Dreaming of France -- Halloween

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

It's a funny post this week, because I'm focused on something that happened here in Ohio rather than something in France.
But it's making me think of France because my husband and I plan to move to France next fall, and then we won't be in the same city with our children. It may be our last Halloween living close to each other.
So my husband, who is quite artistic, agreed to carve a pumpkin for each of the kids.
We delivered Spencer's to him on Friday when we drove to Ohio University to visit him for his birthday.

Tonight, we visited the other kids' apartments and left a lit jack o'lantern glowing on by their doors, along with a small bag of candy.

Here's our black cat posing with the pumpkins before we took them. 

The porch on Tucker's apartment was pretty dark. 

This is the same pumpkin at Grace's apartment -- like the famous drama mask, one side shows comedy while the other shows tragedy.

I'm not sure how we'll celebrate  Halloween next year when we're in France, but I suspect it won't be the same.

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France today. Please leave your name and blog address in Mr. Linky below, and leave a comment letting me know what  you think about my love affair with France, or your own passion for the country and its people and cultures. Also consider visiting the blogs of others who play along so we can all share the love.

Mulling Over Autumn

Autumn is my favorite time of year, but I've had some new insights into this season in the past few weeks.

My phone didn't capture a very good photo
of the eclipse. It looked pretty full each time.

I go for a run early in the morning while it is still dark, and October had barely begun before I started to feel the morning get a little creepy. Only a few leaves had fallen, but I could hear them, their dried carcasses scuttling along the street as the autumn wind blew. I knew it was only fallen leaves blowing, but I understood why Halloween was scheduled in October.
Then last week came the lunar eclipse, which was an awesome thing.
When I headed out the door around 5:15, the eclipse hadn't officially begun. The moon looked bright and round. I chased it for nearly an hour, watching as a bigger and bigger bite was chomped from the circle.
Finally, only a sliver remained, like a sideways Cheshire cat grin.

Before I turned my back on the moon to head indoors the moon had become a faint round glow. It was supposed to look red, but barely stood out against the dark sky.
I wondered what early people thought on one of those mornings when the dry leaves skittered across the ground like so many unseen creatures and suddenly the moon began to disappear. No wonder they would make sacrifices and call out to unknown gods. That stuff is scary.
This week as I ran, accustomed to the darkness and now careful of the leaves on the ground, which had become wet and slippery, I got to see Halloween decorations that my overzealous town inhabitants have draped their houses with. Orange lights are very popular, as are spider webs looking like clouds that landed in people's bushes.
Part of my run in down around a cul de sac. It's one of the more isolated sections of my run, and a street light along there seems to go dark every time I run past. It's like one of those motion detector lights, but it apparently goes out whenever I run near.
So I was concentrating on the dark street when I noticed to my left someone walking in a front yard. The person carried a flashlight and wore a long white gown. I couldn't really see the person's face but got the impression he/she wore a hat.
I wasn't too startled. I frequently see newspaper delivery people walking along the yards. It wasn't until I came back to that same road about half an hour later  and the sun shone bright enough that I saw two "ghosts" flapping in the

wind and I began to wonder if the person I saw out in they yard had been trying to scare me by acting like a ghost too.
But I wasn't scared because ghosts don't carry flashlights, and I didn't even see the pumpkin-headed ghosts waving on their clothesline.
So my autumn is full of new and possibly scary things, but I spent my summer sitting on the couch recovering from a foot injury, so I know that even scarier than running in the dark in the early morning, is doing nothing and growing out of shape.
So here's a photo of the brighter side of life from a walk I took with my friend Sheila. The fallen leaves, wet now, but still coloring the sidewalk like so much confetti.

Happy Halloween

Some truly scary stuff is going on here. They're talking about canceling trick or treating because of a weather front that is moving in today with high winds. A cold front with strong, gusty winds, they're warning. Come on kids. Tough it out if you really want the candy.
Also, making my day is a selfie shot sent by my daughter Grace.

That's sure to shock anyone.
I texted her back and said, "I told  you to dump that guy!"
But luckily, I'm joking and I know that she is in her stage makeup class doing her best to look bruised and battered.
Does anyone remember the David Sedaris story where his sister Amy goes to have her picture taken for a magazine story about New York women? Amy asked to look like a battered woman? Love David Sedaris. Here's the story.
Hope Grace remembers to take off that makeup before heading to her next class.

October Harvest

Three teenagers.
Two cats.

And one scary pumpkin that traveled back to a dorm in New York.