Summary
Episode 15 is all about the build-up to Halloween — costumes, candy, chaos, and kids with way too much energy. Sharryn records on the eve of trick-or-treating, capturing the buzz in the house and the low-level panic of a mum trying to juggle last-minute preparations while keeping everyone from climbing the walls.
Halloween Prep in Full Swing:
The costumes are (mostly) ready, the pumpkins are carved, and the kids are beside themselves with excitement. Rachael is preparing for a party and parade at school, and Maitland is talking nonstop about dressing up. Sharryn laughs through it all, describing the creative process, the cost of costumes, and the “negotiations” around how much candy is too much.
School & Social Life:
Both kids are thriving — socially and academically. Rachael’s still shining in class, especially in reading and spelling. Maitland’s making friends, playing soccer, and keeping his teachers entertained with jokes and animal facts. Sharryn proudly reports their wins while also gently poking fun at their quirks.
Community Moments:
Ruth and Georgia make their regular appearance, and Elodie is still the household whirlwind. There’s a sense of strong local ties — friends popping by, party invites, and neighbors sharing Halloween decorations and parenting tips. The Elsons’ house feels like home now, and Sharryn is clearly part of a vibrant little network of expat and local friends.
Domestic Bits & Pieces:
There are mentions of grocery shopping, costume assembly stress, and what feels like endless laundry. She also talks about how early it gets dark now and how that’s affecting the kids’ routines. John’s working late, and Sharryn’s pulling everything together on her own — as usual, with humor and grace.
People, Places, and Themes:
Family & Friends: Maitland, Rachael, John, Ruth, Georgia, Elodie
Themes: Halloween, parenting logistics, creative chaos, friendship, fall routines
Recurring Details: Costumes, candy rationing, school parades, bedtime meltdowns
Tone:
Festive, funny, and a little frantic. Sharryn is in full multitasking mode, trying to manage sugar-fueled kids while preserving the magic of Halloween. This tape is a vivid time capsule of late-October energy — from sticky fingers to last-minute glue guns — and another love-filled dispatch from a mother who does it all, with a mic in one hand and a pumpkin in the other.
Full Transcript
Well, hi y'all folks. I started to write a letter but didn't get terribly far, so I thought I'd just sit down tonight and make a quick tape off to you, catch you up on all the news. Well, just looked away to get a nice cup of coffee made with my new coffee maker that I bought yesterday, which is a great success. And get my diary, which isn't terribly up to date, but I thought I'd better refer to it to keep on track.
I thought I'd go back to the flat tire on the day that Mum and Dad left. I have been just thinking about you all so much because I'm sure that with Brother David and Auntie Elsie and everyone else, you've had some terrific laughs over some of the things that happened. I thought the flat tire on the final day was just the limit. It really was. I don't know whether Mum told you all, but she had some Dramamine tablets, which she had bought the day before, and she was discussing at 7 AM in the morning whether or not to take one. And she read the instructions, and it said to take one half an hour before travel. And she said, "Oh, well, it's far too early." Well, I told her after we got the puncture that she should have taken it half an hour before travelling with me! Well, that particular morning, you'll remember that we got the flat tire about quarter past 8, and John got there about 9. You finally got to the airport, I think, at 9:27. Well, I drove back to where we'd left the car on Northside Parkway, and John had gone. He'd said if he wasn't there, to meet him out at Marietta. So I started to go out there, but he passed me on the way. He'd been to get the tire pumped up, and so we swapped the cars, and I came on home. And then he got out to work and called me because he had received your message from the airport that the flight had been delayed. So I immediately called the airport and they paged you. I think that was something like 20 past 10 at the time. I waited till about 20 to 11 and rang again, and the guy told me that the flight had boarded at about quarter to. And I guess you left about 11 o'clock. So at least you were on board. And then, of course, when Marcisha came back, she told me that you'd had such an exhausting trip. And of course, there was the earthquake in San Diego when you were in LA. I didn't know whether you wouldn't have felt that it was so far away, but I thought that would have been just another thing to add to your trip.
