Halloween Approacheth. Do You Need "Spackle" to Sparkle?

The last day of October has multiple meanings for me. It's All Hallows Eve, or Hallow e'en and it's the anniversary of the day I married my former and only husband. There was not a lot of demand for the use of the church that afternoon in 1963, and we did not have a Hallow e'en themed reception or Rocky Horror Picture Show type costumes. Instead, there was cake and tea as befitted a family with Methodist roots and, at that time, a lot of older teetotal relatives.

In fact, there was a fair bit of family frowning about Hallow e'en customs. When I was a child and my great-grandmother lived with us, she terrorized the neighbourhood children by inviting them in and then sternly demanding that they perform a trick before they could leave. Quite a few of the children left without doing anything, and so they collected no candy. I guess that saved some money. And thrift is a virtue, or so I'm told. I truly do not recall ever dressing up and going trick or treating, door to door.

When my daughter was old enough to be out for Hallow e'en she quite enjoyed the experience, or so she led me to believe and when she had children, they also participated in the ritual until they were in their teens. I tend to think that trick or treating should be restricted to children twelve and under, but perhaps that is just my crotchety protestant background getting in the way of what might be appropriate for this generation.

Hallow e'en is definitely a time when people can go all out with their make-up and costumes, the more outrageous, or sexy or scary, the better and that is my segue to - Do You Need Spackle to Sparkle. Yesterday at the supermarket checkout counter, I was possessed by one of those small urges that lead to small regrets later. I bought a copy of Good Housekeeping magazine. I still don't know why I did it and must beg to be excused for such uncharacteristic behaviour. As many of you no doubt know, such magazines can often be perused in under ten minutes. There was one legitimate article about Gabby Giffords (the congress woman). Then there was this faux article - Is Your Makeup Aging You? Hmm, well, all I use is lipstick, occasionally, and blusher, once in a great while, but maybe it could learn something. I did. I learned that there is a face moisturizer or "a hydrating primer ... Laura Geller Spackle Under Make-Up Primer... original or luminescent." I had to reread the promo to make sure I wasn't learning about crack filler and wall paint. If you are going to paint your face for a Hallow e'en party the luminescent base would be appropriate ($27.50).

I plan to stay home and read a book on Hallow e'en night. What are you doing?

If I Could

I wonder what would happen if I could give Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada, and Paul Krugman, American economist and previous Nobel Prize winner, a magic potion which they could distribute to international corporate CEO's, international bankers, and political leaders. The potion would be designed to open the minds of those who imbibed it.

And so ... Bankers would discover that reasonable regulation, as proposed by Mr. Carney, would not ruin them. Political leaders would discover that too much austerity, at the wrong time, leads only to more and more austerity, and less and less ability to improve the world economies, as Paul Krugman has shown (NY Times, and books ) and read his Op Ed on Rabbit Hole Economics http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/opinion/rabbit-hole-economics.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss . What would CEO's discover? Perhaps they might find out that they are frail and human. Although, the jury may still be out on that one.

If I could, I would have Dick Cheney and George Bush drink a potion that would give them the same sensations that being water boarded caused in the prisoners they agreed could be tortured. Do you suppose that would change their tiny minds?