WE VOTED!!  Everything else is not of much consequence.  Now we wait to see if it made a difference and can start to turn things around.  It was friendly and uneventful at our location, although there has been some Repug interference at others.  I can’t take a photo of my sticker, but trust me, nothing could keep us away from this one.

There are leaks of ominous secret military war measures being escalated behind the scenes, more than the usual threats, while trump dementedly rants and raves about irrelevant distractions.  I’m hoping that a positive election outcome is enough to deter or control a dangerous clandestine mobilization by these madmen.

I think it’s finally turning October on this November day!  It’s been rainy, cool (67º), and breezy, but still very pleasant out.  My kind of weather.  Even S and Loucious, normally allergic to the slightest drops, were out there playing for a short while.  The leaves are finally turning, but mostly just yellow and brown.  The winter cover daikon radishes I planted in the back half of the veg garden are bursting forth enthusiastically.  I’m curious to see if they bore down through the clay cement as advertised.

Here’s a photo from a year ago today.

Not to be outdone by my delinquent phone, my car battery went and died because I accidentally left an interior light on all night.  Jess was kind enough to come try to jumpstart it, and a nice neighbor at the apartments came and helped, but they couldn’t revive it, so she gave me a ride to Avdi’s and back home later.

Over there, Halloween was happening.  N had decorated the yard appropriately, but dammit I couldn’t take pictures.  Loucious and I gave out treats by ourselves, including doggie treats, while Avdi took S trick-or-treating.  It was very quiet, but very neighborly.  The other kids were in and out with friends.  I had even dressed the part, and enjoyed the unaccustomed participation.  It had rained earlier, and was warm and perfect out.  To think, Halloween in the north was always cold and frosty.

Another bygone photo of yesteryear.  This hasn’t really changed, either!

I’m a bit at a loss without photos to remind me of my latest garden encounters, but it forces me to appreciate them more in the moment.

Also, looking back at photos from a year ago reminds me that things weren’t all that different this time of year, much the same flowers were still blooming, aside from some new additions; but also that I’ve worked hard to improve upon or make better use of our surroundings.  It’s hard to tell, this time of year, until all the changes debut in spring.  It’s always a continuous process.

By fall, I can determine which parts of the garden need help or a change of usage.  Soil has been exhausted and won’t grow certain plants without serious first aid or a vacation.  Areas have become shadier, or need to expand into the sun.  It becomes clear where more trees could be planted.  Some locations suggest a whole new, improved approach.  The garden informs you if you pay attention, and directs you how to assist.  There’s a method to its seeming madness.

I’ve learned to really appreciate fall here in Missouri.  It’s like the converse of spring, only longer.  You just want to stay outside and observe and soak it all in.

It’s also a stark reminder (to me, at least) that not all people here are as privileged as we are to enjoy such surroundings, or even a roof over their heads.  Indeed, just that statement alone is classic white privilege.

If you pay attention, the wind rustling the trees of suburbia is full of the cries of ghosts of nations and tribes who were murdered or enslaved by white savages in their unholy mission to crush the earth.  They cry out for retribution and justice.

This is the same earth, only more uncivilized and devastated than ever.  Some desecration can never be excused away.  If we don’t start the healing and restitution ourselves, the earth itself will avenge itself on us.  I really believe that.

Vote.  It’s a start.

Why do all the good guys keep dying and the evil undead keep on being undead?

It’s been a sad year of loss, and now it’s Sir Patrick Stewart.  Some people should not die!

Generations have loved Next Gen and its godlike hero, Captain Picard, because he was so human and superhuman at the same time.  He wrestled with universal perplexities and conflicts that we all deal with here on earth, and we engaged along with him and his crew.

We just lost Walter Koenig, Chekhov of ST1, leaving only Shatner and Takei of the original crew.  When Leonard Nimoy, Spock, left this world for good, it seemed impossible and wrong.  That’s how it feels with Patrick Stewart.  Stars going supernova, leaving us even more in the dark.

I’m living for the day when the evil undead in power get theirs.  As they must.  At least the world won’t seem so off-balance.

Today’s exciting but nonexistent photo would have been Tricyrtis–toad lily.  I nursed this plant back from oblivion, and it’s finally blooming exotically.  I was so happy to see it, and so sad to not be able to photograph it.

I had some other great non-photos, like leaves floating in the pool reflecting the sky, so it looked like leaves floating in sky.  And so many others you’ll never see.  Like the phallic fungus!

Here is Tricyrtis from one year ago this month.  As they say, nothing new under the sun.  Although, I sometimes wonder about under the sea…

Only a ‘shroom freak could find this thing I witnessed fascinating.

