Almaguin

October 28, 2026

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On The Upside with Marley

It’s Good To Be A Little Silly Sometimes

One of the great things about Halloween is that it gives grown-ups permission to be a little ridiculous.

For one evening, perfectly sensible adults answer their doors wearing witch hats, decorate their lawns with skeletons, buy enormous bags of candy they swear are “for the kids,” and occasionally spend far too much time deciding whether a plastic spider looks better on the porch or hanging from the ceiling.

I think we need more of that.

Somewhere along the way, adulthood becomes very serious. There are bills, appointments, responsibilities, deadlines and a seemingly endless list of things we’re supposed to worry about.

But being responsible doesn’t mean we have to stop being playful.

Laughing at something silly doesn’t make us immature. Dressing up for Halloween doesn’t erase everything we’ve learned since childhood. Singing loudly in the car, dancing in the kitchen or putting googly eyes on something that clearly doesn’t need them won’t reduce our credibility.

It might, however, make the day considerably more enjoyable.

Children understand this instinctively. They don’t require a reason to pretend a cardboard box is a spaceship or a blanket is a superhero cape. Imagination itself is enough.

Adults tend to ask whether something is useful before deciding whether it’s worthwhile.

Fun doesn’t always have to be useful.

Sometimes laughter is enough. Sometimes a ridiculous costume is enough. Sometimes sharing candy with a neighbour and admiring a badly carved pumpkin is enough.

Life gives us plenty of opportunities to be serious.

When it offers us an opportunity to be silly, perhaps we shouldn’t waste that either.

Growing older is unavoidable. Growing completely out of fun is optional.

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All Hallows’ Eve

Every year as October’s crisp leaves begin their slow dance to the ground, many of us slip into the costume-ritual of trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving and haunted fun. But if you pause for a moment and reflect, the roots of the holiday we call Halloween run deep and surprisingly intertwined with tradition, faith, and folklore.

It all traces back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, held at the end of the harvest season, when the boundary between the everyday and the “otherworld” was considered thin. The Celts believed that on this night spirits could cross into our realm, so they lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward them off or perhaps to blend in. As the centuries turned, and the Roman empire extended into Celtic lands, two Roman festivals with somewhat similar timing and practices (one honoring the dead, one celebrating the tree goddess) merged with Samhain-observances.

Fast forward to Europe – the Church established All Saints’ Day on November 1 and All Souls’ Day on November 2 as a way of remembering the faithful departed. The evening before, October 31, gradually became “All Hallows’ Eve”, which later morphed into Halloween. And with migration, especially Irish and Scottish immigrants bringing their customs to North America, the tradition evolved again.  Jack-o’-lanterns made from turnips or pumpkins, community “guising” (costume dressing and asking for treats), and the somewhat spooky entertainment elements we associate today.

Here in our communities, whether in a small Ontario town or a city street the modern Halloween blends playfulness with that ancient nod to mystery. On one level it’s just fun! Costumes, candy, laughter under streetlamps and porch lights. But if you look a little closer, you’ll find echoes of Samhain’s bonfire flicker, ancient dress-up practices and the gentle remembering of those who walked before. So, as you carve that pumpkin, light that jack-o’-lantern, and step out into the crisp night, you’ll be tapping into a tradition that’s both timeless and ever-changing. And that, I’d say, is part of the charm.

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Before Pumpkins, There Were Turnips

The jack-o’-lantern may seem completely inseparable from Halloween, but the earliest versions weren’t pumpkins at all.

In Ireland and Scotland, people traditionally carved faces into turnips and other root vegetables. These lanterns became associated with folklore surrounding a wandering character often called Stingy Jack or Jack of the Lantern.

When immigrants brought the tradition to North America, they encountered something much easier to work with: pumpkins.

Pumpkins were plentiful, larger than turnips and considerably easier to hollow out and carve. Before long, the orange pumpkin became the familiar face of Halloween.

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, carved pumpkins were firmly connected with the holiday.

So the next time carving a pumpkin feels difficult, imagine trying to create the same masterpiece using a turnip.

Suddenly that pumpkin doesn’t seem quite so unreasonable.

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Bats Have A Terrible Publicist

Few animals have been given a worse Halloween reputation than bats.

They appear in spooky movies, haunted-house decorations and almost every collection of Halloween clip art ever created.

Real bats, however, are considerably more useful than frightening.

Many bat species eat enormous numbers of flying insects. Others pollinate plants or spread seeds, helping forests and ecosystems regenerate.

