I was up on Queen Anne this afternoon and I blundered into Halloween madness. If you’ve been wondering where Halloween is still a big event, the answer is apparently Queen Anne. This is a neighborhood north of downtown Seattle, very white and very yuppie in a quirky, arty way. If Belltown is Seattle’s answer to New York’s Lower East Side, Queen Anne is kind of like Greenwich Village. Nice neighborhood if you can afford to live there. This afternoon the streets were mobbed with trick or treaters. Lots of families and even dogs in costume. All the local shops had costumed employees out in front with buckets of candy for the kids. Really quite the festive atmosphere. This is in sharp contrast to some other neighborhoods I’ve lived where parents’ fear of predators and razors in the apple has all but killed Halloween. It was nice to see a bunch of kids dressed up and having fun. That’s how I remember Halloween.

Back home this evening we had a good amount of activity as well. Kate loves Halloween so she and Nik always decorate the house with lights, candles, fake bats, and so on. And of course we each carved a pumpkin. Nik dressed up as the “Devil Little Red Riding Hood” and she surprised more than one kid popping out of the door with her pointy hood and horns. That was pretty funny. The last kids were by about 8:30 and since then it’s been quiet. All those little ghosts and goblins by the house and me with no xp to show for it.