After my doctor’s visit today, I took a friend to lunch. Today is her birthday, and lunch was my treat at the restaurant of her choice. The food was delicious, the service was wonderful, and we both enjoyed people watching the other patrons of the restaurant.

Today, of course, was dress up day for adults. All sorts of costumed persons entered the restaurant while we were there. We had a delightful time evaluating the characters who joined us in the dining room. Sometimes we discussed what changes we would make to which costume. My friend tends toward zombies, while I tilt toward witches. We do not have to agree, however, to remain friends.

She will have some trick or treaters tonight, while I will not have any. This will give me a chance to light a candle and spend some time remembering and revisiting the members of my family who have passed on. It will be a quiet night, but one filled with love and memories.

I wish you all a happy and blessed Samhain/Halloween.

One of my friends bought a new car this week. She is a professional race car driver and riding with her can be a bit of an adventure. So, when she announced to her husband today that she was going to take me for a ride in the car, I prepared by taking two things, to wit:

my cell phone, so that I could call 911, and

my ID, so they could identify my body.

Fortunately, I did not need to use either of these items.

The ride was actually fairly pleasant. We rode around some neighborhoods that I had not been to this week and found a few houses which were actually decorated for Samhain. My friend spotted a large blow up snake which she recognized from a movie and immediately declared that she wanted one. We drove slowly past one of the local churches which was holding some sort of charming Halloween festival in their front yard. We admired the many trees we saw, aglow in the sunlight which touched their colorful leaves.

It has been a long time since I have had a Sunday afternoon drive where I have been the passenger. My Dad used to take Mother and me on Sunday afternoon drives virtually every weekend. (These excursions usually ended in a stop at an ice cream shop. I think Dad know where every ice cream shop in New Jersey was located.) So it was very enjoyable to ride in my friend’s new car while thinking of happy memories with my family.

Sadly, there was no ice cream at the end of this trip. But I lived!

It was a lovely day today. It was in the 60s (F), the sun was out, and I was opening a new bag of bird seed with which to fill the feeding stations. Andy stopped by for a chat. I put the newly opened bag of seed on the chair next to me and promptly ignored it while I talked.

Birds can smell food from a certain distance away. I noticed a cardinal fly over to a tree above us. A chickadee flew lower and hid in the crabapple tree. A small woodpecker perched on the trunk of a tulip tree, and began walking up and down the trunk in anticipation of breakfast. Andy and I continued to talk.

I felt rather than heard a rush of wings over my head. I turned and looked directly at a nuthatch perched on the edge of the open bird seed bag. “Good morning,” I said. The nuthatch looked at me, bobbed its head, picked a seed from the bag and flew off.

Then he returned. Once again, he perched on the side of the seed bag, not an arm’s length from me. “You must be a hungry little fellow,” I said. He looked at me, looked at Andy, looked back at me again, picked another seed from the bag, and flew off.

A chickadee sounded its call. More birds began to gather. The nuthatch returned for a third seed. This time, he tweeted at us. We turned to look at him. “I guess I should put the seed on the feeding stations, shouldn’t I?’ I asked. He chirped once again, took a third seed, and few away.

“You have tame birds,” Andy remarked.

“They know who feeds them,” I answered.

By the time I was halfway through filling the feeding stations, there were a dozen birds plucking seeds for their dining pleasure. It gives me a warm feeling that the birds know they can trust me to feed them in the winter. I get the same feeling when feeding Buddy. I feel responsible for all of their welfare. My children are grown and no longer need me, but the birds and the stray cat still do.

The finches and the sparrows have not yet shown up. Soon, though, they will see the flocks of other birds and come and take a look. Meanwhile, the more courageous birds will have a feast.

It rained yesterday, and overnight the temperature dropped.The high temp today was 50 (F), but the sun was out, and it was pleasant to sit with Buddy at lunch. He doesn’t talk much while he is eating, so I had a chance to look around at the trees.

It must be peak color season. There was a large variety of golds and reds, with a background of evergreen to add to the mix. A tree down the block was solid orange, standing alone in its lawn, reaching its branches to the streaming sunlight. What a glorious day!

Of course, there was a breeze coming off of the lake. Brown leaves started raining down at my feet. Soon, the tree branches will be bare. October is coming to an end. November is slowly coming awake.

For now, though, I am going to go fill the bird feeding stations. The birds are perched in the gorgeous trees above me, waiting for their dinner. It is good to keep them happy and trusting in me to see them through the winter.

On the way home from the doctor’s office today, I swung by the post office to mail my absentee ballot. I took the long way around as it took me into neighborhoods that I had not visited recently. My errand was uppermost in my mind, so it was not surprising that I noticed a dearth of decorations that I failed to mention in yesterday’s post.

