Happy Halloween!!!

Twenty years ago in October (exactly twenty days after I got my driver's license), I went to see one of my literary idols. Ray Bradbury was beyond an author to me. He felt like more of a mystical travel agent. He was the first author to make me feel like I was within the story, and not just hearing about it.

When I showed up at Earthling Books, I bought six of his novels to get signed. Most of them, I'd already checked out at the library and read, but now I was going to own autographed copies!

The one I was most excited to see Mr. Bradbury sign his name in, and the one I still need to pull off the shelf every October, was The Halloween Tree. The first several chapters in that novel are Halloween.


Like most holidays, Halloween hasn't felt nearly as magical as an adult as it did when I was a child.

But this year, I'm seeing the excitement and mystery through my son's eyes!

Isaiah's Uncle Nate & Aunt Sarah came over on Halloween Eve to carve pumpkins. Isaiah chose his pumpkin, JoanMarie drew a face on it to resemble his smile, then Isaiah helped clean it out.


I did the cutting, added the candle, then we lined up the jack-o-lanterns on our porch.

(The pumpkins of Sarah, Nate, and Isaiah.)


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!