Anyway, so we got the puncture fixed up alright and everything was back on deck. Well, it was really strange. I got home that day and started mucking around, and we had put an advertisement in the paper while you were up north to find somewhere else to move to. And that afternoon, this lady Mrs. Elson called and was just ringing up to see, you know, what sort of thing that we were prepared to do and so on. And I had put that we were New Zealanders in the newspaper, and she asked if we happened to know Bev and Jack Shields. And I said, "Of course, yes, we did." And she talked on a little bit longer, and then the whole thing seemed quite familiar to me. I had been talking to Beverly about 15 minutes before, and she had been telling me about this little cottage that they used to rent. Anyway, I said to this lady, "It isn't... That isn't the Love's house, is it?" who were the previous tenants... or the previous people that owned the mansion that Bev and Jack knew. And she said, "Yes, it is. We're the third owners of it. The Loves were the second."And we just couldn't get over it. She thought it was very coincidental too. It was sort of history repeating itself. So she was very keen to meet us, and we made arrangements to meet her the next... the next evening. But in fact, we met her the night afterwards. And she sounded awful nice on the telephone so.
Anyway, what happened was we went around there and we found that this is the most beautiful house. It's called Rhododendron Hall. And Maitlin was quite breathless; he said, "Oh, are we going to live in that big house?" And we knocked at the side door. There are servants' quarters on one side of the house, and it's an enormous big house. And this lady came... Mrs. Elson came to the door, and she went over to the intercom and called Harry, the 14-year-old, down and said, "Would he take the children up to his room?" So they were all excited and went tearing off up there. And John and I were ushered into one of the lounges or whatever through the great hall of the house. And it's really most unusual. It was built in the 1930s. And the previous... these people, the Olsons, have owned it for eight years, but only lived in it six. They bought it eight years ago, but it was, at the time that they bought it, it had had a fire throughout, and so the whole thing was gutted. So, in fact, although the outside of it is very old-worldy, the inside is very, very modern. They had it completely redone. And she showed us around the garden and so on. There's mostly rhododendrons, enormous trees, a great deal of land. It's behind the Northside William C.A., which we showed to you, which was on Roswell Road. And it's the street that I used to run up every morning from the Y when I was running with the girls. It's got an enormous driveway; you can hardly see their house from the road. And the cottage that we shall have has separate access from the street behind, and you can't see the mansion from the cottage. The cottage is two bedrooms and a lounge and dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and completely self-contained, which will be tremendous. We haven't actually even seen in the house yet because she has had to evict the tenants that are in there. They're just straight out renting it, and of course, we'll be getting it rent-free for doing the gardens, but the law is here, they must get... if they want it, 60 days notice. So we're not sure quite when they're moving out yet. Should... should be hopefully fairly soon. I mean, now that they know they have to go, they probably won't stay there the whole 60 days, but they are entitled to. And I guess if they decide to buy a house or something, they may push it to the limit, which will be mid-December. We're hoping to be in before then, but it really won't make much difference. We've made other arrangements this weekend. We're moving into some furnished villas, which are very handy to work and school and so on. And we think we'll be perfectly okay there until we move into the cottage. We'd quite like to get into it, though, and get it decorated and do what we want to.
There will be quite a lot of work to do around this enormous house. Of course, they have a swimming pool, but somebody does come in to clean that every week, which is a relief because that's quite a big job. There's a pool house, which is quite large, which they would like painted next summer. And all the outdoor furniture gets painted every year in the spring. And the immediate job, I suppose, will be the leaves because it's fall right now, and you just must fall here. It's been very pretty, but nowhere near as far as we think... as pretty as New England was last year for us. So there'll be the leaves to do. And someone comes in once a month and mows the major part of the lawns. But they do like the domestic areas around the pool and just around the house mowed more regularly than that. So we'll do that smaller part. And there's a lot of rhododendrons and shrubs, but like most American gardens, hasn't very few flowers and things, mostly little hedges. There's just one rose garden, and there's a vegetable patch which hasn't been developed very recently, but we'll dig that over. And of course, it'll be a benefit to us to grow vegetables too. So I shall need some advice from Dorothy on how to grow radishes instead of baiting, and I'll be able to get into better gardening, I hope.
