Monday, October 31, 2011

The Best Holiday Ever



[personality check: which pumpkin was carved by Annie and which by me?]

There’s nothing better than Halloween, a day full of a darkly joyous appreciation of the macabre and chilling! Halloween, a celebration of the end of the year that has evolved from its violent roots—full of symbolic or less-symbolic killings to guarantee a plentiful harvest and the eventual return of the sun—to now require from us no more significant a sacrifice than our tooth enamel as we gnaw our way through bags of candy corn and “fun size” Snickers bars.

And speaking of gnawing, below are some photos (taken last year but different from the ones I posted last year) of the zoo’s lemurs discovering and enjoying their “enrichment” items of pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns:

#1 [red-fronted brown lemur:] Inspection:


...Followed by scent-marking:


#2 [ring-tailed lemur:] Introspection:


["whence came this curiously shaped manna?"
--it seems to ask.]

#3: The Discovery, Investigation, and Decision:








Happy Halloween!

{A note: I do write all text and take all pictures. Please do not reproduce either without my permission.}

4 comments:

Anca said...

That's great! And, really, you make it so easy to guess whose pumpkin is whose, although I recommend that in the future Annie carve thinking of certain past "issues" at work:). That's what I'd do, but then my pumpkin would get truly scary!

pattinase (abbott) said...

Those are hard to top for spooky but cute.

biobabbler said...

I love that last one. =) I'm guessing yours is the somewhat sinister pumpkin, based on what you wrote today. =) I also love this holiday. Not really planning to do anything, but ya gotta love a day when you can dress up as anything or anyone.

One year I dressed as a female vampire, donning a black, long wig and painting my face bone white (w/required dripping blood from mouth), and apparently when I was at a party I spoke and it shocked my best friend. He heard my voice come out of the mouth of a total stranger. =) Didn't even recognized me, despite my unusual tallness. SCORE!!!

Another year I dressed as a cyclist that'd been hit by a car and was shocky (sporting raspberry jam on my head and asking folks if they'd seen my bike). Later than evening a friend transformed me into a DEAD cyclist. A progressive costume. SO FUN!

Good Ol' Ant said...

Yipes! The happy pumpkin looks as if it has a cowlick sticking straight up on its head. Makes it look a little like Alfalfa (from the "Our Gang"/"Little Rascals" comedy shorts of the 1930s).

I didn't know there were pirate pumpkins. How did it acquire that eyepatch? Did someone poke it in the eye with a zuccini?

Oh, yeah: I noticed the lemurs, too...

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