Tricks and Treats

Davis was celebrating two events today.  There was a Dia de los Muertos gathering downtown, with folks meeting at the railroad station and then processing up to the E Street Plaza (which we refer to as "Paul Plaza," because of the performing area that is dedicated to him.)  The Day of the Dead is, of course, November 1 but they were doing it a day early in Davis. There were to be altars built to the dead and I don't know exactly what was going to happen, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to attend.

And, of course, little kids were going to be trick-or-treating at downtown businesses all afternoon.  Years ago, concerned about the growing negative experiences that kids were having while just trying to stock up on candy from the neighbors, Davis de-emphasized trick or treating after dark, house to house, and started having celebrations at schools, and the downtown merchants also agreed to give out candy so the kids could still have the fun of trick or treating, with little chance of finding poisoned Tootsie Rolls or razor blades in apples and other fun stuff that sick people do to innocent little kids.

It was supposed to be my day to work at Logos, but Walt was going to the opera, so would have the car, and I decided I didn't feel like taking the bus home on Halloween after dark (though later I realized it was still quite light and I cheated myself out of giving out candy to the little kids coming through Logos).  I did tell Susan that I would stop by and take pictures of the kids, before Walt needed the car, though.

When I read abouat Dia de los Muertos a week ago, I decided that since the altars were going to be built on the part of the plaza that has a dedication to Paul, I wanted Paul and David to be there, so I printed off a couple photos, framed them, and took them downtown.

There was nobody around, so I left the picture on the little plaque.

I got my camera out to take a picture and discovered that my batteries were dead.  Sh*t.  

I walked over to the nearby housewares store and bought new batteries, then walked back and took the above picture.  On my walk, past lots of stores with signs that they were ready for trick or treaters, or baskets of candy in the window, I didn't see one. single. child in costume.  Doh!  Kids wouldn't be coming until after school. 

Well, not to make it a total loss, I decided to have lunch at the Indian/Nepalese cafe right by the plaza and see if people would be marching over from the railroad station.  But they were doing remodeling or something, so I sat there trying to decide what to do and decided to eat at the Mexican restaurant right behind the plaza, only it was a gazillion degrees inside and I knew I wouldn't be comfortable there -- but they did have a sign for Dia de los Muertos and I saw that I was wrong--it didn't start at noon, it didn't start until 2:30. So there was nothing to see on the plaza, and apparently no kids to photograph.

But I was all geared up for lunch out, so I went to the Irish pub across the street and sat outside watching the crowd.  I didn't see any kids, but I did see a dog in a cow costume, peeing on its udders, which were dragging on the sidewalk.   Then I started seeing some grown ups in costume.  This guy was carrying a skull into a yogurt place

.

Then there was Batman all dressed up for business.

And there was even a skateboarding banana.

I was in my own costume...

(I was dressed as an old lady drinking a beer.  Gawd, look at those wattles.  Memo to Self:  buy a camera with a front facing camera so you can do decent selfies!)

As I left the restaurant, I finally saw my first costumed child.

But I drove around several blocks and even passed by Logos and didn't see another one, so I decided that I wasn't going to be able to find kids and still get the car back to Walt on time.  I'm sure this entry would have been a lot more interesting if I had!

I came home and got into Halloween curmudgeon mode.  When Walt left, I locked the door, made sure the lights were turned off, and closed the living room curtains, then headed to the back of the house to lock the dogs in and turn the sound on the TV down so it couldn't be heard from outside.

My idea of a good Halloween.