To return home, subsequent to an interlude of extensive travel (three weeks) prompts me to reflect upon my life.  I would like to think I do not take on the role of a tourist, a dabbler, one who passes through anonymously, with diffident attention to anything or anyone.  Boredom can be chosen without leaving home.  Does boredom entail the temptation to purchase all manner of “stuff” to bring back; objects which are not needed, in which I have no interest?  Perhaps the shopping reflex to alleviate boredom is a symptom of a society in decline, having lost our ability to slow down, to stop and pay attention?  

I buy books.  Is that my vice?  The prospect of a book excites me with anticipation of encountering an interesting mind, with the opportunity to learn.  Books and coffee.  I will indulge in a good cup of coffee at any hour of the day.

I purchased three books over the course of our three week road trip.  We always visit The Regulator Book Shop on Nineth Street in Durham.  I never fail to purchase something.  On this visit I purchased: Dostoevsky Reads Hegel in Siberia and Bursts Into Tears by László R. Földényl.  I am eager to begin reading.  While away I purchased two more books by ordering from Amazon.  I realized that as a writer I’d like to imitate Chaucer, who captured in words the pilgrims he encountered on the way to Canterbury.  I ordered a contemporary translation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Then I read a short blurb about Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield a novel about the heroic stand of the Spartans against the tidal wave of the Persian army at Thermopylae.  I ordered the book.  Those two were waiting for me when I arrived home.

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Today is the last day of October: Halloween.  In Batavia Halloween is a two day religious festival, a celebration of the imagination when children are rewarded for role play and for imagination.  Is not religion about the imagination giving reign to tales about our origins, tales showing what it means to be human?  I think so.

Who does not remember going from door to door, costumed, then greeted by smiling neighbors who offer a candy treat for the bag held open?  Older children often use a pillow case to collect the trove of candy as they efficiently move door to door in a neighborhood.

Yesterday afternoon we attended BatFest here in Batavia.  The village welcomes families with costumed children to trick-or-treat at the downtown merchants and then to gather upon the green in front of the band shell for games and socializing with neighbors.  We accompanied Finlea our almost-two-year-old granddaughter who was costumed as a lion.  BatFest was a memorable experience.  Sometimes I fantasize about turning back time, to be young again, a return to innocence…

The two photos are of my wife with two merchants in delightful costumes.

Today is October the 31st, the main event, Halloween! 

What does this tune have to do with Halloween? 

The Killing Moon

By Echo & the Bunnyman