All Hallows Eve has come and gone again. Dia de los Muertos is getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror as well. This is a holiday of memory, of remembering the dead. This year, of course, I remember my mom. I remember who she was and celebrate how she lives on in our memories and personalities. I think that, in a lot of ways, I am very much like her. How much of this is nature and how much is nurture I'm not sure. Still, I'm reminded of her somehow or other every day. Today, while chaperoning Sophie's field trip to Peralta Adobe in San Jose, I found myself asking the question, if something is not written down and is no longer remembered, is it history? I guess that is sort of like the old philosophical riddle, "if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?". People are still split on that one, but I fall into the camp that clings to the belief that it doesn't, since the definition of sound that I'm familiar with states that it isn't sound if there is no receptor. Food for thought, if nothing else.

Speaking of food, or candy anyway, Hallowe'en was fun this year. Jeanine and I took the kids to one of those ceramic painting places to paint plates. There was no studio fee for customers in costume, so we showed up all decked out and ready to paint. Willow was a witch, Eva was a messed up doll, Jeanine wore a balloon spider hat, and I zombified half my face with Jeanine's paints. Fun. Next, we went across the street to the Retro Dome for a sing-along screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Willow got a golden ticket in her goodie bag, which netted her some extra chocolate. Then, of course, we went trick-or-treating. Toward the end, Willow actually started complaining that her bag was too heavy.

After some beautiful cloudy, drizzly Autumn weather over the last week or two, the skies are once again depressingly blue, although there's a chance of rain again over the weekend. Rain is always welcome.

Currently listening to: Marissa Nadler "Ballads of Living and Dying" on vinyl, because vinyl is cooler.