HAPPY HALLOWEEN

FORTY YEARS AGO ... Brian with a Halloween pumpkin, the weekend I met his folks.

Brian has always enjoyed Halloween. While he doesn’t do anything with the Christmas tree other than tell me if it is leaning to one side (a particular pet peeve of his), and yes, tell me it’s pretty once it’s all decked out, he is the one who carves our pumpkins.

At this stage in the game of life, I’d be content to plug in a fake one and carry on, but not him. He always makes a production of selecting an annual pumpkin or two and carving them.

I came across this photo of him with a Parke County pumpkin 40 years ago. This was taken in his parents’ Rockville, Indiana basement the first weekend I met them.

We had been to the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival where he snagged a pumpkin (I probably got one too but don’t remember that). It was my 19th birthday weekend and Brian’s mother surprised me with a gift, a new wallet.

I’m pretty sure she made pumpkin pie. Boy, she could bake pies! In the fall there were always pumpkin pies on her counter top.

I have fond memories of trick-or-treating as a kid, throwing "spook-house" basement parties for the neighbor kids in my family's rustic basement, canvassing the neighboring farms for Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and then going to the church basement for a party. And who can forget the full-sized chocolate bars out of Philomath?

I'm seeing a trend here ... Halloween and basements.

Then came the years of our boys and their Halloween parties and trick-or-treating. This is my favorite Halloween photo of Sam and Ben.  It's actually one of my all-time favorite pictures of them period.

FRAMED! My own superheroes, Batman and Robin.

Last year, Brian had a little issue with his pumpkin. He carved it and set it on the porch. I wasn't paying much attention and didn't connect the dots when he asked if we had any Duct Tape. I told him we did and asked why.

"Oh, I probably won't need it," he hedged. I still didn't think anything of it.

Until the next day.

His carved pumpkin had Duct Tape wrapped around its head.

"I cut his nose off," Brian confessed.

I roared with laughter.

"It won't even show when the lights are out," he insisted.

To my surprise, he was right. The pumpkin looked just fine -- in the dark.

Here's this year's duo, carved yesterday while I was at work. Pretty cute.

What are your special Oct. 31 memories?

BRIAN'S HANDIWORK, 2017.