Parading the Streets

It is said that smells and music/sounds have the power to trigger long lost memories.  I was walking through the woods near our house a few days ago and suddenly there was that familiar smell of decomposing leaves.  The cool fall air, leaves slowly drifting downward and that smell got me thinking about the anticipation of Halloween and the coming winter.  In someways the planning for that evening was just as much fun as the actual event.  What were you going to be, who would you go out with, where would you go and what would you get. The costumes of 50 years ago were homemade, resulting in limited choices: a bum, cowboy or ghost. In grades 4 or 5, students spent time decorating a six-quart wooden basket. As they matured (grades 7 and 8), the basket was replaced by a pillowcase, and the costume by a simple mask from Allan’s Drug Store, possibly a hat and old clothes. The objective of these changes was partly to appear more fashionable (or so we believed) and more i...