Day 7: The Joy of October

October to me is pure joy. I don’t know for certain when I really started to identify October with all that is good, (I think it was somewhere between 4^th and 6^th grade) but I know that in this month I am happier than at any other. That doesn’t mean that all is wine and roses in this most special of months, but I simply seem to have a different outlook on life. I’m energized and excited, cheerful, bouncy and an abundance of surprises managed to find their way too me. Yesterday was no exception.

I made up my mind on Friday night that since I had an honest to goodness day off for a change I would capitalize on it and excavate the storage pod that has been holding my decorations hostage for two years. I didn’t know what sort of shape I would find them in, I didn’t know how long it would take, but I would move every last box if it meant that this year all my stuff could be reunited. I really needed a “win” and I was going to manufacture one for myself.

I had visions of being crushed by all my precariously balanced boxes. I dreaded the hours it was going to take. I even dreamed of how I was going to move everything. I made an offhand remark to my roommate about it and when I got up the next morning she said she was ready for me to put her to work. She was going to help me get my stuff. I told her no, it would be really hard work and I appreciated it but it was too much to ask. She wouldn’t take no for an answer and cut to 3 hours later, not only do I have ALL my October décor, but I have all the rest of the holidays too. I can finally decorate again! Now to you that might not be a big thing, but to me it is. I can’t properly convey how wonderful this makes me feel. I was singing as we moved things. I was giggling and laughing and thanking her profusely. It took 4 trips to get it all back to the house, but it was so worth it.

After we got everything settled I put on some of my favorite October films, sat down on the living room floor and started unpacking things. I didn’t get as far with that process as I would have liked because I kept exclaiming over each thing, here was my monster mix-tape; there was my old plastic pumpkin. Over in that box was the dining room table décor that I had been missing. New treasures, old treasures, and as I sit in a glittery, spooky pile of décor I look around and wonder, where the heck is all of this going to go? I am so happy that I don’t think I will even care if this year is tacky. I want everything up. I want to sit in my cozy blanket and relive the memories. I want to feast my eyes for the time I have left of this wonderful month. I want to walk down memory lane, I want to share it with friends, I want to bask in the overabundance of October, and you know what, I’m going to.

 

To add to my decoration joy, tonight was the premier of my favorite zombie show. I got to watch it sitting amidst all my treasures. Then there was the most perfect orangey sunset that I have seen in a while. It must have read yesterday’s Thoughts because it was all different hues of orange and I put the show on pause and watched the splendor of it till the night descended into black. How marvelous. How wonderful, how October. Ok, enough of this, I’m going to go play with my decorations……

Day 6: Color Me Happy

I think that October has the monopoly on color. The month of October has the richest, most vibrant colors one could ever imagine. I think October is the reason color was thought up in the first place. One could say that October’s defining colors are red, purple, orange, yellow, and black, but that is like saying ice cream is just ice cream. October doesn't just have red, it has scarlet, crimson, fire engine, cherry, vermillion, maroon, brick and candy apple just to name a few. Of the yellows there are mustards, goldenrods, neon, gold, bronze, amber, maize, blonde, and lemon. Purple makes an entrance with plum, eggplant/aubergine, indigo, violet, wine, orchid and lavender. Black has coal, midnight, ink, velvet, obsidian, shadow, onyx and jet. And these are just the names I can come up with off the top of my head. I'm sure the people who think of makeup names, interior decorators and paint swatch people could list dozens more. (man I want that job, Plum Passion Surprise, Manhattan Mauve, Adorable Orange, whoops, sorry, got sidetracked there)

But the color I most associate with October is orange. There is tangerine, peach, burnt sienna (thank you Crayola) flame, carrot, ginger, rust and creamsicle. Funny how there are more descriptive names for the other colors, but for orange, not so much, and it's weird how the ones it does have are food related. I think it is because October is so hard to pin down and explain. Really, the best things are. You just have to experience it to truly understand. I can tell you about the orange of a pumpkin sitting in a patch waiting to be chosen, or a magnificent orange sunset. I can convey the crackle and pop of a bonfire or the crunch of a leaf, but I just can't tell you the color other than…… orange. But somehow, if you truly love October you will still understand.

