Halloween Fun & Some Ragged Ann Downtime!

One of my favorite holidays!

HALL-O-WEEN!

I've been preparing for a few weeks for this day. In the morning I hosted the 3rd Annual Tricky Treat Costume ride. There were over 20 riders that showed up for the event. I think the beautiful weather helped. It was sunny and in the mid-50's! I went around in my Ragged Ann outfit greeting everyone, offering a treat (from a black pumpkin that had assorted mini clift bars and sports gels), and everyone got a ticket for the drawing prizes. I had some good prizes lined up for a 1st through to 5th place for the costumes.

(Photos: Myself as Ragged Ann with the Genie doing the Door Prize drawings, the whole group, the Hockey Player with color print, Lovable Ralph the dog, Laila as a witch, Janice getting the Applebee's gft card, and Kim with Di in her black-n-white outfit.)

After almost everyone got signed in for the ride. I did the drawings for door prizes-- I had an Applebee's gift card, a color print of my Halloween Bike Ride painting, inner tubes, and a nifty little wine opener. Doug, costumed as the Genie, helped with the drawing. (I really thought he was teasing me about coming as me.) Janice(a witch) won the Applebee's gift card, Tonya ( a tough hockey player) got the color print, Penny (pj'd and rollers with her lovable Ralph in tow wearing a santa outfit and loving the attention) received one of the tubes, Rich ( another cyclist) received the other tube, and then Jay (Mr. Tin Man) received the nifty wine opener.

(Below- Doug as the Genie in all his glory!)

(Above photos- The Wizard of Oz trio, Mr. Tin Man doing his strut!)
Then it was on to the Costume Strut Contest as I had everyone clap and yell as each costumed rider strutted their stuff in front of the other riders. Some were shy; and some not so shy. First place went to Jackie. She was the construction safety cone. (I tell you I've never seen a safety cone signal before!) 2nd prize went to Doug who was dressed as an Aladdin Genie. 3rd place went to Dorothy (as played by Kim C.) and he companion the Scarecrow (as played by Steve H). 4th place was the third of the Oz trio-- Mr. Tin Man (as played by Jay). 5th place was claimed by Wonder woman (as played by Dana). But there were more costumed individuals than prizes but all were wonderful and very creative.(Picture below are the Costume Contest winners with me)

After the Costume contest, we headed out for the bike ride. We headed to the downtown area of Salt Lake and we received quite a bit of attention from everyone as we went along as a group. People yelled, or waved, or honked as we passed, and I felt like I was in a parade as we went down the one way street at the Gateway Mall. It was fun! There were a few moments where we had to regroup. It became the phrase to "wait for our safety cone"; as Jackie was wonderful enough to bring up the rear of the group. We wouldn't be safe without our safety cone! Following the ride, we had a get together where I served soup, cobbler, hot cocoa, and hot chocolate. A great deal of the riders hung out and visited for about an hour after the ride.

(Photo: Di's Neighbor, myself with doll, Anny, and Di.)

Later on in the afternoon, I went over to my friend Di's place and hung out the rest of the afternoon getting a little visiting, trick-or-treating, handing out candy, and a spot of her neighbor's spook alley(their garage). It was fun but by 9PM I was more than ready for bed.

(Photo- Di's neighbor and the entrace to her Spook Alley garage!)

Sunday I figured I deserved some Ragged Ann downtime, and I hung out on my loveseat with my ragged ann doll (made by my Mom years ago)watching some movies. One of which I would highly recommend... Henry Pool is Here. A black comedy movie about a sad depressed man who moves new into a neighborhood. His house that's newly stucco'd has a water stain that a noisey neighbor is convinced is the face of Christ. Things tend to happen and the situations get rather funny too.

(Photo of Ragged Ann Doll my Mom made me.)