They are also remarkably sophisticated animals. Bats aren’t blind, despite the familiar saying. Many species see perfectly well and also use echolocation, sending out high-frequency sounds and listening for returning echoes to navigate and locate food in darkness.

Ontario is home to several bat species, and they play an important role in controlling insect populations.

So when you see plastic bats hanging from porches this October, remember that their real-life cousins are less interested in haunting anybody than in finding their next mosquito.

Frankly, that sounds like a neighbour worth having.

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Two Bloods And A Blood Light

Three vampires walked into a bar and sat down together.

The bartender approached the first vampire.

“What can I get you?”

“I’ll have a glass of blood.”

The bartender turned to the second.

“And you?”

“A glass of blood sounds good to me too.”

Finally he looked at the third vampire.

“What about you?”

“I’ll just have a glass of plasma.”

The bartender nodded and called toward the other end of the bar:

“Two bloods and a blood light!”

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The Vampire Bat

A colony of vampire bats returned home before dawn after a terrible night of hunting.

Every bat was hungry except one, who arrived with blood all over his face.

The others immediately surrounded him.

“Where did you find food?”

He refused to answer, but eventually the others pestered him so much that he agreed to show them.

They flew across several fields until he stopped beside a large tree.

“You all see that tree?” he asked.

“Yes!” they shouted eagerly.

The bat sighed.

“Well… I didn’t.”

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The Ghostly Car

A man was walking home through thick fog when a car appeared silently beside him.

There was nobody behind the wheel.

Terrified but desperate to get out of the cold, he opened the passenger door and climbed inside.

The car slowly began moving.

Whenever it reached a corner, a mysterious hand appeared through the window and turned the steering wheel.

The frightened passenger could hardly breathe.

Eventually the car stopped.

A shadowy figure appeared out of the fog.

The passenger shouted, “There’s something terribly wrong with this car!”

The figure stared at him.

“I know. I’ve been pushing it for half a mile.”

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The Skeleton At The Pub

A skeleton walked into a pub and climbed onto a stool.

The bartender stared at him for a moment.

“What can I get you?”

The skeleton leaned forward.

“A pint, please.”

The bartender started pouring.

The skeleton added:

“And a mop.”

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It’s A Walk In The Cemetery

It was already dark when I started to walk home. after finishing work later than usual. I decided to shave 5 minutes off my time getting home, by cutting through the cemetery, in order to get the candy in the bowl and ready for all the children making their Halloween treks throughout our little town of Gravenhurst.  A group of three girls standing at the entrance of the cemetery were debating about doing much the same.  But one was just too terrified to walk through there in the dark. So, I said here, hold my hand and I’ll walk you through. I’m going in the same direction.  She thanked me and started talking about how terrified she was of ghosts and such, so I calmed her down by saying “Don’t worry, I was just as afraid of going in there in the dark myself, when I was alive”

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The Burglar And The Parrot

A burglar broke into a dark house late one night.

As he searched the living room, he heard a voice.

“Jesus is watching you.”

He froze.

A few seconds later the voice repeated:

“Jesus is watching you.”

The burglar switched on his flashlight and discovered a parrot in a cage.

“What’s your name?” he whispered.

“Moses.”

The burglar laughed.

“What kind of person names a parrot Moses?”

The parrot replied:

“The same kind of person who names their Rottweiler Jesus.”

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[Insert “My Udder Half” Cartoon Here]

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Editor’s Quote Book

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”

— Charlie Chaplin

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Trivia Quiz

(Click Question For Answer)

 

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Your Horoscope

For Amusement Only

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Skeleton Crossing

Why did the skeleton cross the road?

To get to the body shop.

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Pumpkin Mathematics

What do you get when you divide a pumpkin’s circumference by its diameter?

Pumpkin pi.

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The Egyptian Girl

Why was the Egyptian girl worried?

Because her daddy was a mummy.

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Frostbite

What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

Frostbite.

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Road Crossing

Why wouldn’t the skeleton cross the road?

He didn’t have the guts.

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Marley’s Video Pick

Why Do We Carve Pumpkins On Halloween?

Before jack-o’-lanterns started glowing on porches across Canada, Halloween lanterns were being carved from something considerably less convenient—turnips. University of Manitoba history professor Gerry Bowler takes a short look at the history behind the tradition and how the familiar carved pumpkin eventually became one of Halloween’s most recognizable symbols.

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The Last Word

“Never become so grown up that you forget how much fun it is to be a little ridiculous.”

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