Dracena Ghosts

It was a beautiful Halloween morning for our Piedmont Recreation Department Walking on Wednesdays walk this week. Some of us were wearing Halloween garb, and we thought we had a new member joining us until we realized that the platinum blond in the crowd was actually Nancy D in a striking wig. Even without any new walkers this week, the turnout was great with a record of eighteen walkers and the Nancy's dog, Chili, in attendance. Chili was wearing a Halloween bandana, so he was in the spirit of the holiday too.

At Patty W's suggestion we started the day with the announcement of The Piedmont Historical Society's 46th Annual Meeting and Reception on Sunday, November 18th at 4 PM in the Piedmont Community. We have enjoyed many of Piedmont histories and I encouraged the group to consider joining The Piedmont Historical Society. Noemi A also suggested we have a moment of silence for those who have been recently killed in senseless violence. Additionally, we had a visit from Bret B, Piedmont's new fire chief and husband of walker Niami B.

We often find inspiration for our walks in the Piedmont Post. The October 24th issue had a street view picture of Dracena Avenue where each year the neighbors make hundreds of small ghosts which they suspend from the trees lining the street. We thought it would be fun to walk over and see them in daylight before they got scary. Starting off up Bonita Avenue we encountered a very junior Halloween fireman. Niami took a picture of him as a potential future recruit for her husband. We also enjoyed the spooky house decorations along the way, although K-9 Chili was not too pleased with the dog skeletons that were in front of some of the homes. The large number of small, plastic bag ghosts on the Dracena trees were a sight and worth the trip. We stopped for a group photo with the ghosts circling above us.

After our visit with the Dracena ghosts we continued on down through the beautifully updated Dracena Park to its tot lot where they encountered a batman and a capped marvel superhero who were busy having Halloween fun. For the return trip to our Exedra starting point we took a slight side trip to walk up Latham Street, the only street in Piedmont that they had learned from one of historical articles is actually named a "street." Piedmont has many avenues, ways, and courts, but it turns out only one "street." As you know, we have an informal objective of eventually walking to all of them and we were able to check off Latham Street this Wednesday.

It was another enjoyable walk on a beautiful Piedmont day that included visits with ghosts and some cute, costumed, little people. As you also know, our Walking on Wednesdays group meets every Wednesday at the Exedra (Highland & Magnolia Avenues) at 10:30 AM. Please ask friends to

participate. Everyone is invited to join our group. There is no charge and new walkers are especially welcome.