Crazy Stable

Dudes...Hallowe'en is, like, so over.

Maybe that's the message from Bagel the Squirrel (or perhaps his nephew Pepito). Instead of his usual carbohydrate offerings from the neighbors' trash (gnawed Jamaican meat patties are a current fave), we have this corpse from my compost heap. This poor little veggie has gone from Martha Stewart to Jack Skellington in the blink of a month, hasn't he?

I took it as a squirrelly reminder that we have no Christmas decorations up on the house yet. We don't do the whole Snoopy's Doghouse/Dyker Heights madness, but we do put up a pretty string of "drip" lights on the scruffy porch and, sometimes, electric candles in the windows (although I have to duct-tape them to our narrow sills, and then the cats blunder into them). I've been distracted with getting my Prospect Park calendar printed. It is now in hand and shipping; it's glossy and lovely and, on this dreary day, brings me back to the blissful hours I spent in the park this year. If you haven't done so, take a look; it would make a great gift (although Bagel and Pepito would rather have more old gourds, thanks). It will also help explain why we're so easily lured away and distracted from our renovation projects; we can always walk across the street and play in the park!