At Halloween and Always: "Make New Friends, Keep The Old "

by TheLastLeafGardener

There's a song, which is sung in the round, and I was required to sing it with classmates in grammar school. The song included these lyrics: "Make new friends, Keep the old, One is silver; and the other, gold."
The song came to my mind this past weekend when I was coming home on the bus from having seen Victor, my friend who is still in a rehabilitation center; a facility where he still needs to be admitted to in order to work on his medical issues with swallowing and balance.
The facility where he is staying is in a town in New Jersey, and as I mentioned in a previous post,* is a long journey from Manhattan.
Thankfully, I've now been able to travel there with a mutual friend of Victor’s, as this particular person knows the area well. And he has been able to make arrangements for us to be picked up at at a Park and Ride Bus stop which is about a twenty-minute car ride to the facility where Victor is staying.
This past Sunday our ride to the facility was a bit rough because the bus had a blow-out on the front tire when we were only twenty to thirty minutes into our trip.
The driver was able to maneuver the bus to Route Nine's shoulder without incident, and all who were on the bus waited for the next one to come along and drive us to our destination.
The ride back to Manhattan was less eventful, but my friend and I were not able to sit together, and I found myself sitting next to someone who was coming from Freehold to Port Authority. She was extremely apprehensive about arriving at the bus terminal, and asked if I could lead her to a good place for her husband to pick her up.
The man I had been traveling with was happy to accommodate her and she took a picture of us, describing us as "her new friends."
It happens that the traveler’s surname is Gold, and upon my hearing her referring to my friend and me as “new friends,” I joked with her, saying, "Make new friends, but keep the old; One is silver; The other, GOLD."
When I returned home I discovered that a group of folks, who are currently in the armoire of the main living area in my apartment in honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday, were living out the make-new-friends-keep-the-old philosophy.
* http://www.hometalk.com/diy/build/planters/backyard-ideas-garden-entertaining-people-4766865

halloween figurine display, container gardening, gardening, halloween decorations, home decor, seasonal holiday decor

The folks I am speaking about can be seen in the image above, and you may find yourself recognizing many of their faces.

This is because I featured a number of these characters in photo-ops with stories in entries on HT this past October.**

One of the entries that I posted on HT last October included the picture directly above. Since that time, there have been two new arrivals.

If you compare the first two pictures, dear reader, can you spot the newcomers?

** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/halloween-decor-indoors-mostly-2412379

One is a girl dressed as a witch. She is riding her pony which is dressed as a cat.

The other, is a girl who claims if cows can jump over the moon, than so can a witch, and she is here to prove it!

Now, if you will look closely and compare the first two images, you will discover that not only are there two newcomers, but one of the old-timers has left the armoire area.

He is Dino and can be seen in the picture below.

He has left his old friends in the the armoire area to spend time in my succulent garden and reunite with Humpty Dumpty as well Mr. Moon-In-the-Man. He is an individual I introduced to the HT community this past October.***

They are his old friends, but he also wanted to go there to welcome new friends.

*** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/craft/holiday-crafts/follow-up-halloween-indoor-decor-the-b-group-wins-the-coin-toss-2423888

Dino can be seen in my succulent garden talking to one of the trick-or-treaters (directly to his right) in the image above. (This very same picture was featured in my last entry on HT @ http://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/rooms/honoring-national-pumpkin-day-with-a-contest-in-my-garden-5383671.)

They are both in the "front row" and surrounded by a number of faces you may recognize from my last entry here on HT (which was posted last Sunday prior to my eventful trip to see Victor).****

To her right is a little girl who is modeling her Halloween costume, she plans to be a social butterfly, and also was ready for her close-up.

**** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/garden/halloween-decorations-garden-pumpkins-5239170

To "Madam Butterfly's" right is a little girl who is singing "Lady in Red." And upon her hearing that her comrades were being given close-ups, she wanted one too!

To her right stand a pair of fraternal twins in less elaborate attire for Halloween, but that didn't stop them from requesting a close-up.

The younger brother of the twins is standing alongside Humpty Dumpty at the opposite end of my succulent garden; but he can be seen in a close-up shot that was taken at the request of his twin siblings.

Additionally, towards the northern end of my succulent garden, you will find, Mr. Moon-in-the Man. He is flanked by the sisters of Dino's friend. She was introduced to you in image six and is featured in a close-up in image seven.

Mr. Moon-in-the-Man is the one who told me these two girls are sisters of the girl in image seven.

Mr. Moon-in-the-Man suggested I take close-ups of each girl standing alongside of him, but they begged me not to. They are camera shy, which, in a way, is a good thing in terms of this post, as I'm coming to the limit of images HT will permit me to include in a given entry.

However, I'll be ready to include close-up images of them elsewhere if they change their minds. Down the road they may want to have a photograph to recall how the three of them spent Halloween time in 2014: Two alongside Mr. Moon-in-the-Man and one talking with Dino.

Meanwhile, dear reader, I'll leave you with another image of three sisters preparing to go out trick-or treating.

The photo is of yours truly with my sisters. We can be seen in the picture below, wearing Halloween costumes over heavy winter coats, for it was often very cold on Halloween, but we trick-or-treated no matter what the temperature!