Happy Halloween!

Halloween glimpses

We had such a full weekend; full of celebration, full of role play, full of friends, full of parties, oh yes very full of candy. We spent yesterday and today in a post Halloween induced daze.
Our neighborhood here in Park Slope, Brooklyn celebrates Halloween in a huge way, everyone participates, each block feels like a block party, whole families dress up and, at dusk, there is a Halloween parade! Such fun! Would you believe that on the way to the parade my camera ran out of battery power. Sadly, I do not have any pictures of my own "cave princess" costume, thrown together at the last minute with an old bridesmaids dress, a faux fur vest and a tribal cord around my head. The outfit actually reminded me a lot of something that I might have worn out on a Saturday night in the East Village in my twenties.
My favorite costume of the night was a mom that I saw dressed up like Princess Leia pushing a stroller that was decorated like R2D2 (it even lit up).
That banner in the windows of our house in the first photo is courtesy this giveaway {thanks Karla}, it really dressed up our house.

We had such fun, but boy am I glad that the Halloween induced daze seems to be lifting. I can't party like I used to!

glow

Oh the glow of the candles on our nighttime visit to the Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze , it was magical! We marveled at the installations, it's hard to believe that they are all done with hand carved pumpkins.
A few of my favorites were....

a bee hive with bees buzzing all around...

a field of sunflowers...

a huge ship sailing on an ocean with fish swimming beneath...

in a coral reef.

We were so proud of our friend Mike, the creator of the whole festival. His story is so inspiring. He is an artist, a printmaker, struggling for years to figure out how to balance his creative life and still support his family. He began carving pumpkins the way he carved his intricate wood-block prints and five years ago he thought up this jack o' lantern festival. The historical estate that he works for thought that it might be a good money maker, and it just took off. Now it is a huge event attended by over 100,000 people, and the biggest money maker of the year for his employer (who as you can imagine, loves Mike).
On our drive home I kept thinking about how Mike is an example of someone staying true to himself and still being able to carve out a niche that perfectly fits his skill. He built it, and they came! I think that we all need to hear about more stories like his.

the great blaze

Tomorrow evening, with much excitement, we will be attending the Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze, a fantastic event in which Van Cortland Manor, an old farm in Croton, NY, is transformed with over 4000 hand carved pumpkins that are all lit up at dusk.
The creator and creative director of the blaze is one of Frank's oldest childhood friends, Michael Natiello, who has received much acclaim for the blaze and has developed quite a rapport with Martha Stewart after being featured on her show for 2 years as an expert pumpkin carver. Martha even invited him over to her private Halloween party on her estate...but that's another story.
In previous years we have had a special daytime behind the scenes tour as Van Cortland Manor gets ready for the blaze. This year, since the kids are a little older, will be our first year visiting the blaze after dark. I can't wait to see the dramatic effect of thousands of pumpkins glowing in the twilight, and I am just looking for an excuse to go for hot chocolate after wards. Pumpkins and sugar and magical evenings out in the woods, oh my!