Halloween!

I love Halloween. This is actually a recent development because for many years I thought it was just a silly commercial endeavor. And it is, of course. But ever since I lived in Dallas surrounded by people who really loved Halloween, I've kind of gotten to like it. Also, I made a break through in costuming, as shown by last year's theme of "sparkly." It was fun to be an adjective. And this year, being "Halloween" for Halloween was a good time, all black-n-orange (a la high school--go Phantoms!) complete with cobwebs, fake spiders, and funky black tights. I guess you'd say I was a noun this year. Next year I'm going to be an idiom. I'm going to be the "cat's pajama's."

Saturday it snowed, big fat flakes that couldn't be willfully ignored. I don't know why I was so surprised. I spent a lot of Halloween's as a kid with my costume hiding under a winter jacket. It was a shock all the same.

Sunday was beautiful, sunny and nearly 70. Jon and I went to the Harvard Arboritum which was an amazingly beautiful place (and free!); I can't believe I hadn't been there before. Best of all, almost everything is labeled, which is heaven for a geek like me. I tried to show off my tree knowledge to Jon, but there were so many different kinds of oak trees that I'd never heard of before! I grew up with two: red and white. Damned if there weren't about ten others.... black, pin, scarlet, burr oak, swamp oak... simply ridiculous. And I couldn't tell most of them apart. But I did manage to teach Jon how to identify a maple tree. I figured as a hockey fan, he could at least manage that, and he did quite well.

I'm virtually alone in the office today because all of the senior staff is on retreat, planning for the coming year. This means I have to answer the main phone line because on Friday we lost one of the Pams (I think every office should have two Pams. Having only one is a threat to national security)! So I'm the sole representor of the Development (I'm sorry, Institutional Advancement) and also the secretary. "Hello Hearth-Ending Elder Homelessness, Jennifer speaking." Oh boy. I hope I don't get too tongue-twisted on the phone. That happens to me sometime.