Halloween

We had our first freeze warning of the season shortly before All Hallows Eve, so Vivian and I did a late evening harvest of our tomato plants so we could have a chance to eat some of them. We had plenty of green tomatoes still waiting to be picked on the vine, and even some red ones. It looks like some bruschetta may be in our future.

Among our slew of Halloween events was a brief birthday party for Vivian's co-worker Sally. She dressed up as Waldo, so I made a themed card for her and joined the gang from Friendship Program for pizza and burgers dressed as Inigo Montoya. Vivian came as a piece of sushi.

Friday night was the Halloween Dance at JNO, so Vivian and I wore our costume over to the Eagle's Lodge for a night of dancing. We had plenty of worthy competitors in the costume contest this year, which included Rob and a Whoopie Cushion, Jaimie as Little Bo Creep, and Dan Wondra as... Dan Wondra.

The highlight, however, was our brief performance of the Thrill the World dance in the middle of the dance floor. We'd been practicing in Merinda's basement for the last month of two, and it was quite exciting to jump out and perform in front of a bunch of unsuspecting swing dancers. We're already talking about doing the whole six-minute song next year, perhaps at the Haunted Manor here in Omaha.

On Saturday night, Merinda had another classic Halloween party in her basement. Some of us donned new costumes just for the occasion, including Lisa as Running with Scissors, Jaimie as Mother Nature (or Poison Ivy, take your pick), Brianne as a Blue Ox (with Paul Bunyan standing by) and Ben Cass as the Creepy Panda (no, I don't get it either). Dan and Cathy got to take the cake as the Creepy Swing Dancing Zombies, with make-up provided by the Haunted Manor. Seriously, Dan looked remarkably like Freddy Krueger.

It was a long, fun night, with plenty of silliness and mixing of drinks. I got to give away some of our own store making Martinis, Appletinis, and White Russians who anybody who wanted them. Of course, Troy's radioactive rum was probably quite enough for anyone.