Happy Halloween by Marion Ekholm


 
Halloween has always been a favorite holiday with my family. I’ve poured through our photos and came up with several with a Halloween theme starting with our first cat – Beulah.
 
Now is this a proper cat for Halloween, or what?




 
Eventually she grew into a good size.

 



When we added to our family – a bird named CooCooPoo - Beulah was entranced. She adored the bird. Way too much. We had to hang the bird’s cage from the ceiling.
 
When Beulah leapt onto the cage and nearly brought it down, we gave the bird to another relative.

 
 
I enjoyed making costumes. Here’s my son in his Snoopy outfit. He helped make the head.
 
Fooling around with papier-mâché on a balloon to make costume heads is such great fun, so when I had a group of Cub scouts, they all made their own for Halloween.
 
 
 
 
I can't remember which one was my son, although I kind of recognize that clown in the center with red and black striped sleeves.
 
The young man on the right made the balloon head but refused to wear it. He had the first Mohawk haircut I ever saw and wore  jeans to high school graduation rather than a suit like the rest of his classmates. Luke, a wonderful kid, always marched to his own drummer. He died a few years ago in his early forties from cancer. Greatly missed.
 
 
And this clown is my granddaughter clowning around.
 
Do you have fun times on Halloween?

Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing your Halloween pictures and stories Marion! I particularly love your son's Snoopy outfit. He did a great job with the head! Beulah does look like the perfect Halloween cat. She's beautiful and looks very shiny.

    I wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween for tomorrow.

    Kate

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    1. Beulah was a great cat and full of fun. When we got a Siamese kitten, she adopted it and acted like a doting mother. Have a wonderful day tomorrow.

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  2. What a great kitty cat for Halloween! Love all the pictures, Marion. Halloween and fall are one of my favorite times of year. I love the decorations and the playfulness. Now, I just have to hope for decent weather. We've been told here in Chicago we could have snow tomorrow! BOO!!

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    1. Snow! So early? People here in Arizona are still walking around in their shorts and sleeveless T's. I remember back in New Jersey dressing my daughter in long underwear under her princess outfits so she wouldn't freeze going door to door during trick or treat.

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  3. Marion, what a fun post! This is going to sound weird, but I love black cats because they have the sweetest personalities--at least the ones I've had or known. Love Halloween, too. Looking forward to a fun weekend at the beach with my sisters and nephews.

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    1. I’ve been engrossed in your book “Mountains Apart,” dealing with snow and freezing cold in Alaska, so I find it hard to picture you on a beach on Halloween.

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  4. Marion, great pix and stories. I love Halloween sans spiders that have suddenly become the thing. I'm so bummed, because I love seeing all the trick-or-treaters and since I moved into the town home in 2011 I've had nary a one. I have wonderful Halloween luminaria that I put out in the shape of ghosts and pumpkin bags. The candles inside make them glow eerily along my walkway. So this year I didn't buy candy. Because the past 3 years, who ate it---me. Too soon after Halloween comes Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I'm not ready for either this year.

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    1. In the retirement village I live in we've had no children coming to our doors. And as far as spiders go... I may have one moving around at night over a night light with a motion detector. Twice last night it went on most likely from an insect crawling in the area. Meant to get the insect spray out this morning but forgot. Can't do it when I'm in the room sleeping because the smell could probably put my lights out as well. Fortunately, spiders aren’t something I worry too much about.

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  5. What a cute granddaughter...and I love the pic of the kitty in the pumpkin. How did you get the photo to change like that?

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    1. I took a course at the college where I work on how to create web sites. It included a great deal of ways to make pictures interesting so I experimented and saved them. That part of my brain has since died, I think, because I couldn't figure out how to do it again.

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  6. My son will dress up tomorrow and so will my husband and I to give out candy:) Hoping we are not into the minus temperatures for trick or treating tomorrow night...but we usually are on Halloween night lol:) Happy Halloween!

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    1. Hope the temperature doesn’t give you problems. It always helps to have warm chocolate milk available to help get rid of the chill.

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  7. Mr. Curtis dressed up for school today as they have training tomorrow (but he went as a businessman - nothing really fun). Otherwise, tomorrow night it'll be me in a running shirt and capris handing out candy. Maybe I'll put on bunny slippers

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    1. I use the same costume every year - the kimono (looks like silk with colorful flowers) I got while in Hawaii. I add a crown of artificial flowers on my head and look native -- except for my hiking boots, a staple I need for a long day of working at the college.

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  8. I wear black jeans, an orange shirt, and a witch's hat to hand out candy, and Cheyenne does it with me in an orange and black ruffly collar with pumpkins on it. The collar has decorated three dogs over the years and the kids seem to love the pet participation. I love your photos, Marion, and so admire your techie ability. Bless Luke. Somewhere inside he knew he didn't have time so he explored the possibilities. Have a fun and safe Halloween, Everyone.

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    1. Despite Luke’s tendency to go for the bizarre, he was one of my nicest Cub Scouts. Over the years, he and my son had a few interesting encounters, including being stopped by the police when they were riding our ATV’s on the road. Correction: when they were riding them on a road covered by two feet of snow. Except for the police car, they were the only vehicle out there and the judge threw it out because the road wasn’t even visible. Hope you have a wonderful Halloween.

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  9. Love your pictures. Beulah looks adorable. I've had several black cats, and they were all great. The papier-mâché heads are wonderful! I won't have trick-or-treaters tomorrow night here. We are off the beaten path so no one wants to walk down the dark driveway to the door. I miss that. In CT our neighbor always had a haunted house for Halloween. People came in from all over town by the hundreds!

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    1. One time my husband sat on the back of our truck in a rocking chair, slumped over and dressed like a scarecrow. When kids came up to get their candy, he jumped up and scared them. Probably the reason why our house and car got egged that year.

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  10. What a great looking kitty cat! You should write a story about Beulah. Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I love walking though my neighborhood and looking at the houses decorated with scarecrows, witches, pumpkins...Thanks so much for sharing your photos!

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    1. Beulah was a delight, one of the many cats we had, but the only black one.

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    1. So happy I can finally scan them on my new printer. Enjoy Halloween!

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  12. Marion, your pictures are adorable and it was very generous of you to share them with all of us! I envy your techie abilities. I need courses in all these new updates and devices!!! We are going out to dinner with friends and my husband bought elaborate masks for the ladies and plastic pitchforks for the guys!!! Happy Halloween to you all!

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    1. I still struggle with the constant changes in technology. As soon as I learn one thing, it disappears and I have to learn something else.

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