October has an embarrassment of color, from the tantalizing foods on display in the farmers market, to the vibrancy in the color palette of a costume. There are colors-a-plenty in candy choices and decorations, but the best way to experience October color is in the leaves. To channel my inner SAT prep professor, leaves are to October as snow is to winter.

Every summer, and sometimes sooner, I find myself looking to the trees trying to find that first tinge of something other than green. Don't get me wrong, I love green. It is tied for my favorite color with blue, but there is something about autumn that makes me want to wish that green away in a hurry.

Leaves are sneaky things. One moment they are green and bright and swaying on the tree. The next they are almost every color of the rainbow and floating gently to the ground on a cool breeze. When October leaves are really in their glory the trees seem like they are on fire. The closest I can come to explaining how I see a fall tree is if you watch the movie Pleasantville. Most of the movie is in black and white, but as the characters have awakenings, color starts to enter into their world. One character walks by a tree that has been in black and white for the whole show, when suddenly it bursts into flame. The tree is burning brightly but it is night time and it is on fire against a black and white world. The flame is shocking in contrast and so beautiful that you can't take your eyes off of it. That is how I see October trees.

 In October plants put on their best dresses before they head off to sleep through the winter. If I were any kind of seamstressly inclined, I would attempt to make myself a dress out of fall leaves. Really, it would be better than any Oscar gown. How could it not? Of course I would have to shellac the leaves cuz sitting might be a problem or bending, and the crunchy leaves would be all crackly and break, but who cares. Then they would be brightly colored and shiny shellacked leaves. I would make the best dressed list for sure.

It is my fervent wish that one day I will get to drive along the roads of New England in the fall and look at the beautiful leaves. What a wonderful thing for an area to be known for.  Yes, we have gorgeous leaves, bow before our greatness. I am so jealous. Just imagine cruising along a deserted back road highway that is nothing but a riot of color as far as the eye can see. Maybe along the way there will be a cider stand and they will be offering cider donuts or candied apples to go with it. Perhaps there will be salted caramels and popcorn balls. Man, I think I should just move to New England and start my own leaf tour business. Imagine having that job. Would you ever get tired of it, introducing new people to the wonder of the fall beauty around you? I don't think so. I haven't gotten tired of sharing my love of fall leaves with anyone yet and I am almost four decades old.

October really is breathtaking if you just stop a minute and look. My challenge for today is to go out and find something that represents fall beauty to you. Take a picture. Share it or don't, but just take the time to stop and appreciate.

Day 5: October Nostalgia

I spend a lot of time talking at you telling you what I think the best parts of October are. I like leaves, pumpkins, zombies, scary movies, socks, bats, cider, pumpkins, corn mazes, monsters, holiday breakfast cereals, did I mention pumpkins, etc...The list could go on and on.  I have no shortage of things to say. But yesterday, as I was contemplating quiet country roads it occurred to me, I don't know why any of you like October. It is wonderful to find kindred souls on this month long journey. I love sharing my memories, activities and joys, but I would like to know some of yours. What makes October so special for you? What is a favorite October memory? What is a tradition that you have that only happens in October? Do you like the scary and the beautiful, or just the leaves? Do you like the dark and the howl of the black cat, or do you much prefer a cozy blanket and a cup of cider by the fire? I really want to know.

But it wouldn't be fair if I didn't share something, so I will still go first. This isn't my favorite thing about October, I don't think I have just one, but this is the one that floated to the top today.

I am comforted by nostalgia and that is what October is for me. I get misty when I take out my decorations for the season for the first time. I see each of them and they are more than just a trinket, they are a memory portal. I see a broken snow globe with a skull in the middle and bits of black snow stuck to it and I am instantly transported to the warehouse job that I worked one summer. I remember finding the globe and gleefully putting it aside so that I could buy it when payday came around. I also remember quite a few years later when it slipped out of my hands and broke making an awful mess on the floor. I remember being really sad, awfully frustrated and then I remember deciding that I would not throw it away; I would instead turn it into a new decoration. I kept it for many more years after that until the knuckle bones started to break and I finally had to give it the old heave ho because it really did look like trash. I still look for it when I go through my décor every year. Maybe this will be the year that it magically reappears. It hasn’t so far, but thinking of it and the memories it conjures up makes me happy.

