Windsor Plywood: Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard-to-source interior and exterior home finishing products, including flooring, doors and mouldings, and exterior project materials such as yellow cedar. Windsor Plywood French Creek carries high-quality, responsibly sourced products and is committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers: homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor Plywood in French Creek help you with your renovation, new build, or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122.

The Ballad of Peter & Gracie: Peter and his dog raced there and through fields so wide, with dreams in their pockets and stars as their guide. Every day's an adventure under the open sky. In their world of stories, time just flies by.

Peter McCully: Peter bounced up and down with excitement as he looked at the big calendar hanging in the kitchen. There was a bright orange circle around October 31st. Halloween would soon be here!

"Gracie! Gracie!" Peter called to his fluffy white dog. "It's almost Halloween!"

Gracie came running into the kitchen, her tail wagging like a happy windshield wiper.

She was an American Eskimo dog with the whitest, fluffiest fur you ever saw. Her fur was so white, it looked like freshly fallen snow. Her nose was black as coal and her eyes sparkled like two shiny buttons. Best of all, whenever she was happy, she smiled—a big doggy smile that made everyone laugh. Peter was seven years old and Gracie was his very best friend in the whole world.

They did everything together. They played fetch in the backyard, went for walks down the quiet roads of Coombs, and every night, Gracie slept right next to Peter's bed.

"Mom!" Peter shouted. "Can we start decorating for Halloween today? Please, please, please, please!"

Mom came into the kitchen, wiping flour from her hands on her apron. She smiled at Peter's excited face.

"I think that's a wonderful idea," she said. "Why don't you and Dad get all the decorations from the garage? I'll help you put them up this afternoon."

Peter jumped so high, he almost touched the ceiling. Well, maybe not quite that high, but it felt like it to him. Gracie barked three happy barks and spun in a circle.

She loved it when Peter was excited because it usually meant something fun was about to happen.

After lunch, Peter and his dad went to the garage. The garage was full of interesting things: tools, Peter's bicycle with the red streamers on the handlebars, and boxes and boxes of stuff. Dad pulled down a big box labelled "Halloween" in orange letters.

"Here we go," Dad said, setting the box down with a thump.

Peter opened it carefully. Inside were all sorts of wonderful Halloween decorations. There were paper pumpkins with silly faces, a string of orange and purple lights, fake spiderwebs that felt soft and stretchy, and plastic spiders with googly eyes, a blow-up ghost that was taller than Peter, and a friendly-looking scarecrow that would sit on the porch.

Gracie sniffed at everything. She was curious about the plastic spiders. She poked one with her nose and jumped back when it moved. Peter giggled.

First, they decorated the outside of the house. Dad hung the orange and purple lights along the fence while Peter carefully placed the plastic spiders in the bushes. Mom held the ladder steady while Dad climbed up to hang paper bats from the porch roof.

"Look, Gracie!" Peter said, holding up a big paper bat. "It's flying!"

He ran around the yard holding the bat up high, and Gracie chased after him, barking happily.

The blow-up ghost was Peter's favourite. Dad plugged it in and—whoosh! It started to fill with air. Slowly, slowly, slowly, it grew bigger and bigger and bigger until it was taller than Dad.

Gracie's eyes got very wide. She tilted her head to one side, then to the other. What was this strange white thing?

"It's okay, Gracie," Peter said gently, patting her soft fur. "It's just a pretend ghost. See?"

He hugged the ghost and it wobbled back and forth. Gracie came a little closer and sniffed the ghost. Then she wagged her tail. The ghost was okay.

Peter and Dad placed the friendly scarecrow on the front porch, sitting in the big wooden chair. They gave him a sign that said "Happy Halloween" in wobbly letters that Peter had painted himself last year.

Inside the house, Peter and Mom decorated too. They hung fake spiderwebs in the corners of the living room. Peter stretched them out to make them look real and spooky. Mom helped him put little plastic spiders on the webs.

They put three big pumpkins on the kitchen table. One was round and orange, one was tall and skinny, and one was short and fat. Tomorrow they would carve them into jack-o'-lanterns.

