Day 20: October Joy: Part 2: In Which our Heroine Adults and then Descends into Madness: and uses a lot of colons to explain the journey

WARNING: This October Thought comes with footnotes. They jump out in crazy places. You have been warned. 

Monday’s are my errand days. Everything that needs to get done for the week happens on Monday. I cook extra meals; I do laundry and yard work, pay bills, visit vendors etc. When I get in to work on Tuesday everyone always asks me, ooh what fun things did you do on your days off, and of course I sound like the most boring person on the face of the earth. Um, I folded my socks and took a nap after I got done cleaning out the drip trays on the stove. I swear, 5 year old Rebecca is shaking her head in abject misery at hearing about how I spend my weekends. At least sometimes I have ice cream for dinner, so I have that going for me. 

This Monday was no different. I had a very ambitious list of grown up things to do. I always have ambitious lists on Monday. I make them on Sunday when I am rested and feeling energetic. I KNOW that I will never accomplish everything on the list, but maybe, maybe I just might so I had better put everything on there I can possibly think of. Then Monday rolls around and I cross a few things off the list, but not enough and eventually I have to be happy that I crossed off anything at all. But seriously, the only way I will ever be able to cross off all my things is if I get my hands on Hermione Granger's Time Turner. Apparently the one you can buy from the Noble Collection and the one in the movie do not possess the same magic, but I digress.

So yesterday I adulted with the best of them. I voted. I paid my taxes early. I did both the laundry and the dishes and I stripped and remade my bed. I was the epitome of a responsible adult, if you discount the t-shirt I was wearing, but that is a story for another day. Then 3:45pm rolled around and all my best laid plans went straight down the tubes but in the best way possible. I stopped by work to drop of bingo prizes and to pick up some stuff. I ended up staying for an hour and a half talking to coworkers, buying donuts for a resident and watching a Halloween baking challenge with my mom who was horrified by what those people were doing to perfectly good cakes.

After that I went grocery shopping (back to adulting) but I did buy 4 giant bags of candy* so I wasn’t totally responsible. All month long I have said that this year, I am not going to open my door for trick or treaters. I don’t know if there will even be any out and about, but I didn’t particularly want plague children willingly running up to my door. You all saw the sign I bought in preparation for my Halloween grinchiness. But, as I was driving around doing more errands I got to thinking, I really want to keep my lights on. I don’t want them off or have to explain to those who come to my door why the lights are on but I won’t answer. I’m sorry small child, I know trick or treat etiquette, but you see, this middle aged spinster would like to look at her Halloween lights and not be bothered by the likes of you. Off you pop you little germ goblin. Yeah, I don’t see that going well for me or the side of my house. So I totally caved and WILL be handing out treats this year. I am getting pretty excited. I honestly don’t know who is more excited by this, me or the trick or treaters? Last year I didn’t even let them ring the bell; I was already on the porch waiting for them as they walked up the driveway. I even scared a few with my over eagerness. Yup, I’m a middle aged spinster creeper. I don’t even need a costume.

Anyway, I got back home and unloaded all my candy and made dinner and then sat down to do finances, (yup, back to adulting) when I noticed that the grocery store had overcharged me. So back I went to straighten things out. Turns out it will take me more than one visit to get this fixed. Of course. On the way back home I totally could have stewed and grumbled, but instead I decided to keep being responsible and drop off some Tupperware I had borrowed. It was early enough in the evening and the bowl was in my car, so I stopped at my friend’s house. What started as a simple drop and go ended up being an hour long visit where I laughed so hard I cried, and I got a cookie. I left in much better spirits.

