Halloween

Stranger Danger

~ MaryG ~ 15 Comments

I’m making a sincere attempt to leave my political anger behind for the weekend…there will be no F bombs in this post.

I’m from Massachusetts. We don’t say “y’all,” except when it rhymes. Well, it’s fall y’all and it’s absolutely gorgeous here. If you’ve never been to New England in the fall, you should add it to your bucket list.

After a few days of true sweater weather in the 50s, it’s going to be back in the 70s today.

A view of a pond along the rail trail I walk daily
A skeleton seated on a tractor beside the rail trail
Late afternoon sun shining through some greenery along the rail trail

Speaking of “my” rail trail, there is an empty field that runs alongside it:

Interestingly, this field was used as a shooting location three years ago for “Salem’s Lot,” which is now streaming on Max. The movie is based on a book by Stephen King, the prolific horror writer from Maine.

Back in the fall of 2021 on my daily walk, I watched Hollywood transform this field into a 1970s drive-in, complete with numerous cars from the era.

This is the Salem’s Lot set under construction in October 2021. The blue building on the right is the projection booth for the drive-in.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of gawking by walkers and cyclists along the rail trail. It was still peak COVID, so many people were working remotely and there wasn’t much else going on. This was fascinating! By the time the filming actually started, there were production assistants keeping people off the field. But you could still see a lot of the activity from the rail trail. One day I saw what I thought were zombies crossing the field.

Well, last night we watched Salem’s Lot on Max and I discovered they weren’t zombies—they were vampires! As you might imagine, I paused the TV several times during the drive-in movie scenes to orient myself.

The beginning of one of the drive-in movie scenes in Salem’s Lot on Max. The blue projection booth building is on the left.

I’m sorry to report that it’s not a very good film, BUT if it’s free to you, it might be fun to watch it on Halloween night while you answer the doorbell for trick or treaters.

If you’re a GenXer like me, it might also bring back some bits of your childhood you’d forgotten. The story is set in 1975 and the kids in the film are about the same age I was then…10.

As a ten-year old, “Stranger Danger” was constantly lurking. Adults were always warning us about the possibility of somebody with a puppy or a candy bar luring us into their car. I never worried one bit about school shootings, but I did worry a lot about getting kidnapped!

When that first little kid gets snatched in the film, I thought to myself “stranger danger.”

GenX President

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

How would you describe yourself to someone?

I walked into a newly-energized gathering of Democratic activists yesterday and a man said, “Mary, I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been thinking about how much you look like her all week.” Then he called me over to sit near him. He was so excited I was there. It was almost like he transferred his happiness about Kamala onto me for a couple of hours. I was flattered.

The fact is, we don’t look that much alike, but she will most certainly be MY president. (Fingers and toes crossed.) We are both 59. She was born in the fall of 1964 and I was born in the spring of 1965. Like the Obamas, she’s culturally, if not technically, GenX.

I did see a bit of myself in this picture of her from the eighties. It’s not just the slight physical resemblance and the very 80s haircut. It’s the look on her face. We were young women going through the same period of history at exactly the same age. It wasn’t always easy.

Photo of Harris in the 80s (posted by Hillary Clinton last week)
Me in the eighties with my mullet hair

She says she’s 5’ 7.5” in heels. I’m 5’ 8” barefoot. So I guess I’ll wear flats (Chuck Taylors), if I dress up as her for Halloween. At least I know one person who will love my costume.

Vice President Harris in her Chucks