Hey! It's Halloween again and I love it! Maybe it's because there are no expectations, formalities or any form of protocol. For some years I had mellowed and was content to just put up a few decorations and hand out candy at the door. Gabriola has changed that. Last year I stamped my foot and said "No" ! I will not give up my birthright to be silly, wear a crazy costume, haunt my house and yours, get into the real muck of carving a pumpkin, and go on a sugar high for days after eating too many Halloween Kisses.

Right! This means business! I phoned my equally charged sister in the faraway land of Vancouver and invited her to spend Halloween with me. She was thrilled at the chance to 'act up' and threw into it her overactive imagination. "You find the parties & I'll bring the costumes!" She's got a great sense of quirky humour and so I was guaranteed of not only a great costume but a Halloween to remember.

She arrived at the ferry with her usual suitcase and an overstuffed backpack that made her look like that guy from Notre Dame. Overall, she seemed normal enough, even with the black mesh stockings hanging out of the back of her pack.

Instead of the usual kiss I got neck-nipped with the Dracula fangs. Figgers! Having packed her gear into the van we made a quick stop at Suzy's for a coffee to go. If they noticed her fangs there was 'no comment', and I call that either good PR or the usual tolerance of anything that comes off the boat.

That night we carved pumpkins, got into the candy, sampled my homemade wine several times and created our one-of-a-kind costumes.

We call ourselves the Seaweed Sisters. We whipped up costumes that looked as if we had just flopped in with the tide. Layers of fabric seaweed, oyster and mussel shells, a few rubber fish, green make up, black mesh nylons, gold lame here and there, and you have two fetching sea hags. We decided against the red spike heels and went for sensible dancing boots. Even the slimy sisters have limits!

Ready to present ourselves to the wonderful world of Halloween on Gabriola we decided to take a few pictures before we left the house. We set up the camera to get a shot of us on the patio with several lit pumpkins. Trying to run from the camera back to the pose is tough enough in daylight but in the dark it's just too challenging. Sis tried to make the sprint, but with long seaweed trailing behind her - well, she just didn't make it. By the time she recovered from her face-plant on the front lawn the flash had gone off and we were laughing too hard to bother trying it again.

That night we hit Silva Bay, the White Hart Pub, and Surf Pub. Silva Bay was crammed with all sorts of strange creatures and a loud band. We waited for our break and swept in to join the general gong show.

Costumes are great! You become unrecognizable, and for us it was a new kind of Freedom 55. Our skin glistened with green glitter, and the seaweed slapped us and everyone else around us as we danced. Our arms and legs were swinging wildly out of beat. Thinking back, no one asked either one of us to dance, but who cares? We were having a blast!! What a night, to be free to go nuts, laugh at each other and ourselves. Very late that night we drove home through the Tunnel, already lit with jack 'o lanterns. Definitely one of the best nights that I can mostly remember!

Sis is coming again this Halloween, and we're going to stick to the same costumes. So, friends and colleagues, and people who thought they knew me - "I will be out of the office, out of the loop, and out to get the most fun out of Halloween I can!"