We didn’t see a single monster, in part because it was raining hard all evening, but also because this is a 40-year-old neighborhood and there are no young families living here (cost of houses is through the roof).

I have three bags of candy left (Heath, Snickers, Mr. Goodbar).

We had a 5 bags of candy trick or treat night. Minus the four Snickers bars that I held out for myself. ;) If it was just our neighborhood, there wouldn’t be that many kids, but parents truck their kids in from all over the place. Driving your kids from neighborhood to neighborhood seems to be all the rage now. That aggravates me.

I don’t keep up with the latest in Halloween safety anymore, but I noticed a new parental practice last night. Can’t tell you how many times parents snapped my photograph with a digital camera while I was handing out candy. They weren’t aiming for the kids, either. I guess I’m on record now in the event anything unfortunate happens. That just fills me with the warm fuzzies. I think it’s kind of rude, too, but whatever.

The best costume of the night? A little swashbucking pirate girl. She had the greatest outfit and I so wanted to grab her black velvet hat (with feathers) and keep it.

Yesterday I made a quick trip to the Berkshires as it was my mom’s 92nd birthday....took her out to lunch, etc. spent the day and got home after trick or treating.  First time ever I have not been here. 

But, I left specific instructions and a HUGE bowl of candy with backups.  I figure I opened at least 5-6 bags and filled the bowl. I would guess that is somwhere around 80-90 pieces (I saved the peanut butter cups!!;) - when I got back home around 8:30 I asked how many kids had come, the answer was around 30 (which is at least 30 less than usual), but I looked at the candy that was left and either someone HERE ate a lot or he handed out handfuls (which is fine) or there were considerably more than 30!!  Years ago, they bussed them in here all the time and a NORMAL evening was 100-150++ kids!!  No joke...........

Happy birthday, Cyn’s mom!

We used to have many more trick or treaters than we do now, too. They’ve really thinned out over the last three or four years. Part of it is because we don’t have many youngsters left in this neighborhood, but we’ve always had kids from surrounding neighborhoods, too. I don’t know whether parents are finding other alternatives or what. I used to find that 6 bags of candy weren’t enough. In the past, though, I’ve usually been rather more generous with the late comers who tend to be older kids. They’d end up getting a handful of candy just to get rid of it before the end of the night. This year, I had to stick with the one piece per kid rule. The last piece was gone about 7:30 and I had to shut the door and turn out the light. Of course, the kids are supposed to be finished by 7:00, but the older stragglers like to come around late and scoop up the remainders. They don’t carry pillow cases for nothing.