Lily Dale and Halloween.

Happy Halloween, dear readers.

I must say that this is my most favorite holiday. I love the leaves, the crisp air, the candy, the decorations, the spooky music. And speaking of spooky...

Every year, my friend Eileen goes to Lily Dale for Halloween. I've been fortunate enough to accompany her for the past few years. For those of you who aren't aware, Lily Dale is a a very spirtual place. They actually tout themselves as a place where "one who believes, as the basis of his or her religion, in the continuity of life and in individual responsibility. Some, but not all, Spiritualists are Mediums and/or Healers. Spiritualists endeavor to find the truth in all things and to live their lives in accordance therewith." Just click on the link above and you can check it out.

Anyway...Halloween at Lily Dale is absolutely wonderful. Although our main purpose is to "be one with the spirit world" that day, we do take some Halloween-ish liberties. (If you don't know Eileen, you don't know that she is a very spiritual person. She celbrates the changing of the seasons; she thanks her spirits for all good things that happened the year past; she is a truly spiritual person...I like to think of myself as spiritual but I have a long way to go.) Back to our Halloween-ish liberties:

• We all dress in black...just black. We have long black capes.
• This year we went to "Fairy Land" (honest to God) and placed a fairy house. Eileen made a great Haunted House out of doll house furniture. She painted it, put "spooky" paintings on the walls of the house, and pimped out the whole damn thing. At Lily Dale there's a path (relatively new) that serves as the home for countless fairy dwellings. Although I don't get the whole fairy thing, I think it's neat. We placed our own version of a fairy house deep in the woods.
• We eat "spooky" foods. We'll take normal, every day foods and give them "spooky" names. Some of the foods we've indulged in include (I'll give you the layman's terms for a few): Rats (Ritz) Crackers, Scream (Cream) Cheese and Cadaviar (Caviar)...get the picture? We also have Anchoveyes, Hominous, Pita Dread, Ladies' Fingers, Champagne (you must emphasize the second syllable an say it in a "spooky" voice), Alives (Olives...I had to spell that one out for you), Monster Cheese, Deviled Eggs, Roast Beast Sandwiches with Hoarse-radish. Some foods that are equally "spooky" include: Goooulash, Bleak Soup, Garlic Tooooast. It's all about eloooongaaatiiing the wooorrrdssss.
• We visit the pet cemetery. It's eerily serene. There are hundreds of gravestones marking the burial places of pets. Some have pictures, many have dates. Some of the gravestones are more elaborate than some I've seen for people. It's quite spectacular.
• We use the word "spooky" in almost every sentence. No matter what we're talking about, something has to be "spooky". For instance - we were walking past the lake and I noticed something moving in the water...it was a beaver. It was henceforth called the "spooky beaver of Lily Dale Lake" (you totally have to use your best Vincent Price voice when you say that.) Everything is spooky. Everything.

I love my Halloween trips to Lily Dale with Eileen (I call her Elaine.) Her husband Dan comes and it's a lovely time. This year we were joined by Tim Newell and it was extra "spooky". A great time.

Let me compose my "spooky" self and I'll post about the goings-on at the Demerly Estate...for Haaallooooweeeeennnn. Boo!