There are weeks when the sights and sounds of Ballard appear linked to me; then there are weeks when everything seems random. I can't seem to connect the dots between the man at Archie McPhee's wearing a gigantic foam cowboy hat and feeding the carp this morning at Swanson's. This year I'm having trouble distinguishing Halloween costumes from everyday wear; mudders with frog eyes, babies in leopard skin and tails.

But finally a day with time to errands on foot. The chairs were already on the tables at Caf/ Besalu even as the smell of baguettes baking sucked me into Tall Grass Bakery. A mother was breastfeeding her baby on the bench along its wall, while shuffling through choices on an iPod. Crossing Northwest 57th someone called my name from a van at a red light. We visited until her light turned green, "Election night. Party at my house," she called.

The Ballard Merchant's Trick or Treat wasn't for another week but so many family groups were strolling downtown Ballard I wondered if they had mistaken the day. A pumpkin carving party was advertised for Loyal Heights and the Halloween Festival was just hours away at Ballard Community Center. What appeared to be a stuffed animal in a man's arms moved its head and became a toddler dressed as a black and white cow.

"I'm Dolores," a voice said very clearly at the end of an aisle at Bartell's Drugs as a woman knelt and reached for the hand of a woman in a wheelchair. "I wrote to you to let you know that I wasn't going to be working at your home anymore. Did you get my letter? Do you remember me?"

A father and small daughter ran towards me on the Market Street sidewalk, hand in hand. "I'm zausted," said a girl who wasn't more than three years old.

"You're exhausted?" her dad echoed and laughed as they kept running, on a quest for ice cream on Market Street.

Todd and Jeannette from Nervous Nellie's pulled up in front of Great Harvest in their dilapidated Volvo, picking up the loaves and loaves of bread that will become their trademark toast. The blood mobile was parked in front of Archie McPhee's for the annual Halloween blood drive and the man shopping in a foam cowboy hat was making a date for the Husky's game.

I stopped to read a sign in the window at Ballard Mail & Dispatch about their new shredding service, just $.70/pound, and fantasized about lightening the load in my basement by at least fifty pounds. A man emerged and mounted an old-fashioned bicycle that reminded me of the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz." Crossing the alley by Limback Lumber's loading area he rang his bell. Just like that I began missing my grandfather all over again. He'd ride his bicycle with a basket to the beach in the afternoon for a swim. On the way home he'd walk his bicycle up the last hill, whistling under his breath.

I could feel that I didn't want to be at home, not with this balmy October weather. As I walked west on Market Street I considered entering every business - should I shop for a new fire extinguisher, quilting fabric? On impulse I went into Limback's to ask about winterizing - the young man behind the counter wasn't certain about an option. "Dad?" he called out.

My block was still except for squirrels. My cat scampered towards me on the leaf-lined sidewalk, looking up at me to meow displeasure at being unfed for an hour. I thought back to the beginning of the day walking 30 blocks to meet a friend at Swanson's for coffee, plant shopping and counsel. Both of our lives are on the verge of tremendous change. Looking around at all the mothers with strollers I'd wished that my life simply revolved around a daughter's Halloween costume and the magic of a Jack-o-lantern. In a flash Sue's hand was filled with fish food for the pool of carp. They mouthed the surface as she fed them directly and then pressed some pellets into my hand. I held food to the mouth of one fish, shrieking as it spouted like a whale and then closed its cartilage around my finger.

Peggy Sturdivant writes a series on neighborhoods for CrossCut.com and also writes additional pieces for the Seattle PI's Neighborhood Webtown: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/ballard/ Her e-mail is atlargeinballard@yahoo.com