Portraits by Tessie

Tessie's been making some attempts at representational art lately. Above are a portrait and a self-portrait. I know; could have fooled me, too. That thing that looks like a spoon? That's the self-portrait, "Tessie in a Dress," according to the artist.

The other is a portrait of "Chris." It took us a little time to nail down who Chris is, and that's the real reason I'm posting this. At first, we assumed Chris was a colleague in her pre-school, but Tessie set us straight on that: "Chris who was here," she said, meaning our house guest of last June, an old friend of mine from college who came out to look for a job here in California. (Joke's on him: there are no jobs in California. Employment is sooo 2008.)

"You mean Mr. Chris, who gave you puzzles?" I asked, referring to the jigsaw puzzles he sent Tessie as a thank-you gift. (She loves jigsaw puzzles, by the way.)

"Yes." I am not going to begin to speculate as to why she chose to depict Mr. Chris with a definite frown and what appears to be a dunce cap on his head.

Hallowe'en Recap

Before the event recedes too far from memory, we should get some details from the past Hallowe'en recorded.

Tessie, a strong believer in recycling, joyfully reprised last year's personification of the Pumpkin Fairy. She'd probably be perfectly happy to wear the same costume again next year, if only she would stop growing. (That's not likely, though.)With the 31st falling on a Saturday this year, Hallowe'en became a two-day event here in town. Friday, a few blocks of downtown were barricaded off and our fine local merchants gave out candy to throngs of kids.

Some businesses that perhaps should not be so cavalier about the distribution of their assets participate: Even our local dive bar (the one that appears frequently in the Police Blotter for closing-time altercations) gets in on the act, and ignores its own sign: We decided to forgo the costume contest this year; after all, Tessie was reusing last year's non-winning, store-bought costume. Maybe next year. Instead, at Tessie's suggestion, we chose to end our day with a visit to the town's other watering hole, the one with the long tap list and the short arrest history.

The next day was Hallowe'en, so we got our jack-o-lanterns prepared. Tessie drew their faces on with marker, her mother did the cutting, and I made banana margaritas. The pumpkins turned out great (see photo at top); the margaritas, well, ehh. (Not that Tessie got to try them.)

So once again she donned her costume and we set off around the neighborhood while Tessie's Mom stayed behind to distribute our candy.

Some of our neighbors' decorating efforts easily surpassed ours: Surprisingly, many of the houses we visited on our route were empty, but their owners had left bowls of candy out for self-service. The surprising part was that there was still candy in them when we got there; the even more surprising part was that Tessie left some behind.

After almost an hour of trick-or-treating, Tessie's candy pumpkin slipped from her grasp, too heavy for her to hang on. So, a successful Hallowe'en! (Tessie gets two pieces each night, if she finishes her dinner. At our current rate, she'll still have candy left in March.)