Fog is back and fires under control

It's time to clean off the patios and outdoor furniture for the last few weeks of good sitting outside weather--Halloween is usually the last time we sit on the front patio. I like to decorate with a lifelike python and skeleton and talk to the little kids who brave our hill. The important part about Halloween is to dispose of the extra candy immediately afterward while willpower is strong. One unfortunate side effect of visiting the wonderful chocolatiers in Paris and frequenting TruffleHound in Ventura is that the average commercially produced candy tastes awful. But, i'll eat it in a pinch.

Over the years I've lived in some great neighborhoods with people who loved to celebrate Halloween. One man put his bbq in the driveway and cooked hotdogs for all and sundry. An elderly couple in my childhood neighborhood invited every kid into the livingroom, had each sign a guest book and gave each a Coca Cola in a bottle, of course there weren't any canned soft drinks then. Regrettably, we little heathens didn't appreciate the effort and opportunity and i recall several antsy moments before being able to effect an escape....

One year my Mom made popcorn balls, another year she prepared candied apples. She made cookies and we distributed and received all kinds of homemade goodies. The 1950's were simpler and certainly innocent. Watching Betty on Mad Men takes me back to the moms I knew except none of them ever treated their kids like Betty treats hers. But my Mom was beautiful and had great clothes and a collection of nifty hostess aprons and she was a great cook, actually she is still all of the above but i'm not sure about the aprons.

We sat on the back patio last night and had dinner--it's starting to get a little nippy but I love eating out. We ate Hebrew National hotdogs, canned/doctored baked beans, cole slaw and, for dessert chocolate cheesecake. Mom brought champagne, so it was the perfect meal.

I'm preparing for my mini-facelift and am trying to acclimate myself to sleeping on my back, so am not sleeping well or much. Guess I'll be blogging through this experience to avoid complete fatigue-induced meltdown.

Time to check Slate, HuffPost, etc.

Adios.