Comments (0) Halloween came and went in Seattle, and we celebrated in the usual fashion – finding orange ground gourds (pumpkins), disembowling them and carving them, followed by dressing up in odd costumes and hitting the neighbors up for candy. Alex is now a little over five years old and Elle is 10 months old. Alex was a witch and Elle a frog. Better views of the photos and more photos on our Picasa site here.
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| Alex and Elle | Our Jack O Lanterns |
Halloween at the Seattle Schriers. Friday afternoon Wayne and Alex went trick-or-treating with the businesses in our Admiral Way neighborhood. Alex wore the Sunshine Bear costume which Kathy hand-created for Lara about 20 years ago. Saturday afternoon Bill danced in the Annual Autumn Schrier Leaf-Raking Festival (“raked” that is – gosh I love the giant maple trees in our front yard). And Saturday evening we hosted about 30 trick-or-treaters. In the photo of our front door below, the jack-o-lantern themes are, left to right, moon-and-stars (Bill), scary-Cinderella (Wayne), and lightning-eyes (Lara, right). The jack-o-lantern on the upper right is inedible by our squirrels and raccoons (i.e. “plastic”).
As usual, trick-or-treating started out with really tiny kids (including babies) early in the evening, progress through toddlers and elementary school kids (as well as costumed parents and dogs), and then ended after 8:00PM with junior-high and giant high-school kids dressed as gangstas (or maybe that is just the clothes they normally wear to school, scary enough). Click on any photo below to enlarge it.
 Alex and Wayne get ready for trick-or-treating with the Admiral District businesses |
 “Shake your tail” – one feature of the Care Bear costume is a cute tail which shakes as Alex walks |
 Our front door – see text above for the carving themes |
 Bat ears Alex gets ready to hand out (and eat) candy at our house |
 The Annual Autumn Schrier Leaf Raking Festival is in full swing (or maybe ” full drop”) |
This last weekend Alex, Lara and Bill along with about 10,000 of our closest friends from Seattle visited the Carpinito Farms pumpkin patch in Kent. We chose the lucky pumpkins who will be made into the Seattle Schriers’ Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween. Those lucky few made the long trip back to Seattle, via Burger King, and were summarily butchered into beautiful Jack-O-Lanterns by Lara, Kathy, Wayne, Bill and Alex. We raked a few leaves in tribute to the wonderful weather of Autumn-in-Seattle. Then we all celebrated with that traditional Halloween treat – pizza! Click on any photo below to see a larger image.
 Alex climbing in the assembled crowd of Pumpkins at Carpinito |
 Alex with Dad Wayne and Mom Julia on the front step with Jack-O-Lanterns |
 Lara, Wayne, Bill and Alex with the candle-lighted Jack-O-Lanterns on the front step |
 Lara helped rake leaves in the front yard and Alex helped return them to the to their natural position in the yard |
 Alex helps Lara clean out her pumpkin |
 Bill and Alex ride through the cornfields at Carpinito |
 Alex the Grouch? (Seasame Street) Nope – Alex helps tamp down the leaves into a garbage can |
 Wayne Garrow carves. |
 This load of pumpkins is a little heavier than we planned! |
 Alex and Aunt Lara with our Jack-O-Lanterns |
 Alex finishes a Jack-O-Lantern of the Moon and Stars with Grandpa Bill |
 A good John Deere tractor, probably made in Waterloo, Iowa, pulls the hayracks through a muddy cornfield for rides for city kids like us |
October 17-18 was a crisp Autumn weekend in Seattle. We took Alexandria, age 4, to the Fauntleroy Fall Festival at Fauntleroy Church in West Seattle. The church parking lot is right above Fauntleroy Creek, a tiny, one-mile long stream which discharges into Puget Sound. Although it only has a 149 acre watershed, it has a fish ladder and salmon return to spawn. At the Fall Festival Alex got her first pony ride, and was able to be at a petting zoo (she loves animals). Photos below, click any one to see a larger version.
 Alex cutting up in her Halloween witch costume |
 Alex, hair flying, takes her first pony ride at the Fauntleroy Fall Festival in West Seattle |
 A miniature pony at the Fauntleroy Fall Festival petting zoo |
 Best to let that sleeping cat lie, little dog (Toby sleeping, stuffed dog nearby) |
It is Autumn in Seattle and at the Seattle Schriers. That means a ton of leaves in the front yard from the two large maple trees there. They were part of a money-raising project for the West Seattle marching band by Scott Turner, son of the previous owners of our house, planted 35 years ago or so. I keep saying I’m going to tax the neighbors because they get to view the beauty of the trees and I get all the leaf raking. Where’s my chain saw when I need it!?
Autumn also means the moss and mushrooms come out in force. The mushrooms in the front yard of Nancy, our next door neighbor to the north, are rampant this year, as you can see.
It is also Halloween. We recently found the care bears costume which Kathy sewed for Lara 20+ years ago. It fits little four-year old Alexandria, as you can see here. Toby the Cat wonders how that new large animal appeared in the house.
Oh yes, and the rains have begun in Seattle! Amazingly, July and August (and often September) are bone dry in Seattle. All the grass dies unless water. Now it is October, and rain returns. I love it!
Click any photo to enlarge it.
The Cat and the Carebear – Alex in a Halloween costume Kathy made for Lara years ago and a fascinated Toby the cat |
Fields of Mushrooms in our neighbors’ yard. See any leprechauns? |
Signs of an election season in Seattle – Dow Constantine for County Executive |
The mossy maple tree and its leaves in our front yard |
Panorama theme by Themocracy
