Happy Halloween!

Well, trick-or-treating in our town, an October 30 event, had to be postponed last night because of the after-effects of the Nor'easter that hit New England on Saturday night. The kids are supposed to be coming for their candy tonight, but I'll believe that when I see it--because almost all of the schools in the area are closed today. We haven't gotten any more snow, but there are thousands of people all over the state who have been without power for at least a day now. Unfortunately, one of them is our second oldest son, who lives an hour from us. He was with us on Saturday afternoon watching the Notre Dame game, and when the snow started coming down in earnest, he decided to drive back to his apartment at half time, before the roads got too bad. He ended up having a harrowing trip home, going 15 miles per hour and watching cars skid off into ditches. It's too bad he didn't just stay over that night, not only because the roads were so treacherous, but because the high school where he teaches is closed today anyway. So he's heading back here this morning to get a hot shower, do some laundry (let me rephrase that: have his mommy do some laundry for him), and use our computer to do some work-related stuff. He says he's going to have to throw out everything in his fridge; luckily bachelor refrigerators aren't usually jam-packed with valuable food items.

It would be too bad if trick-or-treating had to be cancelled altogether. I know how much my kids always looked forward to it when they were little. Now that they're grown, though, I could take or leave the whole Halloween hoopla; I'm not into scary costumes (our kids' costumes were usually pretty tame) or scary movies--or scary anything, for that matter. Some people really like the rush they get from a good scare. Not me. Life can be frightening enough sometimes without creating more things to be afraid of! Having to drive on an icy road or board an airplane in any weather--AAAHHHHH! That's what I call terrifying! Who needs vampires and werewolves and zombies and Freddy Kruger?

I'm a stick in the mud, but my grown boys are still enjoying Halloween. Son #1's wife purchased some adorable secondhand costumes for the twins (one will be a bumblebee, the other a pumpkin). Son #2 won a "Best Costume" ribbon last weekend at a friend's Halloween bash. He went dressed as Santa Claus, with his beard painted white and everything. Sons #3 and #4 recently got together with some cousins and friends to carve jack-o-lanterns. Check out the picture below; didn't they do an amazing job? I don't think my boys will ever outgrow their fascination with dinosaurs! And son #5 told me last night that he spent $50 on a Simpsons-themed costume that he just had to have. Apparently college students are really just big kids at heart.
My husband and I are just a couple of fuddy-duddies, I guess. We aren't dressing up; we aren't going to any parties. We're just hoping there are some candy bars left when the trick-or-treating is over.

Happy Halloween!

Trick, or Treat?

It's still October, isn't it? I'm just checking, because starting yesterday afternoon and then continuing on through the night, it SNOWED here. We got at least six or seven inches before the snow turned to rain, luckily, because the forecast called for anywhere up to a foot of the white stuff. Is this some kind of trick or something? We haven't even passed out the Halloween candy yet, and winter appears to be upon us. We've had our first Nor'easter and lost power. My husband has had to break out the snowblower. Yet this being New England, it could be sixty degrees next week--which would be a real treat after the winter wonderland that greeted us when we woke up this morning.

In our town, trick-or-treaters go out on the 30th rather than the 31st (I've never been quite sure of the reason for this), so tonight the little ones are going to have to trudge through the snow and slush in their quest for treats. I know in my boys' day, a few inches of snow wouldn't have been enough to hold them back; I mean, we're talking about FREE CANDY here. But these days, our doorbell doesn't ring nearly as often on Halloween as it used to, even when the weather is a lot milder than it is today. My husband and I are still going to stock up on Milky Ways and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, however, like we always do. No Mary Janes or Good 'n Plentys, though--and nothing with coconut in it (ewww!). Because if we're going to end up with a heaping bowl of leftovers, we want them to be the kind of treats we like!

Watching Football with Our Boy

Well, it's Saturday, and it's fall...and you know what that means. It means that today is college football-watching day.

Our second oldest son, the high school Algebra teacher and football coach who lives only about an hour from us (which makes him our favorite, if you ask him, since he lives closest) is here today. He's going to watch, along with his father and me, our beloved--yet heartbreaking, disappointing, and frustrating!--Fighting Irish play Navy. We're going to watch the game in our "man cave," where his high school jersey hangs on the wall, right along with those of his four brothers.

The high school varsity team our son helps to coach had an away game last night one town over from us, so my husband and I went to watch him in coach mode--oh, and to see his team play, too. I never thought I'd sit freezing my tushie off in the stands on a cold October night, watching a high school football game after all of my own boys had graduated from high school and left their playing days behind them...but we are fans of whatever our boys are doing, and these days, one of them is coaching the Bulldogs. Let's just say that we used to cheer for a high school team called the Saints, but now we're well on our way to becoming dyed-in-the-wool Bulldog fans.

Our boy decided to stay over last night, and it's so much fun to have him here in the morning! It feels like the good old days, when the house was filled with the deep, laughter-laced voices of our five lads. As I write this, I can hear him and his dad energetically discussing football in general and Notre Dame football in particular. I've heard snippets of the conversation, like "fumble returns" (which I think is a reference to a truly disastrous play from last week's game, when ND's second-string quarterback fumbled a snap on the one yard line, and USC recovered it and ran it back for a touchdown). I'm trying to put the Southern Cal game out of my head, and I'm really hoping today's game won't be a similar mood killer. Even though Navy is 2-5 and not all that good this year, and Notre Dame is 4-3 and chock full of talent, my husband worries that it's not going to be a lucky day for the Irish. Hopefully, he'll be proved wrong; but it's best to brace yourself for the worst these days if you're a diehard Notre Dame fan. If I believed in curses, I would say the Irish were cursed.