There were no political signs in the yards that I passed.

This is Ohio. At this time of year, we shout our opinions to each other by way of yard signs. A majority of yards have signs proclaiming issues and/or candidates. I have never seen an election year that does not engage in civic discourse by way of signs.

Until this year.

I saw at most 3 signs for a local commissioner. There was one state wide sign for Ohio Attorney General, I think.

I can only conclude that we are hiding our opinions this year.

Do not let the dearth of signs hint to a lack of voting. Voting is the most important civic responsibility that all of us have. There are many ways to do this. I choose absentee voting, as standing in lines would trigger severe arthritic pain. Still, I have done my civic duty.

And now, I can turn off the news and binge watch Britbox for the next 13 days.

At this time of year, I am usually filled with descriptions of lawns and houses decorated for Samhain. This year it is different. Last week, we had two nights of storms with snow. It is possible that some of the decorations were damaged by this event. If so, the damaged decorations have been taken down. There are very few places decorated for Samhain. There is only one decorated for the harvest.

Today the Yule present that I ordered for my granddaughter arrived. I dread the arrival of Yule decorations.

The next several weeks are going to be stuffed with days of importance. Samhain, of course, is the next one, but there are days of special interest stretching ahead of us as well.

It is a busy time of year. I hope we all can use our time wisely.

While sitting with Buddy this morning, I was visited by a chickadee. He came flying down the sidewalk, landed in a tree, and complained bitterly about the amount of food I had put out for him. I have filled the three feeding stations three time in the last three days. No birds have greeted me, shown themselves to me, nor complained about the restaurant service in that time. Yet, here I was, being scolded by a tiny little chickadee who has determined to set his feathers on fire in order to demand more food.

Then he threw back his head and shouted a piercing call.

An entire flock of chickadees came running to add their protests to his complaints. I could not get the food out fast enough. A junco showed up and silently ate. A blue jay showed up and watched the gathering cloud of chickadees from a tree while I emptied the bag on the last feeding station. Have you ever seen a blue jay take a back seat to a bunch of birds much smaller than himself? There he sat, watching all the commotion, and giving me that blue jay nod as if to say, “You are late. You asked for it.”

I will have to order more bird food to be delivered for tomorrow.

Still, I am glad to see that the chickadees are back.

One thing I learned quickly was that my brain was not functioning as well as it ought. This realization occurred to me as I approached my front porch. Buddy met me, meowing piteously. I could not figure out what he wanted. I sat down next to him on the porch. He rubbed up against me, continuously meowing.

It finally occurred to me that he might be hungry. I knew he had been fed one day that week, and realized he had only been fed once in 5 days. Poor Buddy! I had a bit of bacon in my pocket left over from breakfast, which I immediately gave to him. While he snarfed it down, I unlocked and entered the house.

And I could not find the cans of cat food that I knew were there.

I went back out and gave Buddy a few treats. Then I ordered food to be delivered.

By this time, I needed a nap.

A few hours later, Buddy’s food arrived. He was so happy to see it! While he ate, I sat next to him and petted him. We were happy together once again.

I took the rest of the ordered food into the house and promptly found the cans of cat food that I could not find before.

Something is not functioning well in my brain.

The technical part of the movie proved difficult. The computer kept crashing, returning to the same auto-saved spot and wiping out anything that had been put into it after the auto-save. It was an extremely frustrating process for my director.

By 4:00 pm, my director threw up her hands. It was obvious that we were not going to make the deadline, but we still had two days to finish the movie and submit it to be shown, but not judged. All day Monday and Tuesday, therefore, was spent fighting the same difficulties. Fortunately, the film did get finished and was submitted for showing.

The good news is that the film can be submitted to other film festivals.

Throughout most of this process, I slept.

Let us just try to pick up where we left off.

A week ago last night, I attended a kick-off meeting for a timed film festival. The meeting went well, we met some interesting people, got the results we wanted, and had the basic story line figured out before midnight.

The cast arrived on time the next morning. The meeting started well as we had two new cast members joining our little troupe. By the end of the first hour, I realized that something was very wrong. I excused myself to go lie down and promptly went to sleep. Therein began 5 days of approximately 20 hours of sleep a day. Life swirled around me, and I was given updates whenever I emerged from my sleeping couch.

The filming started at my house, all of which I missed. The creek looks beautiful, its babbling sound recorded well, and it was low enough that the actress running down its length did not get entirely soaked. The road through the woods also looked beautiful, and the south side of the house and driveway made it presentably onto film. This location site turned out to be my largest contribution to the film, including an 8 word voiceover which I recorded the next day.

The director returned home at 12:30 am to find me, a spectral presence, in her kitchen. “Go to bed,” she ordered. I followed her direction without question.

The adventure was not yet over.

T