So that's been all very exciting, and it certainly took the... the dullness of Mum and Dad's departing away a little, was a big help. Anyway, of course, with all these changes in plan, we decided that we'd find some self-contained accommodation would be much more practical. It's very difficult living with other people. And but the thing is that Mrs. Elson doesn't require any housework done or anything. They have full-time maids. They have a man, I think, full-time and a woman maid. And she stays over on a Friday and Saturday night and takes care of Harry if they're out. They want us to live in the mansion while they are out of town and just take care of him. And he's 14, the same age as John Shields, and of course, goes to Westminster with John. So, and we had met him when we were taking care of the Shields' house prior to Christmas last year. So he was a familiar little face. He's a cute little fellow, very young. They have two older children away at Harvard. And they're a Jewish family, of course. And they seem very, very nice indeed. And I think there'll be so much room for the children to play that there will never be any sort of... personal sort of strains or anything because they live so far away, we need rarely never see them. There's a tennis court, which is just right behind our little cottage really. And they don't play tennis, so I guess we'll get the pretty much sole use of that. And Mrs. Elson said that we could use the pool at any time, of course, during the summer, I imagine, if they're not having pool parties or whatever. So as far as the children are concerned, it's tremendous. And the little street that our house will be in, Onslow Circle, is just a little short street, very small, a bit like where we are here. So there'll be very little traffic. And the school bus stops right on the corner, just two houses away. So the children will be dropped right at home each afternoon.
So in the meantime, John had talked to Bob Whitehair at work, the orthodontic guy, and he said that he would like to take me on on a 30-hour a week sort of basis because he was getting busier. And in the meantime, that very same... he decided to move from the laboratory where John works, and he got a place just down the road, which is very nice. It's on the commercial dwelling in Marietta. It's a house on an ordinary section, quite a large section, and it's a little two-bedroom place. And he's got his laboratory set up out back, and he's got a little room for an office where I'll do the accounts and things. And he'll be living there too. He was living some 30 miles away from work, so was doing an awful lot of travelling. So he might get settled down and getting more business now. And so I started out there Monday week ago. And mostly we've been moving and trying to get organized at this stage. He hasn't even got the new phone on yet, but it should prove to be quite good. And it's only two blocks from where John is. And I can take the children too because it's his home, there's, you know, he's got all his belongings there and so on. If the children were sick or had a day off from school or holidays or anything, at least I can take them with me, and you know, they can watch television or do whatever. It'll be most convenient. There'd be no problems babysitting or anything.
So that all took place too since you've left, so things have changed quite dramatically. And of course, that same day that I started work, Elodie went into the daycare centre, was buried in the daycare centre should I say? She goes there first thing in the morning and comes home last thing at night. And she was there just two days, and on the third day, she threw up. She didn't... she didn't rise again, and she threw up again. She just threw up and threw up and threw up. Well, on the Thursday, Maitland got it, and on the Friday, he was still sort of off colour. Friday night late, Rachael got it. Two o'clock in the morning, she was up throwing up all night, and she was pretty weak all day Saturday. And on Sunday, John went with Kent, one of the guys from his laboratory, and his girlfriend Priscilla, and took Kent's little... or his brother's little boy who's the same age as Maitland. They went to car racing up at Road Atlanta for the day. And I stayed home with Rach, and I started feeling strange. And by that night, I was sick. And then that was... what day? Tuesday? That was Sunday night. And Ruth and Jimmy went out, and they came home at midnight or something. And by 2 o'clock in the morning, Ruthie was throwing up. She had the day off yesterday. John came home in the afternoon with it, and Jimmy had the day off today. So it's been right through the house. It's very, very, very quick. It's... you're not sort of over... but it's fairly violent while you've got it. So it's been through us all now. So we sort of... By the time Jimmy gets up tomorrow, we'll be back on deck again.