As I started driving home I passed by more houses with Halloween décor and I made a decision, the night was not young, but I had a cookie in hand and a full tank of gas and by golly I was going to go out and look at decorations. So, like the middle aged, night time creeper spinster I am, I drove around the neighborhoods looking at lights. I know, I know, most people do that for Christmas, but as you well know, I am not most people. I just happened to have my Songs of Halloween tape in my car (just happened, pfft, who am I kidding, it is in there all month long) so I popped it in and cruised. It was a beautiful night and there were even more decorations to be seen. The people who have my favorite October house have added even more to their tableau. Now there are 9 foot spider webs everywhere and a GIANT spider on top of their house. They have a really cute Frankenstein that I am thinking of offering them money for. I almost drove into a fire hydrant rubbernecking while looking at it. The house is AMAZING and I have decided that I will be marrying whoever lives there. I don’t care if they are already married, a thrupple will work, especially if one of them takes a very loooooong vacation. Hey, people have gotten married for less. I mean, I already know we are compatible. They like to decorate for Halloween, what more do I really need to know? And they say romance is dead.

I got back home around 11 or so and it was an amazing night. It was waaaaay too warm in my house so I decided I needed to camp out in the back yard. Cuz why not just turn on the ceiling fan when you can set up your summer yurt thing that has never been out of the box and then drag your extra twin mattress outside? Sounds totally reasonable and not at all crazy. My dog looked at me like I had lost my mind, but clearly I needed protecting because I had taken leave of my senses and who knows what shenanigans I would get into without him, so he reluctantly went out with me.

Our fun October backyard camping experience lasted until about 1am when some weird demon bird woke us both up. It made the strangest noise I have ever heard. I can't even begin to describe it, that's how strange it was. I tried to record it but it turned out akin to when people try to photograph Bigfoot. You can hear a noise but it really could be anything and it just makes you look extra crazy. The demon bird thing wouldn’t let up and sounded like it was getting closer and closer to our yurt/tent. Neither my dog nor I wanted to have our souls sucked out so we very bravely went back inside the house, which felt even warmer because it was 20 degrees hotter than outside. This time I had learned my lesson and turned on the ceiling fan. As soon as we got in bed the demon bird stopped hoot chirping. I don’t think it liked us being out there. Either that or it sucked the soul out of something else. Either way, we were safe.

So that was my somewhat spontaneous, but wonderful October day. I love unexpected pockets of joy like that. Oh, and the cookie was delicious. 

*When I was very seriously perusing the candy aisle, I found Glow in the Dark Hershey bars and Kit Kats. I was all, WHAT??? How did they make the chocolate glow in the dark? Does this mean it is radioactive candy? Why would they sell that? But how cool! And then I read further and saw that only the wrappers are glow in the dark. I was a lot less impressed. But that does sound safer.

* * This was the very responsible shirt I wore whilst adulting.

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Day 16: October Joy

There was something else I had planned on writing today, but then yesterday happened and I had to write about that instead, October joy. I don’t know what it is about October specifically that makes me so happy? I am happier in October than any other month and it isn’t just because of Halloween. I have tried to figure it out and I still come up empty. Am I happier because summer is over and the temperatures are more to my liking?  Possibly.  Am I happier because there is football and I get to decorate after a long dry spell and there are pumpkin spice type things? Maybe. Am I happier because of falling leaves and harvest parties and corn mazes? Again, could be. It is a quantifiable fact though; I am a happier person in October. Some truly awful things have happened to me in October too, but even those do not shake my faith in the month. For 31 days I drift along on a cloud of feel good that is full to bursting. If I was a character in a musical I would break out into song, thankfully I’m not so you will get nothing but written words from me.

Why was yesterday so good that it subverted a normally scheduled thought?  Read on and see. It started when I woke up. I didn’t wake up to the shrill of my alarm; I came awake gradually like a diver coming up from the sea floor. I went from the arms of a dream to cozy wakefulness. My blankets were the perfect temperature. They weren’t too hot and the room wasn’t too cold. I was burrowed in like a cozy critter ready for hibernation and I had half an hour to luxuriate in my own little pocket of warmth. It is one of my very favorite feelings in the world and if I had magical powers I would capture that moment in a bottle or potion so that I could take it out and use it again. It would be really excellent for cold winter days.

