Halloween Approaches: Haunted by the Ghosts of Halloweens Past

Halloween approaches.  I have been having slightly scary dreams, the kind where I know that something bad is about to happen, so when I jerk awake, I decide not to drift back off.  Last night it was a sparkling ocean with moving walkways on slender spires far above the ocean, heading off to some final destination that seemed unlikely, but my mom had gone on ahead and didn't have her phone.

When I write it out, it doesn't seem as slightly scary as I thought it was when I was dreaming.  Let me capture a few moments that seem to crystallize what this late October feels like:

--I heard a banging on the deck--something was clearly out there.  I wasn't worried that it was a murderer or a burglar. Here in the mountains, I'm much more worried about bears.  But it was a raccoon.  I wasn't quick enough with my camera/phone.  Now all is quiet on the deck.

--Last night, we saw one of the numerous ads for other Roku channels that run on the Roku channel we've chosen.  The ad was for the Haunted channel, which reminded me that Halloween approaches, and I've barely noticed.  Last year I was sketching witches and cats and big moons and haunted houses and pumpkins, like this sketch:

--This year, I spent my sketching time in October sketching broken trees:

--As we watched the promo for the Haunted channel, I realized that what I really want is a Halloween Lite channel, where we could watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charley Brown and every Halloween special episode of Roseanne and other sitcoms.

--In past Halloweens, I've written poems about being the ghost haunting the house.  This line popped into my head:  "I am the haunted house."  It doesn't feel particularly original, but it does seem like it would take me interesting places.

--As I looked through my camera files on the phone, I realize I've taken lots of photos.  On my Saturday walk, I found this weaving of dried vines, still slightly curved from where it had been around a tree trunk.  

I carried it with me and put it in various places as I thought about how it reminded me of a corset.  If I had to title this photo, it would be "The Tree Removes Her Corset":

--Yesterday I noticed the shape of leaves on pavement from where they had been before.  The brown is actually mud/dirt, which made me think of God or a storm painting in mud.  

--I also thought of ghosts and hauntings:

--Today we will make our first attempt at early voting; if something should happen, we will make our second attempt on Thursday.  The juxtaposition of voting and Halloween--lots of haunting possible symbolism there.