While the children are all terribly excited tomorrow, of course, is the 31st of October in Halloween. So we went out with our $5 each to Richway, and we purchased our new Halloween suits. It took at least an hour and a half to decide; there were so many to choose from. And all the candy was reduced that day, so we bought a whole lot of candy, big bag full of candy to give to the kids when they come. But Maitland's going to be an alien, which is the grossest looking thing I've ever seen. It's sort of... it's naturally an alien-looking face, but it's got this kind of clear plastic forehead and head... top of head thing, and it looks kind of... brain glossy? It looks like... I'm sure I'll scare somebody. But poor old Rach, she... she can't... as much as she said, "Oh, I want to have something real spooky," because she had a Cinderella dress-up suit which she liked, but when we get out there, she wanted to buy another Cinderella, and I said, "I thought you wanted to be someone spooky?" Because it's all sort of Frankenstein and all that sort of thing. We get out there, and she sort of went right off the scary one and wanted to be a pretty little thing. So in the end, she bought Casper the Friendly Ghost. So she just can't be cruel though, right? So she's going to be Casper the Friendly Ghost. And they're real excited. I went down to the school, and this week they need help with... they have little Halloween parties in the classrooms, and I had to get the apple juice for Rachael's class and the country time lemonade for Maitland's class. And we're going to the party tomorrow; it's at 2 o'clock. And they're going to... lady called me this evening, one of the room mothers who was organizing all the food and stuff, and she said they've got a haunted house organised, and they're going to do ghastly things like poke their fingers in cold spaghetti, and so the kids should have a great time. I can imagine spaghetti being flung all over the classrooms anyway. The kids are real excited. And so we've said... daylight savings finished too, by the way, on Saturday night. So of course, it's getting dark at 6:30, which is ghastly, but at least it's a little lighter in the morning because it was so dark in the morning up until then. And so I said that they could go out with Maria and Asha, you know, the kids from up the road. But Maria and Asha said they don't go out till seven, and I've said, "Well, they either go out from five to seven, or they don't go with them." So I think Maria and Asha will probably find they're going a little bit earlier. I'm not letting them out after seven because it's just too dark. Anyway, and they've got to be very careful. Apparently, a lot of people give them weirdo things and nasty tricks. So... that's that.
And of course, we went to church last Sunday, and Mother will be interested to know that our discussion was... the River and... adult class last weekend and Sunday school class for the oldies, and we discussed the KKK. I tell you, the things ain't what they used to be; it's getting more and more interesting. And of course, I was just about fit to hold myself down the seat, and I was dying to ask was there any members of the KKK in the congregation because I'm sure they're very likely is, but I didn't have to ask. Too far... several of the people that spoke said that they didn't have to go far in their families or amongst their friends, especially having lived in the South here all their lives, to have been personally involved with somebody that had been a member of the KKK. We've had... has been a resurgence here throughout the whole country, but just recently, or one night last week, week before, they had a program called 'Undercover with the KKK', a guy that worked for the FBI. So of course, it sort of stirred everything up. And... anyway, Rachael sang beautifully in the choir. She was okay by Sunday, thank goodness. She'd been sick on Saturday, and actually, we went down to the church on Saturday because they had the church bazaar. They had a Pickwick pub there, and they were serving tea and cookies. I felt like telling them it should be tea and biscuits, but anyway. And we went out to Marietta on Saturday too and did a little bit of work and so on helped Bob.
Anyway, what else has been happening? And oh, well, of course Kennedy has finally decided to make it known state himself that he is going to run for the presidency. So... and of course, you've probably read that the mayor of Chicago, who's a woman, had given her vote to Carter a few weeks ago but has done a complete turnabout and has now supporting Kennedy. So there's been a lot of Kennedy-Carter sort of stuff. Actually, the president has said very, very little about any of it, and the first comment he made was because they're always talking about Miss Lillian, his mother is called Miss Lillian. A lot of people must sort of... I don't know whether it stems from the black days or what, but she's Miss Lillian. They're always talking about Miss Lillian. But Kennedy's mother, Rose, had said that she would give, you know, her blessing to it if he wanted to run for president. And that was splattered all over the papers. And then just the other day, Carter made the comment that he would run... he would run for president again when he had his mother's approval to do so, which I thought was the first sort of sarcastic thing he's said. So it's going to be an interesting election, I think, especially it'll be our first one, of course, and the fact that this has happened is quite strange, and another Kennedy is pushing back a bit fair, I think. So it should be quite interesting to see what happens.
