Yes, it's true, I admit. Fall has fallen and I've taken a turn for the interior land where the big questions loom along with the usual cold. How can we help Nigeria, or should we? Read this week's New Yorker The Megacity article and be amazed. Who are we and what are we doing here? Always a puzzle for me.

Now, with wet chilly days and the onset of the aforementioned cold, I've come to realize I'm not really that far different than I was, say, 30 years ago in Berkeley when I was active in local politics (Students for Democratic Society and related) and was very concerned about what non-violence really means - I mean Gandhi was brilliant, but so was Malcolm X, right? And even Eldridge Cleaver with his Soul on Ice. Scary but brilliant. So what's the main message this fall? Will Regime Change in Washington D.C. open our hearts and imagination?

Watched the Indian film, Water, last night. Quote from Gandhi got me once again. He said Truth is God; then the film ends with the line that currently millions of women in India are still held apart as widows, turned into prostitutes, treated very badly, the theme of the film, which takes place way back in 1938. Haven't made much progress, India.

Have we? I remember feeling as a child in Illinois the great outdoors went on forever. Now, even on the edge of the country on Petaluma County land you can clearly see how the edge of one town is just the beginning of the next. Boy, do we need our Open Space District (thanks, folks, for voting more money to save the air and our sense of wellbeing.)

In this day in 2006, truth is, we're moving awfully FAST! Steward Brand (now a neighbor of ours, having bought land south of town), talks about the Singularity in his fine tomb, The Clock of the Long Now. Ray Kurtzweil's new book in The Singularity is Coming - the
time when change happens so fast very few even know about it! And computers are smarter than us. Ouch! Major Sci-Fi future!

I'm not only hoping for a more Peacenik future; I'm looking for ways to help transform culture, whatever that's supposed to mean. Love Transformative Stories...The Megacity certainly is one of those. Pretty ladies living in the dump? True anarchy there; no government. And this is a future Steward Brand sees as vibrant - a place where ambition rises? Or will these millions be ignored as superfluous to globalization? I don't think we're supposed to forget and do nothing. I think we're supposed to keep one eye on the United Nations Millenium Goals and see if we can dream up a better way, maybe with a lot of humanoid robots?

All Hallows Eve and all that implies stretches more than a month for us this year if you include all the social gatherings through El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, which I do! Closing party for those who worked the events is mid-November in a season that for us began October 14th.

Our Early All Hallows Eve party honored departing best friends of ours, Patty & Peter Zimmerman, with whom we've thrown parties for these many years, several titled
Next Such Event (Patty-the-brit' words), offering Music PingPong and Song. Patty& Peter were then off to North Carolina (his Mum), London (hers), Costa Rica (new home
and many of us feel we sort of went along for the ride, all invited to find a way to join them when they settle, if that happens. These two spent a year tooling around Africa as a honeymoon. Our loose plan is Costa Rica in February, if we recover from the Holidaze soon enough, but many family will stay long this year, so it's likely to be way later.

Our Petaluma circle will share closure of the Season of the Witch with the El Dia de los Muertos procession Friday, Helen Putnam Plaza to St. Vincent's plaza wearing scary
skeletons, carrying candles, to welcome the spirits back to earth for an honored visit. This year we're expecting two mariachi bands, giant puppets (wonder if any I made will be included?)/ Mexican coco, ballet and Aztec dancers will await us at St. Vincent's. Wonderful way to mingle with our Latin and Indian neighbors.

Between Early All Hallows and now were too many gathering to mention all and included Larry Potts' first Last Friday Folk CONCERT (SOLD OUT!), Maureen's MUSICAL Mail Depot celebration, Halloween eve early PARTY in a 6th Street home and late at the hill home of Space-cadet FRIEND, Greg. I say Sapce Cadet; he's a satellite engineer. Enjoyed hearing comparisons of culture, Costa Rica vs. Mexico, both having lost much of the original Indian ways to European influences of many stripes. Two friends visiting from Puerto Angel, Mexico, said they had to leave their own language behind in order to talk to people in Spanish, French, English. Mayan culture still lives in Mexico, Peo says; in Costa Rica? No, it's all European and American ex-patriots (expats).

Brightest spots of this All Hallows: its always the kids, the beautiful kids who live around here, out fully dressed as whoever they want to be! I get a great start with this sharing with nephews Koben, 7 and Casey, 2. What wonderful smiles!

Trigger-treaters after dark: tried parking on 6th and F near a friends home - impossible! And you could have so easily hit many kids at once or their parents! Hundreds of bodies in costume swarming, bee-like along the sidewalks, pouring out into the streets, crosswalk or not.

This season, I wonder for at least a minute what's happening in the City, in Berkeley, Mill Valley and Tiburon. Remember hearing about houseboat parties, parties on huge estates taking place for days and nights on end. What we shared in PTown was just exhausting enough. Couldn't stay through to the end at each fling.

Val and Abram Richman's famous Halloween at the Moose party was all it was chalked up to be - revelery glore without more than afew who drank too much. I got to dance ala Ginger Rogers with ballroom dancer, Mike Crawley. Lovely that I could remember how with his excellent lead! And the laugh out loud Swan Lake take off by Abram and his 4 white tutu costumed buddies - memorably silly! Best for me all all these placesremains the intimate, though brief conversations with friends, that night, Craig & Melanie Stamler as truly scary Frankenstein's Monster and the Bride of Frankenstein! Milo Frisbie was believable as a tough guy,so different from the gentle guy he really is, our friend, Cheryl was a highly successful Scarlett O'Hara complete with curtain rod upon which her robe hung (she took it off for dancng to reveal a sort of belly dance outfit. Just a plain great bash, remembered the morning after with smiles seen around town.

And all this in the midst of elections. Surely these things should be in different months? A strong supporter of all I deem ecologically sound, I've had my work cut out for me supporting Petaluma Tomorrow endorsees, Pamela Torliatt, Teresa Barrett and Spence Burton for Mayor and Council and state Proposition 89 for Clean Money, etc., etc. Election Night Tuesday is an end in sight, though regrouping will happen shortly after that!