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Yellow Bird: Halloween marks coming of winter
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Filed Under: Opinion

"Rain on Tuesday brought more than cooler temperatures to the Red River Valley. Fall is nearly here, and we can see the narrow, green eyes of the great wolf of the north peering at us from a short distance.

Fall means big, orange pumpkins with smiley faces, Halloween goblins and ghosts, warm and pungent apple cider and a harvest nearly complete. The cooler weather also puts new jackets of brilliant color on the aspens, maples and other trees in the valley. When the northern winds touch these valley trees and the leaves fall, the trees will turn into weird Halloween-like creatures - gray, bare-limbs outstretched and knots in the bark looking like a scream - waiting for the first pure white blanket of snow.

Yikes, there it is. I said it - snow and ice.

At lunch on Tuesday, a friend sat and looked whimsically out the restaurant window. She was thinking about what she was going to wear for Halloween. Hmm, I thought to myself; I wonder what I'd wear if I were to go around town on Halloween night - me, an elder woman? My friend is young, and this is a holiday that she can celebrate with her friends when restraints and decorum are hidden behind masks and costumes.

After all, if you're a witch, who can blame you for putting a spell on an unsuspecting good-looking guy?"

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Dorreen Yellow Bird: 'Tis the season (or soon will be) (The Grand Forks Herald 10/3)
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