Halloween Light

The new landscape lighting got done just in the nick of time-for Halloween.  What a difference it made!  Little kids in costumes with skirts ands pants that were extravagantly long could negotiate my steps with ease.  Those with big wigs, masks, elaborate costumes, and knit caps to ward off the cold, had some light to help them get to the door. 

The lights positioned outside the front door made it easy for me to see every costume, and every face.  Though one places a premium on scary at Halloween, a well lighted walk and destination makes for an experience of the landscape that is more fun for everyone.  The puzzled looks you see here-my French friend Matthias asking each trick or treater “who are you??”.  Each reaction was immediate, and unfiltered by a dark meeting place.

Though many of my pictures are blurred, they tell a story.  This is my once a year contact with the kids who live in my neighborhood.  This is their once a year interaction with me. The new landscape lighting helped all of us to see each other better. 

My arms are still aching from carving 6 giant pumpkins.  I will never again be fooled by the label-“carving pumpkins”.  I somehow thought these carving pumpkins would be thin walled-easy for a florist’s knife to handle.  This pumpkin had walls every bit of 2 inches thick.  Hours it took to carve them.  I did put 7 votive candles in each of my pumpkins-Buck thought I was nuts.  But I am used to the light from the pumpkins supplying all of my Halloween light.  Last year, the nest of gourds that I usually set my pumpkins on would not have been visible. This year, the light from the eaves makes them part of the show.  The work was worth it-it showed.  


The porch was a well lit place.  This was a good thing, considering that it was cold, and spitting rain.  It interests me that landscape lighting can provide so much atmosphere for an event-or a garden.  Last week, the lighting was friendly-all about illumination.  Halloween night it was all about a little drama.  The shadows cast by the lights-just as scary as the holiday.

Though the work of the carving was a lot, my pumpkin pots were looking good.  Lots of fire on the inside.  Enough light outside to reveal their shapes and stems. 

The look of this pumpkin without light from above would have told but half the story.  More kids asked about my pumpkins this Halloween than ever before.  Many kids asked me if they were real.  The lighting made all the difference to the presentation.   This exterior lighting is making the many dark months ahead seem less dreary.  Even intriguing. Some thoughtful landscape lighting-I recommend it.

 

Comments

  1. the pumpkins rocked. and so did you! and the kids. very ‘old school’ and very appropriate for these strange and difficult times. the smiles of children? priceless.

  2. Love those children…..what a good neighbor! Cynthia

  3. The pumpkins were wonderful….the lighting was pure drama….the looks on the kids faces….the best.

  4. Those children must have loved coming up that walk. We live on a street without sidewalks and so the kids skip us as it is dangerous for walkers after dark. Really miss this annual interaction. Just worked the am shift at my local polling place this morning and got to enjoy lots of children coming in with their parents who were voting.

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