I was able to make breakfast leisurely instead of having to eat and dash. There wasn’t a line at my local coffee shop and I had time to make an extra purchase of a fall something that I had had my eye on for a while. Work was full of laughter and sweetness. I got to spread smiles and bring comfort and I had plenty to spare. Long term nagging problems suddenly presented solutions, I got puppy cuddles, and I got to see my mom’s face light up with love. I had unexpected compliments and gifts. It was truly a great day at work.

On the way home the radio played nothing but my favorite songs, so much so that I drove around the block twice singing along. Two packages showed up that weren’t supposed to come for another week, and I had time to be leisurely. I finished a good book while starting another; I had a good laugh at an online sale and may or may not have bought more fall stuff.

The cap though was the sunset. I had my door open admiring my porch decorations and I caught a glimmer of something orange out of the corner of my eye. I looked out the door and the sky was on fire. It was a riot of orange that faded to salmon pink in places. Those vibrant colors gave way to a washed out yellow which was blanketed by a deep blue and then black. I sat there just staring out at the night until 10 o’clock. It was quiet and cozy and wonderful. It wasn’t a perfect day, but there was so much good in it how could I not be joyful?

But that is what October does for me. There are little pockets of joy to be found all over, little unexpected treats that wink at me.  I find my elusive monster cereal around the corner of an aisle when I’m not looking. I get a surprise package in the mail or a text. Problems turn into exciting examples of the goodness of people. It isn’t just this October that I feel blessed, it is all the Octobers. I see beauty more, I feel more creative. I think I am simply more open to the good around me. I need to figure out how to co-opt that for all the other months.

I hope you find October joy today. I hope something wonderful happens for you be it big or small. I hope it brings a smile to your face and a warm wonderful feeling to your heart. I’m cheering for ya!

Day 14: Leafy Love

I’m pretty sure the tree outside my front porch used to belong to a Disney villain. It isn’t very tall but it likes to assert itself. Every time it gets trimmed it grows back even taller and faster than before, like the pruned limbs were somehow holding it back from its real goal which is to steal the clouds from the sky. It bears little purple berries that someone told me are crab apples, but I’ve read my fairy tales and I am not silly enough to actually try one. The tree had a tag identifying it once upon a time, left over from the previous owner who planted it. I tried to read it once but couldn’t make out what it said, and then the tree bark neatly subsumed it and now all that is left is a bit of yellow plastic poking out of the trunk. If the tree doesn’t want its true name known, who am I to argue?

Any way, if my tree is not plotting ways to grow taller, it likes to act like the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter. It enjoys smacking guests who come up the walkway and especially likes snagging my sweaters. Also like the Whomping Willow, it doesn’t like to lose its leaves gradually; rather it dumps a few here and there and then goes totally bare in the blink of an eye. It still has a few leaves left on it now, it wasn’t totally successful in shedding them this weekend, but it tried.

The deceptively docile trees leaves are the most gorgeous purple/red color and I think I am going to collect a few this year and make some sort of shadow box out of them. They look like crimson fruit leather or even real leather for that matter. Some are buttery golden yellow and I wish they could be that color year round. They looked especially beautiful this weekend when the heavens let loose and poured out some much needed rain. In the aftermath the leaves looked to be bedecked with tiny diamonds sparkling in the sunlight. My bejeweled tree easily outshone anything created by Tiffany and Co.

I love watching the leaves turn. Its nature’s final bow before the brittle fingers of winter steal the warm breath from our lungs and cover the fallen beauty. But as much as I love looking at the leaves, I love playing in them even more. I love the crackling sound they make as they are swept up. I love the sound of their whispers as they float down from on high. Some people like snow angels, I like leaf angels. I love to toss them in the air and blow them around with my leaf blower. My dog likes to bounce in them like a Tigger and pretend to hide so I can’t see him. He growls at them and pounces until a particularly large pile topples over, and then he bravely runs away. Leaves are fun for the whole family.

