Ides of Autumn Plans

 The Ides of Autumn are approaching. 

I really wanted to have a large, outdoor party for October 31.  There would be jack-o-lanterns in the shrubbery, and small mini-pumpkins hanging by strings from the cherry.  There would be a large punch-bowl filled with hot cider.  There would be friends over, in various costumes (or not).  I'd figure out some sort of directional altars, and maybe even a fog machine, and some music.  

Obviously, that's not going to happen in this season of Covid-19.   At least the friends part.

I thought we weren't even going to participate in Trick-Or-Treating, but Mark was talking to The Child about some sort of candy shoot -- so maybe we'll make some kind of giant snake.  

On the costume front, I've been fiddling with cardboard models of wings, with the idea that I could make some very large, white wings to fit over my arms and then I could go RollerBlading at night and Certain Husbands Wouldn't Worry So Much that I would get run over because I was wearing a black cloak.  

Since I'll have white wings, I'm going to try to make the feathers look like a barn owl's feathers by using the examples here:  https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/browse-common2.php .  The cardboard I'm using is fairly thick, so I'm unsure how I will make the feather's shafts show up.  Depending on how artsy I'm feeling, I might be able to texture the feathers by painting them with the edge of card to simulate the barbs.  My thought is to make all of the covert feathers one (or two) piece so they can more easily hold the primary and secondary feathers in place.

I'm still debating whether to make the wings one long piece.  The plus is that the wings would be easier to build and more durable.  The minus is that I'd have to RollerBlade with my arms held straight out and could be a good way to rip my arms out of my shoulder socket if I were to have some sort of crash.  I'm not too keen on repeating shoulder problems, so I guess I'll need to figure out some kind of hinge.