women in black

 Two witches (Neti and Jeanine) and two spiders (Pat and your blogger) met to celebrate Halloween last night. We had a lovely paella dinner at Pat's home and we kept talking until very late (to me) and so today I scurry a bit and that's OK. Worth it. And behold, it's now November.

Halloween 2024 = over

 Well, we can see why the Blogmaid won "most creative costume" at her work party yesterday! My day was quiet as I finished a book (The Vegetarian) and then a tv series (Only Murders) last night. November is already looking busy and that is how it should be. Constant overall worry, of course, about the election on Tuesday. Four years of the Orange Tyrant would be unbearable.

Halloween 2023

 

this time of year

 Yesterday I was running some errands and yikes! here was a Spirit Halloween store right in the heart of the Daly City Westlake Center. I did not go in. Twenty-three years ago I managed one of these super stores in downtown SF. This gig was right up there with some of the WORST jobs of my life. Thank god for Husbando ~ I hired him to run the warehouse and to walk to the bank with me carrying gobs of cash every day. The store was hugely successful, I was exhausted, traumatized and so relieved when the season was over and the store closed. Argh.

Halloween delights

 Here you will find Queen Blogmaid (top) and her daughter RR (bottom). The others are my family in Pittsburgh, Illinois and Cleveland. And now it is November and we get ready for sister Jane's visit one month from today. A wealth of wonders this year!

we like this holiday

 Halloween is still fun despite my horrifying experience managing a Spirit store back in 2000. Yesterday I met Terri for coffee and on the walk home we popped into the little pop-up library (ours is being remodeled) to admire the altar. I'm good with plain old gourds and little orange lights too. This year I am thinking of doing the Day of the Dead walk again. I will check out the date now...

Squid Games in Pumpkinville

 

Mr. and Ms. Blogmaid were the talk of Half Moon Bay in their Squid Game costumes yesterday. One too busy young mother asked if they were Sesame Street characters, but a lot of people knew who and what they were. Their dogs were good sports too. Thanks for providing this colorful post, Blogmaid!

tea with Ozzie (pre-Halloween treat)

 Happy Halloween. My yesterday was extremely pleasant, ending with tea at the neighbors. You can see that I didn't have to fix dinner after the soup and potato yummies, so I could enjoy early ice cream when I returned home to Annabelle. I started watching Maid on the Flix® ~ wait until you see Andie MacDowell...wowza! Her beautiful real life daughter stars in this too and yes, I am hooked.

warm scenes from Mullen Avenue

 Yes, it is Winter Grey outside this morning, but we are warm and cozy here by the fire as we plan our day.  I think: laundry, dishes, clean cat box, daily write and a good long walk with a veggie sandwich reward. Oh, don't forget the latte.

monsters and memories

 One of the worst jobs I ever had (and god knows I've had some) was running a Spirit Halloween store in SF. I made great money with a fat bonus. The year was 2000. I put Bill on the payroll to receive shipments and organize the back room. Oh, and to walk with me to the bank with huge cash deposits. Sigh. I got this job because Bill knew Joe Marver. I get a quesy feeling everytime I see a Spirit Halloween store. But the history of this pop-up chain still interests me.

Spirit Halloween was founded by Joe Marver

In 1983, the entrepreneur owned a women’s clothing store in California, per Vox. A neighboring costume store did very well during Halloween — and when that store shut down, Marver pivoted his own business to costumes.

The “Spirit” name was pure coincidence. Marver wasn’t inspired by Halloween ghosts, but by the name of his shuttered store (Spirit Women’s Discount Apparel).

That first year, Spirit Halloween made $100k in 30 days. Over the next 16 years, Marver built Spirit Halloween into 60+ locations that were only open in the months leading up to Halloween (August, September, October).

Mall retailer Spencer’s Gifts…

… acquired Spirit Halloween in 1999 and growth exploded. Today, it runs 1.4k pop-up stores across Canada and the US.

According to Vox, Spirit’s real estate team works year-round trying to secure the best locations. While landlords — primarily mall operators and commercial real estate holders — prefer long-term tenants (5-10yrs), many accept Spirit’s temporary leases if nothing else materializes.

ghostly time in Pat's Grove

We had fun. Delicious hot dogs and ice cream. Jokes and stories and memories of Halloweens Past. I came home with coleslaw and pumpkin ice cream and gratitude that I could be with friends during these strange times. Thankful today that Apple has set most of my timing devices for the sad end to Dayling Savings.

Halloween 2020 = scary

 Aren't we lucky that the Blogmaid decorates so creatively for this holiday this year? The top photo is a greeting card that I received and yes, it says so much about everything. I am going to an outdoor party today so we will have something for tomorrow's post. No more soup cans for a spell. Boo!

our Halloween monster

Nergigante is big in the underworld of monsters and here is RR in
her delightful costume. Happy Halloween to everyone and stay safe.

Halloween approaches

It's in the air, on the streets and even on my very own front porch.
Some people go to a lot of work, some cats just like to nap in the sun.

I have the cat

I believe today officially begins the dreaded HOLIDAY SEASON. I
will ignore all the goblins, witches, devils and concentrate on candy and
my cat who is currently snoozing next to me.

pumpkins and goblins

It's fun being on the USF campus for Fromm ~ the unexpected. During
the lunch break there is a young woman student helping us with all
our electronics and although I haven't needed her, there are usually
people waiting to talk to her with their devices in hand. No charge.
(For the retirees without handy grandchildren I guess.)

And then this line of pumpkins smiling and frowning at us as we
walked to the student cafeteria yesterday. The American History class
yesterday was fabulous ~ the professor is enthralled with the Mueller
indictments and cautions us to keep our eyes on the Republicans, not
the Democrats during this process. It is up to them...

post-Halloween pix

The top photo is from my SPCA friend Marsi ~ her Lion King dog and
her grandson. Then we have RR, daughter of the Blogmaid, all dressed
up like a jockey and having fun with her school pals.

Halloween 2015

Yes, this is creepy - a virtual gift from my friend Joe. Today I work at
the DY, wearing a BOO! tee shirt and forbidden jeans with comfy shoes.

pumpkin pooch

I borrowed this from the Blogmaid's Facebook page - how does one write
a daily blog post without her? This is Sabine's first Halloween and of
course she loves her costume. What dog wouldn't?

silly hall with ghosts?

My novel writing partner (Joanne) uses a few ghost characters and she
asked me to accompany her on the annual Ghost Walk at City Hall
last night. I found nearby FREE parking and we met at 6:30 along with
about 600 people. The "walk" took about 40 minutes and we all just
shuffled from south to north court and into the rotunda where scary
speakers and a very poor microphone system told us stories that might
or might not be true. I vote for the latter. Anyway, it was all in good fun
and our City Hall is one of the prettiest buildings anywhere, so that
helped and I had never been in there at night. Worthwhile? Yes.