I hadn't really been doing much else because we've been pretty busy working, but I've been buying a few things because this place will be unfurnished, and we will have to buy a few things. I bought a... it's called toaster oven, and it can cook. It's one of those little sort of... you probably saw, everybody has them here on their benches. They're like little griller-toaster things, but you can actually cook a little meal in it. And that's very, very handy. They are only about $30. Things like that are very much cheaper here. And I bought one of those coffee makers, which is the drip kind. You probably saw those too; everybody uses those. And I got one for $16, so you know, it was really cheap, 10 cup. So I've been making coffee madly ever since. We booked... I bought a few more things for the kids, a few more clothes, and I bought myself a skirt and sweater the other week, which is very nice for winter and Thanksgiving and sort of Christmas and so on. We really... oh, going back to... there's a sale on at all... the Thanksgiving sales are on, and everything's, you know, very, very cheap at the moment. And going back to Richway for Christmas trees for sale, so I just can't wait to buy one. And because we want to have a Christmas tree this year and a lot of stockings and all the rest of it will be rather... We'd had a letter from Ruth Ann, Bob Bowman's sister, and she'd invited us to St. Louis, but I don't think we'll be able to make it this year. We'll stick around here. I think we'll probably have miles of gardening to do. And... what else is news? Oh, Marcisha said they had a great time with you. They really enjoyed seeing you, but they said you were looking forward to getting home because you were pretty exhausted. It must have been a hell of a long trip. You must have been traveling around about 20 hours, I worked out, all in all. And then you still only were two-thirds of the way home, so you must have been pretty tired. But I'm sure you've caught up by now and had a lot of fun with all the family, unpacked all your goodies and gloated over it all, and have started writing your memoirs. So I keep thinking the funny little things that have happened, and you know, really quite funny.
Oh, we got another roll of photos back too, that they were... where were these? Oh, that's right, there was... must have been the film that was stolen on John's camera, was the last ones. Oh, there were some gorgeous ones of the kids in the garden that morning that we came back from church and took the ones of the children in the front of Jimmy's garden and so on. So we're going to get copies of those and send them to you because they really turned out very well. And... put your album. And... what else has happened? We have had the most beautiful weather. It's... the leaves have all changed colour, and it's been into the 80s during the day, sat between 70 and 80, and drops down to about 45 to 50 at night, which is just cool and nice. And the days are sort of really hot and very pleasant. The choir... I was just thinking about the children. The choir's going well, you know, they're moving along. And Rach is going to... oh, her Sunday school class last week won the... the Bible question time or whatever, and they're all going to McDonald's for breakfast next Sunday morning at Sunday school time. And then the following week, she's going to Six Flags with the choir kids. And of course, Grease Lightning's thriving on in there. Well, it's really funny. Maitland's improving, but he's all legs, and he's just so small. And last week, they played a team called the Stingers. They tried to sting us! Well, there was only one kid in the team, and he was a little black boy. He must have been a good foot taller than any other kid on the field. And you know, Carter... you'd remember Carter because without Carter, the mainstay, the team, Grease Lightning's not quite as lightning as all that. And looked Carlo and... when he met his mother, she's a very attractive blonde, very blonde girl, because he was very fair, if you remember. His father is a state legislator, and he's the one that's been coaching the team. He had the glasses... sort of a feeling she's a lot younger, something like 22 years younger than he is. And he had the glasses, the coach that had the glasses anyway. So he was coaching them last week anyway. They played this team. While this little black boy was the only black boy on the field, and his father was there, and he was standing on the shady side of the field, and all I could see was these big beaming white teeth. He just... was Cat's Pyjamas! Well, our little team fought on very well because they played at 11 in the morning. We've discovered that playing at four in the afternoon, they're just so tired that... well, both teams are both at a disadvantage, but they're so tired that they really sort of peak out about halfway. But at 11, they were quite strong. And they had a little boy in our team who saved something like five goals from going in from this black boy because once he got through the lines, there was just... you know, our team went into a complete state of panic and just tore on down the field. And even Carter, our