Halloween in our neighborhood in the US was one of my most favorite times of year. The weather was getting nice and crisp, the trees were turning colors.. and best of all, our neighborhood was so much fun. Houses were decorated with pumpkins and all kinds of other things. And they always Boo'ed people!
For my UK friends... it is where a friendly ghost drawing was taped on your door with a poem written with a nice treat! Sometimes it was tons of candy and popcorn. Once it was candy and a beautiful autumn colored candle. It was just always the most pleasant surprise.
And on Halloween night, children of all ages came out to Trick-or-Treat. It is absolutely amazing the types of costumes there were. You got to see all your neighbors out and got to catch up on the latest news as we chatted between children. In our neighborhood we typically counted over 100 children at our house each year.
Just to give you an idea of how much candy that meant. In the US, I would fill the taller basket in the vertical picture heaping full of candy. By the end of Halloween evening... we would have just enough left to allow Jim to take some to work. In the UK, I filled a much smaller basket in 2008 and we barely gave any away. We only had 5 children and gave them large handfuls of candy. I was so disappointed... but as Jim put it... we saved money. You always have to look at the bright side I guess.
So back into 2009 just for a sec... I went on a bike ride today for 2 hours... My friend Allister has been trying to schedule them weekly to ensure that I get 2 hours of exercise in every week. He rides us all over town. It's pretty fun because there is a rather large group that is invited and we always get a different group of people coming. Well today we got to experience something only seen in movies... we crossed the river in town and there was this huge crane and a bunch of police cars surrounding the water. Well... I guess they found a car and were in the process of pulling it out. It was pretty darn cool.
Just to give you a quick update about the weight loss... okay... I've lost another 2 pounds. Only 1 more to be back to the 15 original pounds I lost... Hopefully this bike ride helped... it was 15 miles! To help with my weight loss... another thing I have been trying to get myself to do is to eat breakfast... Yep... not a breakfast girl. I don't like eggs and it takes me a while to wake up in the morning, get moving, and finally get hungry. So I've been on a kick of trying to eat yogurt or oatmeal. I just love the packages of oatmeal... especially the Wakey Wakey one... it's so English!
As you can see, I'm trying to blog and catch up... I have a big load of pictures I'm preparing for the next post... so it may be a few days... but I'm working on it!
Keep on cheering me on!!!! And check in often!
Way to go girlfriend!! I'm impressed ... biking 15 miles. You are motivating me. I love your stories and pictures. Looking forward to hearing about the latest cheap trip!! Take care!! Dawn
Posted by: Dawn | October 13, 2009 at 03:49 PM
Wow - 15 miles on a bike! I am so impressed and so proud of you. I bet one day you run a marathon with Jim! Cheering you on!
Posted by: Vickie Lee | December 01, 2009 at 08:11 PM