I Sent a Letter to Heaven

It's been a week chock full of activities. We hosted a pumpkin carving party at our house. The house was very warm and inviting and filled with our friends. Manny was the first to arrive and although he left early to get some much needed rest and relaxation, I'm so glad he took the time to come over and visit with us. Steve and Alice are wonderful biking friends of Will's; and Florie and Billy came with the young'un, enchanting Isabella; along with dear, thoughtful Rachel and Eric.

It was a lovely evening. We drank Spanish wines which went well with the treo of delish tamales I picked up from Mama's Hot tamales and my homemade Pumpkin Soup. We wrapped up the evening with Pumpkin Cake topped by Honey and Spice Buttercream icing and coffee.

Monday night we drove through Carol Avenue because we were (mis)informed that the old Victorian homes got done up big and scary for Halloween. We were disappointed in seeing they were few and far between. Not much of an impact at all.

But that was followed by a surprisingly good dinner at Leila Thai. I love the names of their dishes. They're called things like Magic Green Beans, Wisdom of Life Panang and Bewitching Yellow Curry.Then we headed up into Griffith Park to Travel Town for a spooky Ghost Train ride and a surprising "celebrity" sighting. Who should we be winding around the line with but Puck! You know. Puck. From MTVs Real World San Francisco. Will didn't hate him and I think had some appreciation for Puck with his "I am who I am and f*** anyone who has a problem with it" attitude. But I couldn't stand him. He was obnoxious, rude, mean, shallow and horribly bad hygiene and such and unbelievably unattractive character. He was also there in line with with an infant, 10:00 pm on a chilly night and the infant was wrapped in a blanket with nothing covering his head, a bare foot dangling from under the blanket, and the nanny searching the ground for a lost little blue sock. Then when Puck took his place on the miniature train he handed his baby over the ticket taker. Pfft.

We were boarded on the next mini train and I was thankful that we weren't on the same train as him. Our train ride was fun and the ride was a good length of time winding around the lot and along the hillside, through a fog filled tunnel and a plane wreck. Ghosts were circling out in a field and ghouls and gobblins were popping up all along the way. It was really fun.
Tuesday night was Halloween and with the house all spooked out for the little trick or treaters, we sat on the front porch and drank Coronas and ate Halloween candy for dinner.
On Thursday we went to Olvera Street for the Dia de los Muertos procession and to have dinner at our fav place, El Paseo. We followed that up with a walk through the cobbled street, out to the plaza where we watched the Calveras dancing, and then over to an exhibit inside Pico House. The alters there were very pretty, interesting and touching. As we were getting ready to head out there was a big trunk filled with scrolls of colored paper tied with ribbon. The propped open trunk lid had written on it "Mailbox to Heaven" and next to it was a cafe table and two chairs along with slips of colored paper, pencils and ribbon. All were invited to write their own letters to a loved one who had passed on. And I told Will I wanted to write a letter.

The woman who designed the alter pointed out the photo on top which was of her Grandmother, the one below it which was of her Mother and in the photo with her Mother was her as a little girl.

I sat down and wrote a letter to Grandpa, signed it with my typical kisses and hugs XXOO, rolled it up and tied it with a ribbon, and placed it on the top of all the other rolled up letters to loved ones. The trunk was brimming and even so, when I turned back, I could pick my letter to Grandpa out of all the others. In my thoughts I gave him a big hug, as I always do when I think of him. And with my eyes brimming held my husband's hand as we walked away. Out in to the cool evening air along the cobbled streets of Olvera we ventured home.