Need a satchel?

Since there is very little to do at the office, I've been lugging Halloween cards to and from the office to write a letter to enclose with the card. Last week, the bag I use, a canvas sack with "Lowell School" on the front, got soaked in the rains. (Lowell School is where Carole went to grade school some 20-odd years ago. It's a really, really good bag.) So, this morning, I was rummaging around in the closet for another bag. I have three cream colored bags about half the size of the Lowell bag but they would work for what I have to tote. I saw one, tugged on it, and was promptly assaulted by all these bags, purses and totes. I just scooped them up and dumped them on the bed to be dealt with later.

I use Clinique products on my face. These products consistently rank among the best for dealing with acne in adults. They are a bit more expensive but I try to buy when it's Bonus Days because I get a packet of samples and, wow, a bag. Plus, I found 2 fanny packs and 2 purses. I don't use either anymore. In fact, I have my current brown purse and that I've lugged around for so long that Carole teased me in May. "Sheesh Mom, get something else now. You've had that purse forever." But why? It's still good. I know where everything is. It's brown, so it goes with almost everything. I don't need to be moving everything from one purse to another. You guys keep a wallet until it disintegrates. Why can't I do the same with my purse?

I sorted all these bags and I have one and a half grocery bags of give aways to, well, give away. I generally get extra bags because my "consultant" likes me. I will give them away as Christmas presents and stuff them full of things like hot cocoa or soup mixes. But I think all my friends have received one now. Some of these, I wouldn't really give to a friend lest she question my taste in bags.

Still, if any friend hasn't received one, you can have it. I'll even toss in a bag of licorice or trail mix. I don't need to save what I don't use. It can take up space in your closet.

Beverage: Lady Gray Tea

Deb

I miss the smell of fall.

I came home tonight during a gloriously sunny fall afternoon. After the heavy rains of Thursday through Saturday, there are almost no leaves left on the trees. The air is crisp as a fresh picked apple (Memo: Whole Foods for a bag of apples for sauce.) and the dried leaves stuck to my shoes have kept Mija occupied chasing them around the house until they disintegrate. This week's task is to dust the floors.

On the gentle breeze, I caught a whiff, just a few molecules of a scent, the scent of burning leaves.

Oh how I miss that.

At this time of the year, in the 1980's, I would rake all the leaves from the front around to the back and pile them on top of the area where the peonies were. Then the leaves and the dried peony stalks would be torched one afternoon when the air was still and any smoke went up and not sideways. Not only did this remove the leaves from the yard, but peonies benefit from the ash and to have those dried stalks burned. It cleanses the soil around them.

I know those with asthma and other breathing disorders hated this time of year, loathed it. That was the main reason given for banning the practice of burning leaves. I think another part was the one homeowner on the block who piled them up, lit them and then went inside on a Sunday with a stiff 30 mph wind from the south to sit in his easy chair with his Budweiser and watch the Bears. It was only when the fire trucks showed up that he suspected there might, perhaps, be a problem.

Controlled burns are the sustenance for prairie soils in any managed acreage. These usually occur in the spring and there is huge public notice along with protests that people with breathing problems can't go outside. I'm one of those people with allergies. On purpose standing downwind of any fire is, at best, stupid of me and, at worst, a recipe for coughing fits and breathing problems for the next two days. So I'm not altogether unsympathetic to that problem.

But, I miss the smell. I miss the returning of the leaves to the earth. I miss how the peonies looked the next year, glorious masses of pink blooms on plants 3 feet high. The bed is overrun with garbage plants now and I'm not even sure there are peonies growing there anymore. They were so diseased the last time I actually saw them, big brown splotches on the leaves and malformed flower heads. I know it's because the ground isn't sterilized from fire. Remedies were to use chemicals and that's worse than doing nothing.

So, for an instant tonight, I was transported back in time, to a place where a fast burning supervised leaf fire wasn't a criminal offense, where recycling meant returning the leaves to the soil, not just mulching them and hoping they decompose. I miss sticking marshmallows on the end of a stick and making smoky flavored s'mores.

There just isn't anything that compares to the smell and sight of a leaf fire. Nothing.

Beverage: Assam tea

Deb

You get the door. I'm going to hide.

I know you're interested in how the cats handled their first Halloween with me. Trick or treating in Wheaton goes from 3 p.m to 7 p.m. If you are handing out, you are to turn on your porch light.

At 3:15, I turned on my light. The first treaters, 2 little kids accompanied by their parents with grandma and grandpa dutifully digitally recording the walk up to my door, arrived at 3:25. The footfalls on the front steps got the cats attention. After all, I was sitting at the computer working on a budget (Talk about a job requiring chocolate.) The doorbell rang. Pilchard jumped to her feet and raced me into the living room, jumping on the table in the room from where she could see out the front windows. Mija slunk quickly to the office closet, her early hiding place. When I opened the door and Pilchard heard the tiny "Ticer teet", followed by a male voice saying, "What do you say to the nice lady?", she took off for the hallway. She sat there until I closed the door.

Mija never came out during my entire trick or treating session. For me, it ran from 3:25 to 6:05. At 7, I turned off the light as I saw no one, not even the high school students who like to roam in packs on this evening, on the street north or south. I had almost 40 kids, only one Michael Jackson but he did have the military jacket, glitter socks and one glitter gloved hand. Most of the treaters were, I would say 4th grade to age 4. I always like the look on the little one doing this for the first time. You can practically hear the brain saying, "Now, all I have to do is stand here and she gives me something?"

Pilchard got brave when she realized these people weren't coming into the house. She would just sit on the table and look out. I did hear a few kids say, "Oh look! She's got a black cat!" If there were more than 3 or they made a lot of noise, she would jump off the table and run back to the office. I do think both of them were quite happy when this was all over. Shakespeare and Half-Pint used to come to the door and we'd have to be careful not to let them out. Everyone else hid while this event occurred. In the evening, both came and spent time in my lap. I think they just needed reassurance that this was an isolated event.

It's been a quiet day today. They have followed me around the house as I've finished some small tasks. Lots of ear scratching. I'll take the chocolate to work where I can eat it when I'm bored. It's been awhile since I've had chocolate at the office. The candy dish on my desk has been used for tea bags. And, you'll probably wonder if I am who I am, but I'm not rushing out to get 50% off Halloween candy. I shouldn't spend my money on that and I don't really need it. I can bake chocolate items. I have chocolate cookbooks. I should pick something new and try it. Any takers on sampling finished product?

Beverage: Slightly flat Coke

Deb

The month should always start out...blue?

It's a new month. Hard to believe the year is 2 months from being over. I made oatmeal for breakfast today. Start the new month right with something hearty. What to drink with that oatmeal? How about some hot cocoa?

Carole gave me a set of three instant hot cocoas for Valentine's Day. Just add water and the mix and, well, the result could be red or green or blue. Blue got shoved to the back of the cabinet. There was just enough left to make one mug full.

Warm. Comforting. Not so much cocoa as simply a beverage. Perfect way to start a day, a week and a month.

Beverage: Um...duh?

Deb