halloween in ithaca

this place absorbed me like a drop of blood on a cotton ball. the old ways abound, and all hallow's eve is certainly cause for celebration. as the evening set in, we rode our bicycles to the commons and joined up for a costume crusted critical mass, a bicycle event wherein as many as can be gathered (in this case about 35) ride their bikes through town in a mass too large to be bullied by cars. taking our share of the streets to help raise the visibility of bicycling. lucky for me, this town is very bike friendly and people were clapping, cheering, hooting and generally raising a rukus for us as we passed. it felt like i was in a spontaneous parade, smiling and waving at the many colorful characters on the street.
when the sun went down, i became a unicorn and attended to the trick or treaters while dinner was made. i helped construct a costume for joe--a rainbow complete with clouds and a pink and purple wig. after all, what goes with a unicorn? a rainbow.
it was an unseasonably warm night, perfect for running around outside and several parties and later, we found ourselves standing in front of a bar drinking wine from my pocket and dancing with the madness. a procession with a giant squid puppet marched up the sidewalk, they had two leashed goats, a fire breathing frankenstein, several old crones and a destination--the graveyard. we joined them of course. entering the ancient graveyard, someone blew a rams horn, it's eerie howl capturing the scene appropriately. they hung a pinata and with one blow it burst into confetti of liquor bottles and candy. we tumbled around and played with the goats and suddenly our friends from 4 hours earlier walked up. they had come to the graveyard just to see what was happening.
it was pretty much the most fun halloween i've had in a long time. oh, and it was the second fun halloween i've had this week. why is it the less planning i do, the more perfect things are?