So long and thanks for all the fish

I was this close today to calling Figment and caving, this close. When I saw a note on a friends  blog. Help, need someone to help hand out Halloween candy on theSalem Pickering  wharf from 5:30 to 7:30. It was just what I needed to get me the hell out of my bad head space and into my car heading north.

That's Jeff Bowie owner of the Picklepot on the left, and short little me on the right. 

I grabbed a costume, some fancy shoes, and a bit of glitter and drove the 30 minutes to Salem. My parking foo was amazing, and I scored the last open Handicapped parking space at the wharf. I could see the from where I parked. I could SEE it.

One quick change later and I was sitting by the front door handing out candy to all comers. The newborns who slept through it, really parents, I get the cute costume, but a baby can't eat a Snickers bar can they? To the two and three year old's who are not quite sure what is going on. The four and five year old's, who realize they have just hit the jackpot and are high fiving each other. Willing to yells Trick or Treat until the cows come home, or they get their candy. Agonizing over each choice, do I take the box candy, or the tootsie roll, or the tiny chocolate bar. Some kids tried to pull the basket away from me, or over whelm me with hands.

Luckily I still tower over most five year old's, and was able to control the grabbing. A few parents brought their kids around more than once. So while we did go through 4 large bags, I can't say with any certainty that I gave away candy to more than 200 kids.

The teens and preteens with a bit of makeup on not wanting to play by the rules came by. I got a disgruntled "Trick or mumble" before handing out the candy. My favorite costume of the night. A small boy wearing a pilot costume with an airplane suspended from his shoulders. Wearing dark blue pants. - Get it, Capt "Sully" Sullenberger. I sent him in to see , hoping she would be able to grab my camera and get a picture, but she was busy also.

We ran out of candy by a few minutes after 7 and closed the door. A few people still came by after that, but we explained we were out of candy. After hanging out for a bit, we decided to drop my stuff off in my car and head over to the local sushi restaurant for dinner.

Driving in we saw an open space and she parked. We walked across the parking garage looking for a sign to the elevators. Note to self, in the future when looking for an exit, look to both the front and the rear of the building. The exit / elevator combination we were looking for was on the other side of the stairs we walked down. Had we driven about five more parking spaces in to the garage, we would have seen six open handicapped spaces, and the elevator.

OH well we figured we would remember it for next time. And, if by next time I mean the next time I park in that garage it might count. Because we could NOT find the elevator again on the way back to the car. Until we walked right by it going the long way. Intrepid explorers we.

The sushi restaurant was almost empty, and we were allowed to chat and laugh our way through some individual relationship problems. I think we came close to concluding that dikes and dudes occasionally have a lot in common. And - hint hint - even if your partner does not agree or even understand why your upset with them. Validating our feelings goes a long way to healing the riff.

Chatting in the car while waiting to exit the garage, our conversation roamed everywhere. From kids costumes to the current illegal alien costume. A green body, in an orange jump suit. We both agreed that as a costume it was funny, not in a racist way, but in a - what would the immigration status of a person from "Beyond Anteries" be??

And where would they live?

After a in depth review (Saki makes everything deeper) we agreed that as almost none of us are using Antarctica we could turn it into a homeland for the truly alien. As long as they left enough fish for the penguins to eat.

Should these great space fairing aliens decided to return to space - take me with you please. We agree they would turn to the leaders of the free and not so free worlds i.e. the two of us and say with out a tinge of irony.


SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH!!!!