Best bets for this weekend

Autumn on Puget Sound typically means soggy and windy, and those seasonal chickens are finally coming home to roost. We're two weeks from Halloween and our Northwest is finally looking and feeling the part. Enjoy the good bits: orange pumpkins, russet leaves, the first whiff of wood smoke from a chimney. More ideas right here:

Chanterelle was a fun guy: It's mushroom time in our dark North woods. Learn what's good to eat and what can really ruin your day. Three opportunities this weekend: the Puget Sound Mycological Society Wild Mushroom Show in Seattle (see www.psms.org), a guided mushroom walk in Bridle Trails State Park in Kirkland (www.bridletrails.org), or a Fall Mushroom Identification Class in Everett (www.scmsfungi.org).

Howling good times: Harvest and Halloween-themed events keep multiplying like, well, mushrooms in October. There's the Monster Mash dance, part of Sammamish YMCA Family Fun Night on Friday (www.sammamishymca.org); the Bainbridge Gardens Pumpkin Walk, with 300 lighted jack o' lanterns, a harvest maze and more (www.bainbridgegardens.com); the Haunted Trails tour at Kenmore's Bastyr University (www.bastyr.edu); a build-your-own scarecrow party at Ballard Library (www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=branch_open_events&branchID=3); the Zoo Boo event at Tacoma's Point Defiance Zoo (www.pdza.org); and a dizzying variety of Fright Fests, Haunted Forests, Fright Factories and more. See "Harvest Season Events" in our Weekend Calendar.

Feather your nest: If the chill is getting to your bones, think about making your house cozier. Get ideas at the Tacoma Fall Home and Garden Show this weekend at the Tacoma Dome (see www.otshows.com).

Kick up your heels: Warm up with festive dances, good food and more at TurkFest at Seattle Center (www.turkfest.org) or the Celtic Fling in North Seattle (see "Festivals/Expos" in Weekend Calendar). Or just tap your toe at the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Fiddle & Variety Show in Des Moines, or a showcase of Seattle music students of all ages and levels in a free OctoberFestival performance at Broadway Performance Hall (See "Performances" in Weekend Calendar).

Make a sugar skull: Create traditional (and sweetly macabre) decorations for Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead holiday, at Greenwood Library or Camp Long. See "Workshops" in Weekend Calendar.

Stinky fish, anyone? Get your fill of lutefisk (it doesn't take much) at Norwegian dinners in Poulsbo and Tacoma. See "Food Events" in Weekend Calendar.