Happy Halloween!

We just came home from the island Halloween party, which I've found to be a real Denmanizing experience. Didn't take the camera so I'm going to have to try and paint a word picture here. The photo is of our two pumpkins, carved this year by me! Six bucks for two pumpkins at Thrifty's, can you believe that garbage. What bandits -- seems the Sobeys hacks back east have taken firm control of our formerly-local grocer.

Trick or Treating Friday night was something I missed out on due to having to work (taking all the hours I can get at the café) -- Bethy was manning the front door for the kids, almost three dozen came to our place, which is smack in the middle of the most dense residential cluster on the island, so of course they were prowling our neighbourhood. We had gummi treats to give out, fuzzy peaches and sour kids, that sort. Something we missed out on with condo living.

Saturday night saw a big party at the community hall, centered around a cover band called Time Well Wasted. They played plenty of crowd-pleasing hits -- three singers, four piece horn section, two percussionists, lights and videos on the wall -- seemed pretty big-budget. The band was tight to start with and got sloppier past midnight, same as the attendees.

Costumes of all types in the crowd, quite a sight to behold. We went with a marine theme, me as a sailor and she as a hula girl. Some standouts include a light-up robot, stretchy fabric ghosts, angels and devils, masqueraders, and a dude wearing a real pumpkin on his head. Nothing too unusual I guess, but the atmosphere was something else.

The smell reminded me of a rave party, its unique blend of body odour, sweat and smoke. It was an all-ages event, as they all are here. With kids up to my knee, I had to apologize to the poor little ones a few times for stomping too close. These children were mixing perfectly with their parents and grandparents, dancing and spinning as part of the action like everyone else. We encountered lots of people we've met in various ways (players from Thursday night volleyball, customers at the café, Bethy's students, people in the neighbourhood) and drew ourselves closer to them. Our realtor Sylvie has become quite a good friend of ours. Even had a fellow I've been serving coffee to invite us to his place any ol' time, just come on down. The hospitality here is a very open door, small town approach which we're still gleefully getting used to. We keep hearing how nice it is to have people our age moving to Denman, bringing some young blood into the mix -- as there are a lot of seasonal retirees who come and go with the weather. They say if you can make it through your first winter here, you're all set.

Had an enlightening conversation with a neighbour who we'd already met before (also named Steve) about Denman Island as a place to raise kids. Seems the young ones here mature more quickly because their peers aren't necessarily people of the same age. He's raised two kids here, and I met his 16-year-old daughter who would rival anyone I know on the maturity scale.

Bethy and I had a great time dancing with each other, really for the first time since our wedding night. All the time in between has been pretty harried, trying to get ourselves transplanted into this new home of ours, into a new routine. It's been a much-needed chance to cut loose among our new neighbours and friends. I would imagine parties like this don't happen often on Denman Island, so we'll have to take advantage when these occasions arise.