Happy Halloween

It wasn't the most ideal Halloween, weather-wise, but it was a great Halloween nonetheless.  It rained today, and was very cool, damp and windy tonight, but we had our annual Halloween fire and neighborhood party in spite of the weather. Attendance was down considerably from last year - we only had 2 trick-or-treaters, and only had 4 attend the party (well, 5 if you include Rocky the dog) but it was a great night.  I was determined to have the fire in the big burn barrel this year, the weather be damned.  We passed on lighting the tiki torches, but The Old Man scrounged up some dry fire wood and we had a great, warm fire all evening long.  

The evening got off to a great start a few minutes after supper when The Old Man lit the fire in the burn barrel.  Mom came out, all bundled up, with the Halloween candy and Neighbor Steve and Rocky joined us around the fire.  We had a record low of two trick-or-treaters tonight, but that didn't dampen our spirits.  We sat there visiting for about an hour until a light but steady rain started.  Mom bailed on us and went inside, but the rest of us grabbed umbrellas and toughed it out.  The shower lasted about a half an hour and then the party resumed.  We sat there talking about our mutual love of music, talking about concerts we've attended back in the day, and making plans to get together on a regular basis to play and sing.

The best part of tonight's Halloween festivities was sitting around the fire, listening to The Old Man and neighbor Steve tell stories about their time in the military.  I would have given anything to have had a video recorder outside tonight, recording their stories. But as soon as I came in the house, I grabbed my journal and wrote down some notes from their stories tonight so I'll be able to remember them.

All in all, it was a great Halloween night, even though it was just the four of us.  I couldn't think of any other place I would have rather been tonight on Halloween night, unless it was in Las Vegas.