Peter placed a bowl of Halloween candy corn on the coffee table. It was orange, yellow, and white, and it looked like tiny pieces of candy corn.

"This is for us," Mom said with a wink. "The good candy for trick-or-treaters is hidden until Halloween night."

When all the decorating was done, the house looked perfectly spooky and perfectly wonderful at the same time. Peter and Gracie walked around outside looking at everything.

"Our house looks the best in all of Coombs!" Peter declared.

Gracie barked in agreement. She was very proud of their hard work.

That night, Peter could hardly sleep. He kept thinking about Halloween. He and Gracie had matching costumes this year. It was going to be the best Halloween ever!

The next day was pumpkin-carving day. After breakfast, Mom spread newspapers all over the kitchen table. Dad got out the big pumpkin-carving tools, and they all gathered around the table.

"Remember, Peter," Dad said, "I'll do the cutting, but you can draw the faces."

Peter took a marker and carefully drew a big triangle for a nose on the first pumpkin. Then he drew two triangle eyes and a wide, smiley mouth with three teeth.

"This one is happy," he said.

On the second pumpkin, he drew surprised eyes and a round "O" mouth.

"This one is surprised."

On the third pumpkin, he drew one regular eye and one winking eye, and a crooked smile.

"This one is silly."

Dad carved carefully along the lines Peter had drawn, and Peter watched as the faces appeared in the pumpkins, scoop by scoop. Dad cleaned out all the slimy, stringy insides.

"Can I keep the seeds?" Peter asked.

"Of course," Mom said. "I'll roast them with salt and we can eat them as a snack."

Gracie sat patiently by the table, hoping someone would drop something yummy, but pumpkin really wasn't her favourite snack.

That night, Dad put special candles inside each of the jack-o'-lanterns and placed them on the front porch. When the sun went down, Dad lit the candles and the pumpkins glowed with warm, flickering light. The happy face smiled, the surprised face looked amazed, and the silly face seemed to be telling a joke.

"They're perfect," Peter said, holding Gracie in his arms.

Gracie licked his cheek.

Finally, finally, Halloween morning had arrived! Peter woke up so early that the sun was still sleeping. He ran to his window and looked outside. The whole neighbourhood was decorated. The house across the street had a huge spider on the roof. The house next door had tombstones in the front yard. And Peter's house, with its ghost and jack-o'-lanterns and lights, looked absolutely wonderful.

"Gracie, wake up!" Peter whispered loudly. "It's Halloween!"

Gracie lifted her head and yawned a big doggy yawn. And then she remembered—Halloween! She jumped up and shook her whole body, making her fluffy fur bounce.

All day, Peter watched the clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Why did time move so slowly?

After lunch, Mom said, "It's time to put on your costumes."

Peter raced to his room. This year, he was going to be a superhero. He had a cape that tied around his neck, a blue shirt with a big star on it, and a mask that made him look very mysterious. But the best part was Gracie's costume. Mom had made Gracie a special cape too. It was just like Peter's, and it fastened around her chest with Velcro. On Gracie's cape was a star, just like Peter's.

"We match!" Peter said happily, putting Gracie's cape on her.

Gracie didn't mind wearing clothes. She liked how happy it made Peter. Plus, she looked very fancy in her superhero cape.

Peter looked at himself in the mirror. "We're Super Peter and Super Gracie!" he announced. "We save the world from hungry monsters by feeding them candy!"

Gracie barked her approval. She was ready for their adventure.

At exactly five o'clock, when the sun was starting to set and the sky was turning orange and pink, Dad said, "Okay, Super Peter and Super Gracie, it's time to go trick-or-treating!"

Mom gave Peter his jack-o'-lantern bucket for collecting candy. It was orange with a green handle and it had a happy pumpkin face on it.

"Remember," Mom said, "stay with Dad, say 'trick or treat' and 'thank you,' and watch out for Gracie. Don't let her eat any candy."

"I promise," Peter said seriously. He would take good care of Gracie.

Peter, Gracie, and Dad walked down their driveway and turned onto the quiet road. Other children were already out trick-or-treating. Peter saw a princess, a dinosaur, a ghost, and two kids dressed as a horse—one was the front and one was the back.

