tis the season

I’ve been a bit preoccupied with poison ivy since Sunday.  It’s the worst case I’ve ever had my life, and believe me, it’s something I should be used to by now.  I’ve had nasty rashes from poison plants (ivy, oak, sumac) more times than I can count over my lifetime.  Leaves of three, let them be.  I know that, but Gracie and Molly have no concerns at all and rummage through the woods without a care in the world about what they might bring home. 

I’m blaming Gracie this time.  Somehow, I got this stuff all over my face and neck and only a tiny bit on my hands.  I woke up Sunday morning with my eyes almost completely swollen shut, my nose three times larger than normal, and the red itchy weepy rash all over.  I scared myself to look in the mirror.  I sort of look like a Shar-pei, only red instead of tan.

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Erin is excited about Halloween.  She loves anything to do with haunting, monsters, serial killers, or anything having to do with horror.  I have fond memories of reading to my little girls and them reading to me.  All my girls loved Mother Goose.  Sarah liked Pippi Longstocking and the Boxcar Children.  Emily loved the Harry Potter books and  Bailey School Kids series.  Erin liked the R.L. Stine scary books, and the Series of Unfortunate Events books. 

When Erin was about 7, I told her that when she got older, she would probably like to read stories written by Edgar Allan Poe.  She had already heard of the Tell-Tale Heart and asked me to read it to her.  We had the book on our shelf so I read it to her, but it took us forever to get through it.  The language was hard for her and she asked lots of questions.  She wanted me to read more of his stories to her but I thought they were too intense for her and really, a whole different level of evil as compared to scary books intended for children.  When she was about 10, she started reading Poe’s stories and poems herself. 

Erin made something for me.  She knows I like skulls, and with Halloween coming up, she thought it would make a nice decoration.  I think it’ll be a year-round addition to my desk.  His smile makes me happy.