Halloween

During the summer I often walked around the neighborhood after dinner (by which I mean supper). I could walk off a few calories and meet people and talk with them – and occasionally write about them. They were doing their evening activities: walking the dog, digging in the flowerbed, sitting on the front porch; just being outside the house.

Now that Fall has arrived, I walk earlier. If I wait until after dinner, I’ll be walking in the dark. Make that: the cold and the dark. (When the sun goes down, so does the temperature.) When daylight saving time ends next Sunday, I’ll walk even earlier, if at all. But as it turns out, I seldom encounter people in the hours between the end of the workday and the evening meal. People are at the store, or in their houses preparing a meal, or catching up on the news of the day, or any of a hundred things. It’s not until after they eat that they go outside to relax, and now that it’s getting to be cold and dark at that hour, they won’t be doing that.

The neighborhood association is throwing its 10th annual Halloween At The Park tonight. It’s a big Halloween party with “food, games, costume contests, a haunted house, and much more.” The park is practically across the street so I’ll stroll over there and see what’s going on. Maybe I’ll run into some of the people I’ve met on my walks around the neighborhood. At least I hope I do.