I look at past October Thoughts and relive the fun and wonder. I am reminded of the kindness of friends and strangers, the beauty that is all around and what I was fixated on that particular year. It is fun to walk around in my own memories. It is comforting that somewhere in cyberspace, even if my own memory fades, past Octobers will live on for posterity. That is unless I break the internet. Which could happen.

I love the possibility of what will be. Towards the end of September and possibly other earlier months I am loosely plotting and planning my October list. What will I watch, read or do? What new adventures can I take? What old traditions must be upheld? Then when October is over, I look back and see how this year measured up. Was it an October to remember, or one that should best be forgotten? I spend November first giving thanks for the October that was and the October that will come again. I say thank you for the changing of the seasons and realize that winter will soon arrive with its snowy cloak.

But not today. Today I still have a bunch of October left and I am determined to experience every bit of it that I can. So, hid your pumpkins, put out the good candelabras and let’s take this glorious October adventure together......

Ok, your turn ;)

Day 4: Sounds of Halloween

Yesterday morning started out much the same as any other morning. Wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, leave the house, get in the car and go to work, except for the fact that as I was pulling out of the driveway I turned on the radio and almost ran over my front lawn. The very first song to play was Thriller by Michael Jackson and it is one of my October jams! I squealed  loudly in excitement and hit the brakes. I cranked the radio to 11 and started groovin'. Michael Jackson isn’t one of my favorites, and the video for this particular song gives me both the heebies and the jeebies, but there is something about Thriller that really gets my October/Halloween vibe….vibrating.

I have loved the song Thriller since I first heard it. It came out in 1983 but that wasn’t the version I fell in love with. My dear mother bought me a Halloween mix-tape from Hallmark called “Sounds of Halloween” which had a dude dressed as Dracula on the front looking like he was either about to beat-box or he really was a secret service agent in disguise who was checking his earpiece and unsuspectingly got his picture taken. Either way, it is all sorts of goofy and I love it. In the town I grew up in, the Hallmark store was in a strip mall a few doors down from Payless which in turn was a few doors down from Safeway. Payless was a treasure trove of decoration bliss and was where I first fell in love with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but that is a story for another day. I don’t remember why mom was in Hallmark that day, but she came back with the tape and said she thought I would like it. Boy was she ever right. I’m still listening to it 30 some odd years later.

On one side of the tape is spooky Halloween sounds like witches cackling and cat people hissing, chains clanking and monsters roaring, it's both amazing and wonderful. On the other side is a bunch of famous Halloween songs sung by knock off bands. The third song is Thriller and I actually prefer it to the Michael Jackson version. If I could have the knock off with Vincent Price doing the monologue it would be the perfect song. 

Anyway, little 6 year old me was in love. I popped that mix-tape into my Care Bear cassette player, hooked it to the handlebars of my tricycle and motored around the neighborhood with it playing on repeat. Well, it played and when the song was over I hit rewind and played it again, and again, and again. I got really good at knowing just how long to hold the rewind button down before it went too far back into Ghostbusters (which is another favorite, but it is no Thriller). You really haven’t lived until you have seen a little girl with pig tails flying by on her tricycle singing about “grisly ghouls from every tomb who are closing in to seal your doom.”

But back to present day, I really got to moving and grooving to Thriller out on the open road and I got some chuckles from other motorists. The monologue is my favorite part of the song and I love the way Vincent Price pronounces the words. He has such amazing rounded tones and perfect diction. Until I looked up the lyrics a few years back, I never knew that the word “y’all’s” was even in his speech. I heard another alternative version of the song and heard them say that and I got mad because they were changing words and not doing it right. Imagine my surprise when I saw y’all in the original lyrics and then heard Vincent say it. I had somehow glossed over that fact. Now I get such a huge kick out of such a proper gentleman pronouncing dire tidings and using y’all’s. Ah it's the things that amuse me.