Apparently I caught a couple of Ravenel’s Red Stinkhorn in the brief first 15 minutes of phallic erection before it collapsed!  It lives in the strawberry patch, where I’ve managed to create the perfect mycelium medium.  The fungus/mushroom has a long thin, bright pinkish-red stalk, and a shiny black bullet-shaped cap, which stinks and attracts flies, who eat the slime instantly.  Then the thing goes flaccid and limp.  You can actually watch it in real-time!  I didn’t know whether to feel excited or horrified!  I tried and tried to catch a photo, but my phone would not comply; maybe it was too shocked.  Who says gardening is boring?

So naturally the only photos I could con my phone into taking were a eucalyptus leaf that had changed color (the plant has turned into a tree!), and the half of the veg garden I had hand-cultivated and sowed with a cover-crop of winter daikon radishes.  First I moved a pile of debris from the back of the veg to behind the trampoline, and cleared that path off.  Then I hoed the remaining loamy compost-y soil into the back half of the veg, a beautiful blank slate for the seeds, and raked and watered it in.  These large tough radishes will bore down into the clay layer and then freeze, leaving the soil aerated and loosened.  Brilliant, if it works!

The weather is still perfect and conducive for getting the last of my fall jobs done.  It’s warm, dry, sunny, and breezy, with leaves gently drifting down to form a natural mulch and winter critter shelter.  Eventually I’ll rake them into adjacent beds for winter mulch and compost.  Nothing gets wasted or thrown away, just as it is done in nature, for good reasons.

I sneakily fooled my sick camera into taking one photo today.  At least it was a good one.

Not much to report domestically.  I did the Aldi run, a small one this time.

Nationally/statewide, of course, we have crucial midterms, which could turn the vile toxic tide, if everyone votes wisely, unimpeded by trump goons.  It won’t fix all the additional damage done, but it could mean the difference between life and death, literally.  At least for those not dead of hate and violence already.

That’s my cheery post for today!  At least flower-wise.

I managed to squeeze two photos out of my dying phone before it quit again.  That’s a sick Avdi 😢 curled up in the hammock, and the woodsy path raked by me.

This morning, after having systematically compared every single detail of all the narrowed down health insurance plans that would work for me, I finally picked one.  I hope it turns out to be as beneficial as it claims.  Insurance is a crap shoot in the USA.

After working on the grocery list for tomorrow, I watered front and back.  It’s late October, and many trees and plants are still green and growing.  It continues to be perfectly warm and sunny out.  I mean, it’s about 75º out!  Leaves are falling, mostly brown.

Friday I baked challah–success!–and made dinner.  I also worked on B&B setup.  Saturday I spent the day doing more of same.  I also used the wood chipper to grind up the pile of sukkah branches and dump it in the wood chip section by the compost.

This turned out to be one of the best B&Bs ever, in my opinion!  The only setback was my broken phone camera, extremely annoying.  So Stacey was kind enough to be talked into taking photos for me, so you can get at least a taste of a great time.  I apologize for the no pics of the actual bonfire, the badminton before and after dark, or of the last minute drop-in of Akasha and friend Lincoln.

Everything else went splendidly.  The kids had lots of friends over enjoying themselves, and the older friends that turned out had a nice reunion.  I worked hard planning and setting up ahead, so Avdi wouldn’t have to do as much.  He made mulled cider, and had an Octoberfest beer tasting.  N as usual baked some great cookies and pretzels.  We cooked hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire.  Loucious got to see lots of people, including the kids who used to own him.  After we wound down, I think the Gkids and friends partied on.

I spent the night, but couldn’t sleep much.  This morning I cleaned up some more and then went home to bed.  Later I went back and enjoyed a drink outside with Loucious and briefly, Avdi.  Avdi took down the last of the sukkah.  We didn’t have our usual meeting, so I returned home.

I’ve got half a mind.  That’s how I feel sometimes!  Possibly it’s the allergy meds I took to see if they deal with a contact allergic reaction I seem to be having.  I’m even more lethargic than usual.

But I did manage to take down the rest of the branches from the sukkah, which is now a mere skeleton of its former glory.  I threw the leaves and debris onto the 3 sisters, and left the branches to be chipped, hopefully.

Also, I refined the three sections for leaves, chips, and debris, by removing as much of the rich black soil as possible to the woods trail.  After hosing it down, it looks more ready to receive its respective offerings.

I did the usual homey chores, but mostly I played with fire.  This is my FIUH time of year.  After water, fire is my element.  I attempt to rehab all the old candles, mostly just to stare at fire!  So productive.