Monday, August 18, 2003

Dreamy Misted Mood

It is foggy this morning at El Rancho. I had many strange dreams last night, and somehow waking to still and shrouding fog, keeps my mind in a dreamy and misted mood.

We have taken our garage cleaning energy and brought it in to the house. I have vacuumed crevices, emptied deep and cavernous drawers, and opened ancient boxes. We have purged more and more. We had three irons and three staplers. We had three address books, four maps of Orange County, and I can't think what else, because now that it is gone, thrown away or shared, I can barely remember the stuff. Those things which we have packed and carried, stored and sheltered are as foggy to my memory now as the pasture and the valleys.

Holly and Nicholas braved the heat and traffic to spend Sunday evening with us. We chatted our way through several topics. We talked about the trip they are making to Wisconsin. It's hard not to envy that; they'll be seeing Grandma Nancy, Sophie, all the cousins and baby Griffin, aunt Carol, Dad and Lily, Laura and her fiance. They'll get to be on the lookout for fireflies, and enjoying the charming and fun qualities that are infinitely wonderful about "The Poor Family" and Wisconsin. Sigh. We also talked about December travel and the possibility of us joining them in Hawaii. They plan to be there for Christmas, which is a great time of year to go. So, if we can get our act together, maybe we can play too.

What else? Oh, yes, we talked about the every-other-year Halloween party that the boys and I organize. This is the year we are due to invite all our friends and family to our house for a costume party, with food and foolery. We make half the fun in choosing our theme or emphasis, taking care to consider the youngest in the crowd, and decorating and preparing. This year we have a suggestion; Holly feels, strongly, that our focus this year should be on pirates! Yo Ho, and a bottle of rum, scurvy thieves and scalawags out to have some fun. She was bit, and so was Anne, by Pirate Fever after seeing Pirates of the Caribbean. It's not clear whether it was the entire movie that was so engaging or just one particular hunk of seafaring pirate flesh a.k.a. Johnny Depp. I have got to get to the theater and do some investigative research.

There are definitely some very good ideas that come to mind when thinking of Buccaneers and sea captains. Since some guests are reluctant to dress up, or insist they can't think of "anything" to come as, we like to have a long list of inspiring suggestions. Last night we came up with a preliminary sampling, and there are many. There are The Pirates of Penzance and The Major General, Maori Pirates with tattooed faces, corporate pirates, he pirates and she pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the pirates led by Captain Hook, and all the Never-Land characters. There are the futuristic pirates of Treasure Planet, and Robert Louis Stevenson's original Long John Silver and poor Ben Gunn. We can serve treasure, like "pieces of cake." And raise our own Jolly Roger...I wonder whether a chicken skull on black cloth would scare off the Redcoats and other party poopers? Yes, many good options to work with.

It may seem too soon to be planning a party for the end of October, but so much of the fun is in the planning, that we just can't help ourselves. William tells me with a straight face, "Buccaneer comes from the original price pirates charged for piercing ears." Even the pasture, all foggy and forlorn, made it quite clear that it is not too soon to prepare for Fall and all her delights.


These grew voluntarily, in the pasture, above the compost pile.

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