Unfortunately the radio station cut off Vincent’s laugh at the end which made me sad cuz I can cackle with the best of them, but I was pretty thrilled (no pun intended) that my morning started off so great. It got even better when I left for work at the end of the day. The very first song that came on the radio when I started up the car was Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” which is another favorite October tune. Sometimes you just need to howl and this song gives you the perfect excuse. The lyrics are absurd (how exactly does someone “do” a werewolf of London), some disturbing (if involves a poor little old lady who doesn’t come to the best end) and some pretty cool(a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vick’s and his hair was perfect), but it’s the howling that I really enjoy.

My mother bless her heart, knew how much I loved my Halloween mix tape, so a about a decade or so ago, she bought me a Kidz Bop CD of Halloween songs, once again, from…..Hallmark. She was so pleased. I was pretty excited too. I put it on and the first song was tiny kids singing Werewolves of London and it creeped me out so bad I immediately took it out of the CD player, put it in the case and Frisbeed it into the garbage. It was like the Children of the Corn were singing me a lullaby and it was all sorts of awful. I never told mom what happened to the disc. I just made noncommittal happy noises when she asked how I liked it, then went right back to playing my mix-tape. Ahhhh.

Ok, I just paused in my writing to watch all 13 minutes of the Thriller video again. You know, it has always bugged me, what exactly is a thriller? Is he talking about a movie? Cuz I’m pretty sure that is what he means, but it’s kinda unclear. Six year old me figured thriller was the name a monster. Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, Thriller, it makes sense....to a six year old. If there can be a Sharknado there can be a Thriller. And what on earth is Michael supposed to be in that video anyway? I get the zombie. He actually makes a super duper zombie. He has weird Gumby stick legs that move independent of his body. It is kinda cool, but what is his other monster? I’m pretty sure it is supposed to be a werewolf, but to me he looks like a werebunny or werecat. He has freakishly long whiskers and ears. It’s just weird. And coordinated dancing zombies are my favorite. I am totally certain that I could outrun them. And if they got too close all I’d have to do is play some sweet tunes and they would get distracted. I’d survive that kind of “thriller” no problem.

Ahh, two of my favorite October songs to bookend my day. What a treat indeed, and it isn’t even the 31^st yet.

Day 3: October Calling

As I started writing today I realized that I was not quite through with the idea of music as a metaphor for October. I looked back in my journal and saw that October had been there all along, lurking in the depths of a quiet melody, tickling my subconscious, begging me to notice it. It has been singing its sinuous siren song for quite some time, and in August I finally took the cotton out of my ears and succumbed.

I hadn’t felt much like writing the last few years. October still held its magic, but it was for me alone, not for sharing. Now words run through my head pushing and shoving each other to get onto the page first. I stop, start, and get halfway through with an idea before a new one elbows the words I’m typing aside and asserts itself.

I know I said that the theme music for this October was a modified Christmas tune, but it could also be the sweet strains of an unaccompanied cello suite in G major by Yo Yo Ma, whose woody resonance would weave its way in like smoke, curling and beckoning with misty fingers and tendrils of promise.

I felt its pull last night sitting in my comfy chair with a hot cup of tea, a warm blanket and the dark outside the window. Maybe it was the velvety darkness that changed my October tune. Perhaps something in the night air spoke to me. Notes lingering on the wind so faint you couldn’t be sure if you really heard them or not. Whatever it was, I could feel October in my blood, swirling and whirling and building to something greater. Only time will tell what that particular October surprise will be.

Day 2: Goth Disney Princess

I just got an email from one of my favorite October stores, the banner at the bottom of the page read “30 days till Halloween” and I straight up panicked. Then I remembered that, duh, yesterday was the first, so of course there are only 30 days left. (Still kinda panicking though). I don’t feel ready at all. I got my decorations out yesterday and I was a bit confused. Instead of the myriad boxes that I know I have, I only found 6. And then I remembered, they are all still in storage. That put a bit of a damper on my day. I miss my things. I was putting them all in their places in my head and now….. I spent a good half hour trying to figure out how to get them out by myself. Man I wish I had minions, or clones, or more time, or clones of minions and more time. 