I used to watch shows where people would jump in piles of leaves and frolic. I read about it, I heard about it and by golly I wanted to do it, but I could never get a large enough pile together to do it, or if I could, they were wet and not conducive to jumping or frolicking in. Wet leaves are gross. But one day, one glorious fall day, I was over at a friend’s house playing and her father and brother had just raked an enormous pile of leaves.  It was right there. RIGHT. THERE off of the front porch, and it was calling my name. Her father and brother went to put their rakes away and I told my friend I was going to go for it. She told me I had better not. I figured she was a killjoy who wanted the leafy goodness all to herself and there was no way I was going to let that happen.  So before she could stop me I climbed up onto the porch railing and jumped. I expected to float gently into the pile just like a leaf on the wind. I expected to land on the crackling mound and bounce like on a trampoline or slightly squishy bed. Instead I went right through the pile to the cold and unforgiving concrete below. I did not land like a leaf on the wind; I landed like a bunch of wet laundry on a linoleum floor. I bruised my ego and my butt. I lay there slightly winded and in pain and wondering what the heck happened. My friend ran to get her dad and brother and I lay in a sad, confused, and achy lump. I didn’t break anything thank goodness, but I sure felt dumb. Those lying leaf jumpers, how come it worked for them and not me?

I lay there stewing until my friend’s father came and checked me over. I was helped to my feet and then I gingerly hobbled back into the house like a geriatric patient who had taken leave of her senses. I was sat down on the sofa and scolded. I didn’t much hear or care because I was still mad about my botched leaf jumping experience and my friend ratting me out. Clearly her family did not know how to make a correct leaf pile. I don’t remember if her parents told my parents (they probably did) I don’t remember if I got scolded some more or not. I do however still recall the feeling of my tailbone hitting the ground. shudder

I never jumped in a pile of leaves again. I didn’t want to be disappointed a second time. I don’t think I could take it. I still make leaf angels and play, but no jumping. I still see it in movies and read about it in stories, friends’ children tell me how they jumped in piles but I tend to be skeptical. Maybe for them it works. Maybe that pile so long ago really was defective. Maybe I wanted it so bad I sucked the magic right out of it, or maybe you just shouldn’t jump off a porch railing? Who knows? Leaves are still magical. They are still beautiful and I can still enjoy them all autumn long.

What do you like best about leaves?

Disclaimer: Please do not jump off of porch railings into piles of leaves. I do the dangerous stuff so you don't have to. 

Credit: These are my friends children playing in leaves. This photo is what inspired today's thought. 

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 7: October Bounty

I know that I have said it before, but October is magical. The best things really do seem to happen during this month, and they happen with amazing frequency. I'm sure skeptics will say that I am simply looking for good and surprise, surprise, I find it. But I think it is more than that. I don't believe in coincidence. October really is this wonderful. You don't believe me, then observe a typical day. There was so much wonderful in the day that I am about ready to burst.

1. We took our church picture yesterday. Everyone gathered in a tight group outside and we stood in the beautiful sunshine and smiled like a bunch of crazy fools. It was GREAT! I don't care if you hate having your picture taken. I don't care if you don't like getting up early on a Sunday morning. To have such a massive group of people all fancied up and grouped together laughing and joking was wonderful. There wasn't a frowny face in the bunch and no one really cared that the sun was in our eyes the whole time. It will make for a great memory.

2. I got to finally hug a bunch a people that I have been missing and who have been on my mind. I didn't know they were going to be there. I didn't know that they were going to come into my path. Everything just fell together and I got to share some of my joy with them.

3. I have been saving up for a snazzy jacket and today I finally had enough to get it. I walked into the store and they only had one left. It was the one in my size and it looked great (ok, it makes me look like a hipster biker, but who cares). When I went to check out, a random lady gave me a $20 off coupon.

