In the week leading up to last night’s Halloween festivities, there was the Zombie Walk a week ago Saturday, and decorations and installations going up all over the city. Even at the office, the celebration of impending spooky fun was apparent – not in my office, but at the Kelly Services office down the hall, David (who works reception) decorates their waiting area every holiday. This past week, there was a border of dripping blood attached to the top edge of the reception desk, as well as a ghoulish witch and a wee cauldron of candy – I call it “David’s Reception Desk of Horror and Candy.” And the dental office across the hall has a spooky sound fx welcome mat and sundry spooky decorations in their reception area, including a full-sized 2D (and possibly glow-in-the-dark) skeleton lounging on the couch.
Friday night was a women’s dance – put on by CHIC Productions – at the Palais Royale. Management and staff alike were in costume – notably, one of the security guys was done up as a scary groundskeeper brandishing a rake (I called him “The Grim Raker”) and there was a server who had an amazing make-up job on his eyes, making them looked gouged out. Most of the guests came out in costume – and there were some truly clever and fun ones: two couples dressed as cop and prisoner, a group of 20-somethings as the Village People (the complete set), a couple of variations on Batwoman, a female Robin, Hugh Hefner and Playboy bunny, and Dora the Explorer and Diego (I always knew those two were a couple), as well as an assortment of vampires (including myself) and zombies. Always nice to see the lesbian zombie community represented at these events. Best of all, and this one won the best costume prize: Edwina Scissorhands; this woman had it down – the hair, the make-up and the costume, complete with plastic scissor hands.
On Sunday, when I was walking through Rosedale on my way to Mike Vitorovich’s parents’ house to start painting on the Willow Quartet set, there were signs of spooky celebration – in particular, a house on one corner that had a full-on inflatable installation happening, complete with creepy organ music and moving parts!
Yesterday, folks in and around offices at Yonge/Bloor came to work in some awesome costumes. I saw a female Ghostbuster in my building and an Asian Napolean crossing Yonge/Bloor at lunchtime. And last night, I was on my loft neighbours’ patio for their annual dinner party/trick or treater watch. Terry and Phyllis, and their next door neighbour Randi, have adjacent patios that handily combine into a good-sized gathering space. Terry and Phyllis did a fabulous dinner of Japenese curried veg with rice, and guests brought appetizers, dessert (I baked an apple crisp) and booze, and contributed candy to the DIY candy station by the fence. Randi had carved a pumpkin and roasted the seeds with a tasty chipotle seasoning. And the ground-floor folks on the other side of the loft building got into it this year too, with power tool-carved pumpkins (Terry was invited to select the best one) and tea lights flickering in mason jars. We had about 60-70 kids come by (guesstimate) and even a few adults in costume too (mostly accompanying kids). A really good time all around – and we got sent home with leftovers.
I don’t have a photo of me in costume, but will have a photo opp when I wear it to Victoria and Brent Shepherd’s annual Halloween party this Saturday (scheduled a week later than usual, as their daughter Viv was acting in Amicus’s production of All My Sons, which closed this past weekend). Vicky always likes to take pix of guests in costume, so I’ll try to post soon. So the Halloween adventures will continue – more on that soon.
In the meantime, enjoy the Thriller video:
life with more cowbell 
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