Really, it is the most appropriate holiday to tie to a blood drive. No word yet if the phlebotomists will be dressed as vampires, but I think it’d be a nice touch.

WHAT: Carter Blood Care Drive

WHEN: Today until 5 p.m.

WHERE: W.T. White High School, 4505 Ridgeside Drive

Teacher Sue Windrick reads to her first grade class at Providence Christian School.

In the age of e-readers and audiobooks, it’s sometimes hard to find people who appreciate a good leather binding. If you’re feeling nostalgic, head over to Providence Christian School’s Rare Book Fair, which runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, and 8 a.m. until noon Wednesday. The fair will feature thousands of classic and out-of-print books for sale in the school’s gym (5002 Lovers Lane). Cash, check, and credit will be accepted.

If you like what you see at the fair, then perhaps you’d want to show up again on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. for Providence’s prospective parents open house.

While I enjoy a good routine for the sake of dependability, I can’t resist jazzing things up on occasion (hence the Halloween-themed weekend entertainment post). Will you be trick-or-treating in the traditional, walk-out-of-your-front-door fashion? Or are you in the mood for a carnival or “fall festival” kind of candy grabbing experience? The choice is yours.

Today For fall festival fun, head over to either the ESD Lower Campus or St. Alcuin Montessori at 3:30 p.m. If you’re a Jesuit or Ursuline grad, you won’t want to miss the 40th anniversary celebration of the Jesuit Rangerettes, 5:30 p.m. at Jesuit’s Terry Center.

Saturday Calling all Gleeks: Jane Lynch, aka Sue Sylvester, will sign her book, Happy Accidents, at 6 p.m. in Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Park. After that, you have a few stage productions competing for your time. Randy Travis is playing at Jesuit Homecoming beginning at 6:30 p.m., and at 8:30 p.m., Hockaday eight-graders are performing The Boyfriend.

Sunday It’s still won’t technically be Halloween, but that’s no reason not to dress up and demand sugary treats from strangers. At 4 p.m., Park Cities Baptist Church is hosting “Trunk or Treat,” and at 6 p.m., Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church will have a Halloween Carnival.

OK, Daisies, whose dad is this? I want to thank him for relieving my extreme ninth-inning tension by making me say, “Hey, look — Hockaday!”

Arthur Kramer Elementary is competing for a $50,000 grant from Clorox. With just a click of your mouse (and the surrender of a few personal details), you can put the Colts one step closer to a revamped vegetable garden and so much more. You can also Text “Clorox7889″ to 44144. Voting runs through Dec. 9 and allows for one vote with each method daily.

An excerpt from the school’s application reads:

This $50,000 grant would allow us to rebuild our garden, and to add a greenhouse, nature trail, herb garden, wildflower field, rainwater barrels and a chicken yard with coup. The impact of this grant will be so great in allowing students from kindergarten through 5th grade to expand their learning in many ways. They would be able to collect fresh eggs and produce to sell in their own school farmer’s market which would teach them about commerce, agriculture, and provide them with many other learning experiences. Each class will also come up with a special name for their garden bed and select what will be planted each season. This grant would boost school pride as each class would get the whole family involved with the care and maintenance for each of their vegetable beds. We would like to encourage fresh produce in the diets of our students and their families. That is the biggest “seed” we want to plant.

Mariusz Kwiecien plays the title role in "Don Giovanni."

Thanks to the generosity of Bluffview residents Peter and Edith O’Donnell, all DISD students and their families will have the opportunity to view four high-definition simulcasts of Metropolitan Opera performances. The first — Mozart’s Don Giovanni — will be shown at 11:55 a.m. Saturday at my alma mater, the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

“The arts are essential to a student’s education,” Peter O’Donnell said. “We are pleased to bring the opera experience to students in the Dallas Independent School District. Opera truly represents the intersection of the arts and humanities — voice, theater, dance, music, design, history, language, and literature. It is our belief that these simulcasts will be a vital tool in educating the next generation for the arts.”

The Dallas Opera will provide speakers after each performance, and teachers will receive specialized training on how to incorporate opera into their curriculum.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students,” said Alan King, DISD’s interim superintendent. “To see the opera in this setting will be truly breathtaking, and will hopefully expose students to worlds they never knew existed.”

The performances are open to students from any DISD campus, excluding kindergartners through third-graders. For more information, click here.

During the Jewish Federation’s 100^th annual Mitzvah Day, which is this Sunday, there will be hundreds of service projects offered throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Here is a guide to the ones most convenient to the Hollow.

For (almost) Teens: The Jewish Community Center

Perfect for pre-teens eager to experience independence. Teen Connection, the precursor to BBYO, is hosting a service project for grades 6-8. From 1 to 5 p.m.

For Foodies: Temple Emanu-El

The next time your stomach grumbles, imagine the pains of those who go without enough food every day. Go to Temple Emanu-El and help make sandwiches for the homeless. From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

For Creative Thinkers: Children’s Medical Center

Who hasn’t suffered from the boredom blues while waiting at a doctor’s office? Assemble sheets of word games and crossword puzzles to help adults with sick children pass the time while waiting at the hospital. From 9 a.m. to noon.

Read More…

The only explanation Dan and I could come up with for the double-thievery of  $50 worth of flash drives, is that the culprit placed the items in his Mercedes after pilfering them from a Mazda.

Then, the universe fought back.

Between 5 and 6 p.m. Oct. 20, a burglar broke into a gray 2010 Mazda at NorthPark Center and stole a $3,000 laptop, a $500 Tory Burch bag, two iPods valued at $400, a $200 black IBM laptop, a $100 Sony phone, an $80 black backpack, a $60 Packard Bell hard drive, five flash drives valued at $50, and a $25 Spanish passport.

And the very next day…

Between 1 and 1:40 p.m., a burglar broke into a black 2011 Mercedes at NorthPark Center and stole a $3,000 laptop, a $500 Tory Burch bag, two iPods valued at $400, and five flash drives valued at $50.

For more zany crimes, pick up a copy of the Oct. 28 edition of Preston Hollow People