4. While out and about running errands, my wonderful, fabulous, green thumb extraordinaire neighbor texted me that she had extra pumpkins and whatnot for me to come peruse. It was the perfect day for pumpkin perusal. I mean, you couldn't have ordered a more perfect day. I got to spend at least an hour, if not more, roaming over the hillside, through vines, and across the planting bed in search of perfect, natural October décor. She had Alice in Wonderland sized sunflowers towering high above our heads. The pumpkin patch had taken steroids and overgrown the banks. There were white pumpkins, warty pumpkins, orange pumpkins, green pumpkins, purple corn, orange corn, speckled corn, yellow corn. I was in heaven. I got to feed a skittish cow, toss gourds at chickens (no chickens were harmed in the tossing of said gourds) snuggle an October colored kitten, snuggle its momma and take pictures of bees. I even found a lady bug. It was better than any pumpkin patch and I am truly spoiled to have such a wonderful neighbor.

5. While eating dinner I happened to glance outside at the valley below. There, slowly creeping its way along the riverbanks was a massive fog bank. The sun was just beginning to set and there was a long snake of fog just winding its way across the hills. It was magnificent. I went outside and watched it for at least a half an hour. It expanded and flowed like a living thing. The mists began to branch out and slowly climb the hillsides. Watching the fog was better than watching any TV show...........except...........

6. Tonight was the first of the Halloween episodes for some of my TV shows. It was so good. It was full of everything I love about holiday theme episodes. The characters house was super decorated. The actors had fabulous costumes AND I have been turned on to a new hobby, Halloween caroling! Why on earth didn't I think of that sooner?!

So you see, it really isn't just my imagination, October really spoils me with the wonderful. The only thing missing in this perfect month so far is the fact that I still have not found soy nog yet, but I still have 25 days, so I'm not really worried. Bring on the wonderful October. I can take it!

Day 6: Joyful

The title pretty much says it all, October makes me joyful. I don't know why, but it does and I roll with it. I can't pinpoint exactly when I really first started feeling this way. If I wrack my brain, the very first instance I can remember being excited about October was in elementary school. It wasn't a month long love affair like it is now, but it was there. I really can't explain it. Does October make me joyful, or do I make October joyful? Or is it some strange combination of both?

There are so many things to see and do in this super month. So many things to taste and experience. Yesterday was the perfect, joyful October day. The sun was out, but it wasn't to hot or to cold. There was a gentle breeze. There was a cider party that I could have gone to, the downsized Octoberfaire was happening and the Corn Maze opened. There was just a glut of wonderful things to do and that is the rule, not the exception.

So how did I spend my day? I slept in until the suns liquid gold rays peeked around my curtain and poked my eyelids. From there, I strolled through the day without a care in the world. I went down to the river and read my book. I bought some cider and sipped it as I drove through the countryside. I went to the very last movie at the drive in and got to drive home on darkened back roads. It was a wonderfully relaxed day.

But that is how I see most October days. They are full of promise. Ready and willing to be anything you need them to be.  You can cram them as full of things as you like, or spend the day lazily rocking in a hammock. It is your choice. I think the magic that happens in October is a way for my system to gear up for the holidays. There is no pressure in October. You don't have to wrap any gifts or host any dinners unless you want to. October is the best possible way to usher in the holidays. The deep breath before the race.

But loving October like I do, has given me a deeper appreciation for the other busy holidays. I used to be a staunch Thanksgiving hater. It doesn't' help that November is the anti October. But last year, I had a change of heart. November really isn't all that bad, and Thanksgiving can be kind of fun I have found. I had been rather Grinch like about December, but I am feeling a softening to that as well. And it is all thanks to October and its easygoing magic.

I hope that some of my October joy finds its way to you this year. I can't wait to see what other adventures the most wonderful of months has in store.....