little runner, he just faced them with the length of his legs, and he'd just get through the defense, and it was all over. And anyway, they fought till the third... into the third quarter, it was still one each. And then the last quarter, it was two-one to the other team. And in the last five minutes, he got three goals, and our goalkeeper ended up in tears. They were all in a state of dismay; it was really very sad. But they just sort of got so tired, and this kid was just so fast, and they just seemed to forget all their offense. And the other thing was that the little black boy, I guess because he was so much bigger, they just left him for the whole four quarters, which, of course, they usually don't do. You know how they change them around to give all the boys a go? Because our offense was weak at one point, and they were down, they win? But really was quite funny. And so they've only got about three or four more games before Christmas because they stopped soccer... Soccer finishes at the end of November, and then they start again at the beginning of February for spring soccer and play for another three months, which overlaps with baseball. So we decided that just tonight... I went to the Y tonight, and it's not really worth Maitland playing baseball because he really hasn't quite mastered soccer yet. So we think perhaps that when he's mastered one game, we shall move on to another. But in the meantime, basketball starts the 3rd of December, so we've put Rach down to start playing indoor basketball during the wintertime. They play December, January, February, and that'll do her good. But they've got to be seven by the 1st of September, so Maitland's too young for that. So only Rach will do it, and that'll be good. And the little place that we're moving into is right behind the YMCA, so that we'll be able to use the swimming pool there in the wintertime, the heated pool. So it should work out very well. We're very close to... you remember where the travel agent was? It's just south of there, oh, not terribly far at all. That's kind of a large shopping centre, and that's called the Tuxedo shopping centre, or it's just sort of south of there towards the YMCA. It's really... we'll be very convenient. It's more convenient to shops and things than we are here. And like I said, it's still in the zone for the school and so on, so it'll really work out well. We're really excited about it.
Well... Ruthy was funny. When Ruthy was sick, what day? Tuesday? Monday. When Ruthy was sick, I took Elodie off her, well, I take her Saturday and... Ruthy stayed home on her own all day, and Elodie was still... had diarrhea very badly. I don't know, the poor kid's just going to be buried unless blessed. Oh, excuse me, now should I say, well, excuse me. I thought I'd messed up the volume again; I usually do it every time, but seems that it's all okay. So where was I? Oh yeah, burying Elodie. Nah, here C... The daycare centre is a 24-hour job, of course. And the lady takes... say, hostess? As children like, you know, three days on when they're... three days on, four days off, and so on. And that's quite different. She has to stay overnight, quite different to seven days and seven nights a week, which is what will happen. Ruthy told me she's got her booked in there this weekend. It's just really sad. And I've noticed that they've started taking them for a stroll for school every night to the stop sign, if you please. That's, you know, just up for Helen to belong to the right list there. And the child never sees the light of day in the house, is right on Piedmont Road, which is real busy, and there's no fences or anything, so obviously she can't get out of the house all day. So it really breaks your heart. I wish we could take her, but she's such a dear wee bit, she's getting such a handful now, she's just so much to handle. I really can't... I've had her long enough, you know, as far as... you've got to be devoted from this point on. And... so, you know, real sad.
Anyway, I went and had my haircut tonight, and Rick was very pleased to hear that you're here... it turned out okay? I hope it's still alright and that you are finding that's no trouble and that you've been doing the conditioning treatment I told you about. Must do that, and leaving something on it that makes it nice and fresh. Anyway, I cut an article out of the Constitution last weekend about his boss, the salon was called Jamison and Don Shows, they're brothers, and Don Show is very famous, seems. And he was just last week flown to New York to do Priscilla Presley's hair. That the Elvis' ex-wife? She has decided to become a movie star or whatever and do some commercials and so on, and she's going to create herself for herself a whole new image. And he went up to design her hair and so on, and he's apparently done some very famous people's hair. And that salon is really very good, so I'll send you the clipping because it's quite interesting to think that you'd been there. I'm really pleased with my hat and items. He said it seems to cut up so evenly and neatly, and he's got such a good style. So... that was that. What else have we done today? And…
Add comment
Comments