"Look at all the costumes, Gracie!" Peter said.

Their first stop was at Mrs. Henderson's house. Mrs. Henderson was their neighbour and she was very nice. Peter knocked on the door.

"Trick or treat!" Peter called when Mrs. Henderson opened the door.

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Henderson said, putting her hand over her heart. "It's Super Peter and Super Gracie! How wonderful! And what a beautiful white dog. She's like a fluffy cloud."

Mrs. Henderson dropped two big chocolate bars into Peter's bucket and gave him a dog biscuit for Gracie.

"This is a special Halloween treat for dogs," she explained.

"Thank you!" Peter said.

Gracie wagged her tail and took the biscuit very gently from Peter's hand.

They went house to house down the streets of Coombs. Peter said "trick or treat" at every door, and Gracie sat nicely beside him, her cape fluttering in the evening breeze. Everyone said how wonderful their costumes were.

At one house, there was a friendly black cat sitting on the porch. Gracie and the cat touched noses, saying hello in their own animal way.

At another house, a dad had dressed up as a scarecrow and stood very, very still on the porch. When Peter came up the steps, the scarecrow suddenly moved and said, "BOO!"

Peter jumped and then laughed. It was a fun kind of scare, not a scary kind of scare.

As they walked down the street, Peter saw his friend Sarah from school. She was dressed as a witch with a pointy hat and a long black dress.

"Hi, Peter! Hi, Gracie!" Sarah called, running over. "I love your costumes! You're superheroes!"

"Thanks! You're a great witch," Peter said. "This is my dog, Gracie. She's helping me trick-or-treat."

The two friends walked together to the next few houses. Gracie was very popular. Everyone wanted to pet her and tell her what a good dog she was.

The sun had now set and the streets were dark except for the streetlights and the glow of jack-o'-lanterns on every porch. The air smelled like fall leaves and candy, and just a bit like the ocean, which wasn't that far away from Coombs.

After about an hour, Peter's bucket was nearly full. His feet were starting to feel tired, and he could tell Gracie was getting tired too. She had walked a long way on her four little paws.

"I think it's time to head home," Dad said. "You did great trick-or-treating."

They said goodbye to Sarah and her family and started walking back home. The walk felt shorter on the way back, maybe because Peter's bucket was so full and heavy and he was thinking about all the candy he was going to sort when he got home.

When they reached their house, the jack-o'-lanterns were still glowing on the porch and the ghost was still waving in the breeze. Mom was on the porch handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.

"Well, how did it go?" Mom asked.

"It was the best Halloween ever!" Peter said. "Everyone loved our costumes, and look how much candy I got!"

Inside, Peter carefully took off Gracie's cape. He gave her fresh water in her bowl, and she drank and drank. Trick-or-treating was thirsty work. Then Gracie lay down on her favourite cozy dog bed and closed her eyes. She was one tired superhero.

Later, after Peter brushed his teeth and put on his pyjamas, Mom and Dad tucked him into bed. Gracie was already asleep on her bed next to Peter's.

"Did you have fun today?" Dad asked.

"It was the best day ever," Peter said sleepily. "Gracie and I were superheroes and we got so much candy. Everyone said we had great costumes. Next year, can we decorate even more?"

"We'll see," Mom said.

Peter closed his eyes, but he was still smiling. He could hear Gracie's soft breathing as she slept. Through his window, he could see the orange and purple lights still glowing outside. And as the moon rose over Coombs, Peter dreamed of flying through the skies in his red cape with Super Gracie by his side, both of them smiling big, happy smiles.

The Ballad of Peter and Gracie: Peter and Gracie, the finest of friends, with tales of wonder that never end. In the pages of books or stars above, they find their magic in laughter and love.

Windsor Plywood French Creek:  Brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard-to-source interior and exterior home finishing products, including flooring, doors and mouldings, and exterior project materials such as yellow cedar. Windsor Plywood French Creek carries high-quality, responsibly sourced products and is committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers: homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor Plywood in French Creek help you with your renovation, new build, or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122.