I'm not doing updates. So Sa-wee. I'm clueless around here. You know about as much as I do. I could escape the nasty way and leave everyone furious. Or I could wait like a complacent fool and rot. We'll see....
I feel rotten but my fever is down. Increased meds and now I'm on steroids. Still no bleeding arm. Miracle.
I'll tell some old Halloween stories tonight, but they probably won't be very interesting. Just memories.
IRONICALLY
all the Halloween photos of me as a child are on my computer back home - - absolutely nothing here on my phone and tablet files.
Let's start with my Aunt Betty. I have mentioned my cousin Cookie who lives in Florida. My Aunt Betty (now deceased) was Cookie's mother and my Mom's older sister.
On one Halloween, when I was five years old, Aunt Betty was furious with one of her neighbors. A man walked his dog every morning - - and inevitably the dog would take a big dump on Betty's property.
On this Halloween Aunt Betty had enough. She went outside and shoveled the crap in a paper bag. She went to the man's house, knocked on the door and handed the man the bag.
"Trick or treat, "she said. "Your dog forgot this!".
That same Halloween Aunt Betty got more revenge. There was a bar directly located across the street from her. Every night she was annoyed with loud music and rowdy customers.
I was very young and don't know the exact details, but this is what I remember. She got a realistic gorilla costume, put it on and stormed into the bar. She scared everyone because they didn't know who she was. She took a large bowl of pretzels and a bottle of booze and went home.
Later that night she returned to the bar and did some more havoc - - I don't know what, but she didn't get caught.
This was very difficult to recreate, but here's what I came up with
Hope I'm not too boring. Here's another story that happened on Halloween when I was five.
Nowadays Halloween is more geared for adults than children. Adults go nuts.
When I was five, my neighborhood was a traditional "Leave it to Beaver" world. The adults would round up the kids and take them trick or treating. Sort of like a block party. Afterwards there would be a children's party at the local "recreation hall" or whatever it was called.
As far as I remember, no adults wore costumes. That's where an unusual bizarre adventure unfolded.
My mother inexplicably decided to wear a costume. I don't know what inspired her, but it was completely out of her character. Mom had a sense of humor and occasionally did some funny things - - but she seemed to be obsessed with creating a costume. To this day, I still can't figure out what her motive was.
It was probably a day or two before Halloween when she and I went downtown (New Brunswick, New Jersey) to buy some things. She got a weird mask of a female face with big red lips, and a curly bright yellow silly wig. And a pair of large rubber feet with red painted toenails.
At home, she decided to wear an old lampshade as a hat. She wore gloves to cover her hands. As a costume, she wore an old blue Oriental robe, which she stuffed with pillows to look fat.
This doesn't look anything like the costume, absolutely not...
All Halloween she didn't say a word to anybody and kept a distance from me, so nobody guessed she was my mom.
I remember several people took photos of her. I sure wish I had them.
My father wasn't there because he worked nights. After work he'd go to the local Beer Gardens and Gin Mills (that's what they were called way back then) - - to get drunk and whore around.
I could tell some real horror stories......
Just some old photos that you've seen before. Why? I like them.
Taken in a photo booth, two days before Halloween. I was twenty, Mom was forty-five.
Some of my favorites.
This post is getting too long. I'm nostalgic tonight.
Good or Evil
My mother was truly an extraordinary lady. Was I good or evil? I had dubious intentions...but I was a sweetheart.
Good and Evil resided in the family and I was related to both.My great uncle Frederick Lang, the murderer. He was my great-grandmother's brother. When he was 21 he fell in love with his 18 yr. old niece Kate. When she resisted his advances, he killed her in 1906. Lang was executed by hanging in 1909. He was 24.
Executed in the jail courtyard, Middlesex Country, NJ
Lang was pure evil, but I have some of his letters. He was passionate, complex, more intelligent than you'd think.
Kate was pure innocence, a saint I suppose.
My grandmother Anna Gordon Knoll. She was ten years old when Kate was murdered. She told me that she went out to the garden, picked some violets. She went to the open coffin and put the violets in Kate's hands. That really touched me.
I think all the Gordon women were beautiful. My grandmother died in October, when I was sixteen.
Thank you for reading this very long post....I suppose it wasn't all about Halloween.
Jon ❤️ always extremely complex - - combination saint and sinner
Excuse any errors, I didn't edit
