I find myself a very neat, goose down filled coat, which doesn't make me look too much like Michelin man, with silly fur trimmed hood. Roland can't quite bring himself to buy one, as they are not cheap. He is tempted by the polyester filled Walmart one, which only costs $30. He ends up buying neither.
We also buy a duvet. The house only has nasty, synthetic blankets, which are heavy and not warm.
Feeling rather pleased with our purchases, we decide to consult a travel agent about a short break after Christmas. We end up booking a 4 day stay in New Orleans over the New Year- Yippee! I've always wanted to go, and it's now or never. We also can fly from Columbia airport, via Memphis, which will be interesting.
It's Halloween weekend and the weather is going to be kind.
On friday afternoon there is a huge procession through the centre of town, where all the shops and businesses do trick or treat for kids. I've never seen so many people in Fulton. Bankers, shopkeepers all dress in silly outfits and so do all the kids. The costumes can be anything, not just ghosts and ghouls.
This little girl is a grape. The centre of town is closed to traffic.
There are going to be a lot of hyper active kids after the amount of gunk that is being handed out- by the bucket full. This is all going to be repeated on sunday- real Halloween.
We decide between these celebrations to visit our nearest state park, just up the road to see Graham Cave. The temperature today is 70F. Lovely!
This is an unusual cave formation, but also the first archaeological site in the USA to be designated a National Historic Landmark.
The cave was used by a local farmer, who owned the land, to keep his hogs in. He kept on finding artefacts and became interested in archaeology, eventually sending what he had found to the university of Missouri. They did further excavations and found evidence of man's use of the cave as early as 10,000 years ago, at the end of the ice age. The finds were mainly arrow and axe heads and pottery. The cave and surrounding land became a state park in 1964. I never think of America in terms of prehistory for some reason, so it was interesting to read about and see this. I have never seen a cave formed quite this way either.
It was the last farmer's market, sadly, and I had to take a last look at pumpkin man.
I have also been collecting Halloween pictures. These are just a few.
This is clever, because the trick or treaters have to go under the evil looking figure to get to the door. It is just opposite us.
This one was really quite scary. It looked like a lynching.
There is always something new each day. I will be interested to see how soon it all comes down.
This afternoon we are trick or treating with some parents and kids to see how they do it. We are fed our evening meal at 4 in the afternoon!!, then we go......
Well we have just experienced american Halloween. This is the group of kids we went with.
In Fulton, most people come to Court Street in the centre, where most of the inhabitants go to a great deal of trouble.
Some of them were really quite dark for small kids. The dead body in this one sits up every now and then!
The decorations are macabre but the costumes on the whole aren't.
It was fun, and didn't go on for too long. Most of the kids were young and they were all accompanied by adults. All very controlled and well behaved.
The group that we went with, a mixture of university and town people are all very nice, but I realised afterwards, they don't ever seem to discuss anything like politics or the war in Afghanistan or religion. They never argue about anything or have a good old set to over some issue. I found myself yearning for something a bit more stimulating than pleasant chat! There is an election tomorrow and not one word was said about it, as if that's all in a different world and it has nothing to do with them. Strange and very alien to me.
The election is getting plenty of coverage in the papers, radio and TV. There has been a lot of negative campaigning, some of a rather unpleasant nature. The ignorance of some of the candidates is astonishing, and it doesn't seem to bother people. I don't think someone like Christine O'Donnell would get anywhere in Britain.
More money has been spent on this election than ever before, which is obscene in a recession. Unlike Britain, they have recently passed a law that allows big businesses and groups to put any amount of money behind a candidate and they don't have to declare it. It's seen as a right. Too much money, too many interest groups!
Listening to Obama yesterday, I must say. I still like what I hear. Roland thinks the Democrats will do better than predicted. We will see.
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