Pumpkin Festival Haunted House

I am on the Board of directors for the non-profit Young Actors Workshop. It's an orginization I've been involved with for the last 12 years. My children were both in the program when they were younger. I continued on as a board member because I believe in the directors and programs mission statement.

This year we jumped back in to help at the Haunted House. Auri Naggar is the director and he needed help this year, so we dressed up as dead pirates and spent the weekend scaring the crowds at the haunted house. It is our major fundraiser for the year. It's an incredible process with lots of dedicated volunteers and child actors to fill in the scenes at the haunted house.

My job was to make sure the children rotated in and out of the house to each acting station. I had forgotten how much I love working with kids. I've missed it. It was hard work being on your feet all day but so worth the effort. We had 3000 people pass throught the haunted house. A new record!

But the most memorable part of the whole thing was all the adult volunteers dressed up as dead pirates that were there to help bring an idea to fruition. Auri, the director, is a wonderful, creative person that has made an impact on so many lives. He hasn't been well for the last couple of years but he keeps going on in despite of how he feels. He's an inspiration to all. When he wanted to change the theme of the haunted house to pirates, volunteers pitched in and did it and made sure his idea came to life.

Watching Auri dressed as the pirate captain this year and seeing how happy he was with everyone's efforts was priceless. The best moment was when the animatronic pirate was being brought back out after a quick repair to entertain the line. All of the adult volunteers dressed as pirates were standing in a line and broke into song. We all sang and clapped to "What do you do with a drunken sailor" as he was being reinstalled. The crowd was mesmerized, Auri was in his ultimate element. It was surreal and spontaneous. A moment when you realize that you are part of someone's dream come true. But even more than that, I know how much he has given to each person there, to my children and beyond. I'm so glad to be part of that and to take that with whatever I do. Do what you love, 'til you can't do it no more.

Spice Cake

Every celebration in my childhood was blessed with a spice cake that my grandma made. It was my favorite. It didn't matter if there was birthday cake or pumpkin pies there was always spice cake too. I always had a piece of everything. "Yes, I'll have a piece of spice cake with my pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Yes, put whip cream on top the pies." It's a wonder I don't weigh 300 pounds.

Just the smell of spice cake brings me right back to climbing the trees in my grandparents backyard and sitting at the redwood picnic table with the red checked table cloth. Good times.

When my daughter-in-law stated she wanted a dark rum spiked spice cake for their Renaissance themed wedding I thought of my grandma's spice cake recipe. I hadn't made it in a long time. One of the main ingredients is lard. It's not for the diet conscious. The only thing was it didn't have rum in it. So I looked up spice cakes online and discovered some fascinating facts about spice cake. Most spice cakes do indeed have rum in them. I'm sure that my grandmother omitted the rum when she put her recipe together, Grandma and Grandpa didn't drink. I don't know where she got her original recipe, but family members don't remember a time when she didn't make it.

Another interesting fact is that rum spice cakes are very popular in the West Indies and Caribbean Islands dating back to the 17th century. The cake is very dense, full of dried fruits and keeps quite well with all the rum. There have been rumors that my great grandfather Gibson was from the West Indies. All hearsay, but he was much older than my great grandmother and looked exotic in the few photos I've seen of him. He looked nothing like a farmer in Oklahoma. Before he met my great grandmother he was a world traveler. So it's possible he could have been from anywhere.

A Renaissance Wedding

The wedding I helped planned for my son and daughter-in-law was magical. It was misty and felt like we were in Medieval England. Everybody came in costume. The food was wonderful. A good time was had by all.

More to follow on details of the wedding. I'm still recovering from it!