I’m ready for the browns and blacks of
November.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare