Hallowe’en in Ontario is not exactly cancelled – just “recommended against”. This shouldn’t make much difference to us, because our activity ranges between 10 and 20 kids. Trick or Treating action in our neighbourhood of small blocks is highly street-dependent. If you don’t have critical mass of decorations, they just keep on walking.

This doesn’t stop my husband from happily putting up skull lights and carving a pumpkin. And from buying far more candy than we will ever give out and now that we don’t work in offices, there’s no easy way to get rid of it except to eat it. Which, sadly, we do.

We’re guaranteed the 7 kids who live on our street, so we’ve bought loot bags and will set up a socially distanced table so treats can be acquired without risk. I’m even planning a costume this year, a somewhat lazy combination of flamenco, Day of the Dead Bride, and Frida Kahlo. A picture may or may not appear here next week.

On the other hand, there seems to be extra enthusiasm for decorating in the neighbourhood this year. Perhaps that’s because it’s something that the virus can’t take away. Here’s a selection of things that moved to me take pictures on my walks. Sadly, the tempermental upload function on WordPress keeps rejecting the garden of doll heads, but that house has it’s own hashtag, so check out #nightmareonbrowning for all the scary goodness.