But check out this picture of my twin granddaughters (taken a few months ago). They look like little Notre Dame cheerleaders. How can you see this and not get pumped up for today's game? It makes me want to shout "Go Irish!"

Besse Pease Gutmann Week, Day 5

Today's darling painting by Besse Pease Gutmann is called "Who's Sleepy." Apparently, this artist was aware that most people have a soft spot for puppies and small children, because both take center stage in almost all of her works. I think this one is absolutely precious. What can I say? I'm just a sucker for a yawning puppy dog. And the rounded cheek on the baby makes me think of my twin granddaughters, who have the most irresistible cheeks in the universe. You can't see those cheeks and not want to kiss them!

I hope you've enjoyed Besse Pease Gutmann Week. This woman was quite prolific before she retired in 1947, and copies of her paintings and illustrations abound on the internet if you'd like to see more of them. I love all of her works so much that I could do a Besse Pease Gutmann MONTH. (But that might bore my sons to tears; so if I want them to keep following this blog, I'd better just end here.)

Besse Pease Gutmann Week, Day 4

Here is another endearing painting by Besse Pease Gutmann entitled "Love is Blind." It depicts a cherubic little girl hugging her favorite dolly while a much newer, fancier one sits ignored on the floor. This little angel prefers her old, worn-out doll, missing foot and all, to any other. Awww...this is just so sweet. I hope it's true, too, that love is blind, and that my husband's eyesight isn't quite perfect anymore--especially now that I'm on the wrong side of fifty!

I believe my mother-in-law was a Besse Pease Gutmann fan, too, because a framed print of this vintage Gutmann painting--along with at least one other--hangs in one of the bedrooms of her house. That may be one of the reasons that I love this artist's paintings so much: they remind me of my wonderful mother-in-law and the many interests we shared, one of them being dolls.

It was hard being a doll fanatic while raising only sons, because there was no one in my house with whom to share this passion. I took a porcelain dollmaking class for several years when my four oldest boys were still in grade school, dreaming of the day when I might have a daughter--or when it became obvious that that wasn't going to happen, a granddaughter--for whom to make them. Well, dreams do come true sometimes; because in June I became a first-time grandmother to not one, but TWO granddaughters. And if I'm lucky, an interest in dolls is something the girls and I can share someday.

Besse Pease Gutmann Week, Day 3

Here is another sweet painting by Besse Pease Gutmann, who ranks right up there with Norman Rockwell as one of my all-time favorite artists. The fact that I am drawn to the works of these two American illustrators with greater enthusiasm than I am to the works of some of the world-renowned artists whose paintings are showcased in important museums--those of say, van Gogh, for example--means that I would by no stretch of the imagination be considered a serious art critic. But I just know what I like; and I really like heartwarming vintage artwork such as this Gutmann painting titled "Happy Dreams."

I chose this painting today because to me, there's nothing sweeter and more angelic-looking than a sleeping baby or small child--especially when he's clutching a well-loved teddy bear, as this wee one is doing. I also chose it because it makes me think of my son and his wife, whose lives these days very much revolve around the needs and schedules of their almost-five-month-old twin daughters. The girls are sleeping through the night most of the time now, which is huge. Anyone who's ever had children can appreciate what a victory that is, because at the end of a long and tiring day of caring for little darlings, bedtime is a joyfully anticipated reprieve for exhausted parents. And sometimes the battle to achieve the angelic state depicted in this painting can be long and arduous, because babies and toddlers don't seem to grasp the fact that sleep is wonderful, like we old folks do. (What is wrong with them?)

Yet no matter how tiring and frustrating a parent's day has been, when he gazes at the face of his sleeping child at night, his heart invariably turns to mush. Because no matter how many naughty things he might have done that day, a child morphs into an angel when he falls asleep.

Besse Pease Gutmann Week, Day 2

There are so many wonderful works by Besse Pease Gutmann that it's hard to choose just five to showcase this week; but I think this one depicting a chubby little toddler with a severe case of puppy love is just so endearing that it made the cut. If you love small children and dogs, how can you resist it?

The title of this sweet painting is "Mine." That is a word that, early on, my husband decided we should never teach our kids. He watched other people's children fighting over toys and thought if ours never learned to say "mine," they would always choose to share. It sounds like a good plan, right? But you know what? They somehow learned the word "mine" anyway! What can I say? We were young and idealistic. (We also thought that we would never buy them toy guns. But here's the funny thing about little boys: they can make them out of Duplo blocks, sticks, spoons, the cardboard tubes that toilet paper comes on... if nothing better is at hand, they just use their thumbs and index fingers. And if they don't own toy guns that go "rat tat tat," they become experts at making sound effects.) But in this darling little piece of vintage artwork, the word "mine" isn't about possession and competition; it's all about true love. (And it makes me want to get a puppy!)

My fourth son recently got an 8-month-old mutt from an animal shelter and named him Finnegan ("Finny" for short). I think it's very possible that when Finny was a small puppy, he looked like the one in this painting. That's one of the reasons I chose this darling example of Besse Pease Gutmann's artistic genius to share today. I hope you like it.