Greetings Halloweiners!

At least I hope you were all Halloweiners this year. Last year Val and I had a quiet Halloween night, with maybe 5 trick or treaters and then we went out for a drink and then called it a night. No costumes or nothing. But we redeemed ourselves this year, or at least I hope so...



I went as a motorcycle. Complete with windshield, headlight (non-functional, unfortunately), handlebars...



...seat, taillight (functional!), and license plate. And Val was...



...my mechanic! And/or Rosie the Riveter.

We walked to our friends Stef and Brad's house, as they live three blocks away from the largest Halloween gathering on the east coast. Or so say the locals. There was a small party at their house, and then we headed over to Franklin St. in Chapel Hill, which is where everyone goes on Halloween. We were there kinda early, but it was getting crowded and there were lots of costumes, as well as lots of non-costumed gawkers. It was like Grand Ol' Day in the STP, but without any bands, and at night, and sadly no beer gardens. They do get 'round 70,000 people showing up every year though, so it is a big party.



The other weekend activity on Saturday was our trip to the Country Doctor Museum, in Bailey, NC. Lots of good pokers and gougers and bone saws. And beautiful furniture, including apothecary cabinets, dental chests, a double roll top desk, and field operating tables (morbidly beautiful). I'll try to get some more pictures up here of the stuff we saw, since their web site is sorely lacking in pictures of all the cool stuff they have, but here are a few things...



...a travel kit for powders, ointments, and unguents...



...and a selection of tools used to amputate Ol' Stonewall himself.

Fascinating! We were also the only ones there at that point in the afternoon, so we got a personal tour from the guide. Lots of cool creepy looking stuff, a perfect trip for Halloween weekend, but also historically and culturally significant.