Adam – So, I want to be the one to spill the beans about your big news. Can I? Can I? I’m going to. You’re playing Santa in Cascade Christmas this year! I think I’m more excited than you are.
Troy – Am I excited? Yes, but only after being scared, nervous and completely sideswiped. I mean, I‘ve seen Cascade Christmas and thought, “I can do the Santa gig.” Walk-ons, waving, kissing babies – that sort of thing. But James Santos must be getting even for something I’ve done in our 25 years of friendship because Santa is a dancing fool in this year’s show. Or should I say, he will be by the time the show opens. But right now I more closely resemble a WalMart dancing Santa.
Adam – I hear you have a tropical Santa number. Shorts, visor, flip-flops, the whole shebang. And don’t leave out the most humiliating exciting part of it all – you get to sing “Rio.” Do you sound anything like Barry Manilow?
Troy – No, I am not singing. They want people to stay past the first number. We’ve got plenty of time until Cascade Christmas opens on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Halloween is just around the corner.
Adam – When my baby, when my baby smiles at me, I go to Rio ….. Oh, sorry. Halloween. We have fun on Halloween. We set up our fire pit on the driveway, have hot chocolate and cider, make s’mores. Our neighbors love it. They come by to chat. It reminds me of when I was little. My brother and I were the only kids in our neighborhood, so all of the “grandmas” made us popcorn balls, caramel apples, cider. That doesn’t exist anymore. You had fun Halloweens growing up too. Your dad was always into passing out candy – even to the teenagers.
Troy – Yeah, it was Dad’s favorite holiday. The kids, the costumes and Snickers! He loved him some Snickers. He also loved, and I mean loved, to carve the pumpkin. I remember when the new tools came out with the designs. He carved six or eight jack-o-lanterns. So, Halloween was always fun as a kid. My dad even encouraged us as teens to dress up. My dad was a big chicken when it came to the scary parts of the holiday though. Speaking of spooky, I’ve always wanted to do a cemetery walk this time of year.
Adam – There is one: the “By the Light of the Moon” Cemetery Tour, tonight, at the Shasta Union Cemetery. It’s part moonlight walk/part history tour. Docents give a history lesson about the pioneers who lived in the area. Click here for the details. I forgot that we told readers we’d talk more about body paint, but the whole body painting project didn’t work out.
Troy – I’m thrilled and bummed at the same time. My friend Licia Prader and I were planning an elaborate body painting project. She’s stunningly beautiful and has the perfect woman’s body. I was going to paint her entire body and face to look like an alien/monster thing with red, yellow and orange scales and huge fingernails and have her crawling into the meat case at a local supermarket with a huge steak in her hand like she was eating the raw meat. Oh, yeah, did I mention she was eight months pregnant! But she gave birth early. Licia and Aaron, congratulations. Welcome, Lauren Ruby Prader.
Adam – Well, she’ll just have to get pregnant again. But we have the idea if anyone wants a non-traditional pregnancy portrait.
Troy – Maybe, I’ll paint you instead of Licia. Let’s do it.
Adam – So, I resemble a pregnant woman. Calling Dr. Atkins! After Thanksgiving.
Troy – I love that autumn is finally here. The colors, weather and of course the flavors. I wait for fall so I have a reason to eat pumpkin everything! Pancakes, pasta and bread, even lattes. We just had pumpkin pancakes with apple cider syrup in a cabin in the woods. How much more fall can you get. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving.
Adam – Speaking of, I realized that we won’t get to Dish Rag again until after Thanksgiving, so I’m going to get my two cents in about Thanksgiving, or as I call it, the forgotten holiday. I actually have anxiety when I go into stores before Halloween and see Christmas decorations. I know, get over it. But Halloween and Christmas have become such crazy, over-the-top, commercial holidays that Thanksgiving is buried under the piles of flame retardant costumes and rolls of gift wrap. Throw me a bone, big box stores. Show Turkey Day some love. Although I should be thankful — get it — that my day of unabashed gorging hasn’t been tainted. I take it all back. Ignore Thanksgiving. At least I can have a one-month window between waking to a smashed pumpkin and the pressure to find just the right gift.
Troy – Look out, people, I’m sure there is a capitalist conspiracy theory about to be spewed. Grab your Gallagher plastic and hold on. This is going to be a bumpy ride. You love a holiday that revolves around good food. And, golly gee, no gifts to buy, well, count you in! You have evolved into a total country boy since I met you 10 years ago. You were wearing designer duds and cool sunglasses, drove a cute little VW Golf and lived in a condo in Downtown Sacramento. Now it’s torn jeans, Jerry Mankoski (Adam’s Dad) style tennis shoes and shirts with the all-too-familiar stain down the front!
Adam – It’s called evolving! I don’t care about the same things I cared about 10 years ago. Especially clothes. And who wants to keep replacing designer clothes if they’re just going to keep shrinking. But, despite my Old Navy duds, I have to admit that I am strangely obsessed with the fashion industry. Check out this link to “Style Rookie,” a blog that has taken the fashion industry by storm. The blogger, Tavi, was apparently discovered by a team of designers who thought her blog was fake because it was so sophisticated. But it was confirmed that she does it all and is now in the front row at all of the fashion shows and covered the shows for thepop.com, Pop Magazine online. Did I mention that she is 13 years old?!! Can’t get enough. Check it out, she’s funny.
Troy – And now my own shameless pitch for locally designed jewelry. I have two shows coming up. Click here for more information. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the sale of my jewelry from these two shows will benefit the HawkMan Studios 2009 adopted family. NVCSS has a great program that provides information about the family and their list of needs. Click here to find out more about adopting your own family.
Adam – Happy Halloween, readers. We’d love to hear about your favorite Halloween memories. Trick-or-Treat!