But enough melancholy.

Yesterday was AWESOME!!!! I woke up with a song on my lips and joy bubbling out of my pores. My coworkers commented on my unusually sunny mood. I informed them, IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER!!! and they just shook their heads. One came back a bit later and asked what was so great about the first day of October. So I told her. Her eyes glazed over a bit and then she left, but boy did I feel good. I felt a bit like some sort of goth Disney princess. I flitted from one task to the next humming. I had a great big smile. I scrunched up my nose all cute like and winked and may have even booped a few people on the nose, and made the boop sound when I did it. I almost burst out into a musical montage while busing tables. It was ridiculous and wonderful and totally October’s fault.

I had pumpkin coffee to start my day and monster cereal to balance my breakfast. I had pumpkin lotion on my hands and my sparkly October shirt to give the day some extra pizzazz. I started my first scary book of the month (and am LOVING IT) and right now I am burning a pumpkin caramel latte candle to set the mood.

October always brings me surprises and yesterday was no exception. I got a gift card for more pumpkin coffee in my email because someone wanted to sweeten my day. I finally opened an October package that I had been saving and got the most perfectly orange pumpkin spice mug, which I am right this minute drinking pumpkin tea out of. The weather was perfect, the day was easy like Sunday morning, and I found an October puzzle for my residents and a bit of October bling for me.

For the first day of October, this one was pretty good. But that wasn’t the best part. The very best part came when I went grocery shopping after work (where oddly enough, I didn’t buy anything pumpkin flavored). I got into the checkout line and when it was my turn the checker said, “Happy first day of October.” To which I replied, I know, isn’t it AWESOME. She stopped and looked at me, then asked, “Do you like October?” Um YEAH! I said. Then she proceeded to

tell me about how no one understands her love for October and how wonderful it is. She even showed me her mismatched October socks because she was so excited to wear them both that she couldn’t pick one, so she wore one of each. (I think she is my new best friend) I told her that I totally understood and then we shared stories and giggled. I didn’t even care that there were 4 people in line behind me; I had found another kindred spirit. We finally realized we were being rude and got on with our transaction, and when I finished she said, “HAPPY OCTOBER!!!!!” to which I replied “HAPPY OCTOBER TO YOU TOO!!!!!!!!”

Man October is great. I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.

Day 1: Its' the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Everyone, EVERYONE!!!!! It’s finally October. It’s HERE!!!!! The fun begins today. (steps away from the computer and runs around in circles screaming with joy) Usually I would wax lyrical about something amazing and fallish. I would talk about my decorations or my plans for the month or regale you with how I am pretty positive there is a werewolf that lives in the abandoned house on the other side of my backyard fence, but for now I will put a pin in those things and share with you something kinda Christmassy (GASP) that I appropriated for October.

For the past 4 months or so, thoughts of October would keep popping into my head, and then this song would play. The closer October got, the more this ear worm would wiggle and jiggle and boogie in my brain until it’s all that I could hear. Mostly I would just hum the first part of the song and then get lost in an October reverie, but as I was putting my October bedding on last night I thought up some new lyrics and the song got that much better.

So without further ado, I bring you the newest fall song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” October style. Just try getting it out of your head. I dare you. No disrespect to Andy Williams, but to be fair, the song was mostly October related anyway. I mean, who tells ghost stories at Christmas……other than me. ;)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. With the kids trick or treating and everyone meeting to drink pumpkin beer, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s the hap-happiest season of all with those cider press parties and caramel hot toddy’s when friends come to call it’s the hap-happiest season of all.

There’ll be parties for hosting Marshmallows for roasting and apple bobbing out in the cold There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Halloweens long long ago. It’s the most wonderful time of the year There’ll be much corn maze going and pumpkins’ll be glowing when loved ones are near Yes it’s the most wonderful time of the year!