Halloween 2007.....Laughter is great medicine!

Last year at this time I wrote about the origins of All Hallows Eve and its religious significance. This year, in the words of a famous Monty Python phrase:'And now for something completely different'.

As you may have read from Barbara's e-Mo 'Festivals' dated October 14, Miss Emmy Lou and I arrived at the Farm with two plastic storage boxes full of decorative odds and ends collected over the years. The results of our decorative endeavor is quite eye-catching, if I may say so. Two huge spider webs adorn the porch entrance, replete with significantly sized spiders. One banner has fall images of pumpkins, leaves and the like. A second banner, skewered with one of Q's famous bamboo poles, bears the words TRICK OR TREAT and is covered with an avalanche of appliqued orange,yellow and white candy corn on a black background.

The final touch is, of course, the extensive string of orange mini lights draped between the columns of the two-toned purple castle that is The Geranium Farm. Another string of lights, encapsulated by smiling Jack O' Lanterns, frames the front doors.

I admit to enjoying Halloween. I always have. On 23 of my 27-year stint at the United Nations I came to work in a different costume. I was never embarrassed. I savored the opportunity to enter the mirrored elevators and notice the rigid 'suits' in back of me attempting to stifle a grin or giggle. Upon exiting the elevator I would wish always give them permission to have a good laugh and a Happy Halloween.

Laughter does a body good. Humor is a potent antidote for stress and apathy.

So go ahead and put on that pair of plastic black glasses with attached absurdly large nose. Drive to work or go food shopping just like that.... the smiles you will provoke will be the sweetest treat on earth!