Halloween

There were no smashed pumpkins in our neighborhood. And almost no trick-or-treaters either.  I imagine they've all gone the way of community parties and other events to keep kids from walking the streets.  It seems to be something that has gone the way of most childhood activities - sports, after school fun, just being a kid - supervised and planned by adults and run on a schedule, a very busy schedule.  I find it sad that kids have so little time and parents are run ragged getting them to and from those activities.  We used to spend hours out trick-or-treating. We played baseball - in our yards or a nearby open field where we had to bring our own bases. We thought up and ran a neighborhood newspaper, we played games in the neighborhood at night, we rode bicycles for hours, watched the clouds go by, days, weeks, years seemed endless (they weren't though)..... slow down, kids (and parents), childhood goes fast enough....