Around 4 am the rain started. I was in bed so I heard it, heavy and loud, above my head. The storm started fast and ended fast. It is a chilly morning, just 56°, and it will stay that way. The sun comes and the sun goes. Right now it is cloudy. I have no plans for today though I do need a few groceries, but not enough to get me motivated to go out.

My mother mostly grocery shopped on Friday nights. My father had to drive her as she didn’t have a license. She did her big shopping at the start of the month when my father got paid. During the rest of the month she’d send one of us to the red or white store usually just for bread but sometimes for milk. She used to try to hide the cookies so they’d last for lunches. We could always count on Oreos.

When I was a kid, the future was tomorrow except when we counted the days before a big holiday. The big three started with Halloween, moved into Thanksgiving then in what seemed like years and years later came Christmas. With a week to go before Halloween, we’d start planning our costumes. We didn’t buy costumes. Back then the bought costume masks covered the face and were plastic and the costumes tied in the back at the neck. The masks had one elastic spanning the sides. The costume I remember seeing the most was a clown.

My mother was inventive. She was our costumer and make-up artist. She’d buy Lone Ranger type masks. The rest of the costume was homemade. My sister was a hula dancer one year. She wore her dancing recital grass skirt and a lei. I was once a bum holding all my possessions in a tied bundle at the end of a stick. Another year I was a farm girl with jeans and a flannel shirt. I always carried a pillowcase.

Last night I ordered my Halloween candy. I always buy what we used to call nickel bars. I bought a box of Mars candy and another of Hershey’s. I have some leftover Halloween pencils so I’m going to tape one on each candy bar. In case you’re wondering, my Mars box has Snickers. Those I’ll keep.

The morning is sunny though clouds are predicted for later. Alexa won the morning weather report. Google said it was cloudy while Alexa said sunny. I suggested Google should look out his window.

It’s a pretty morning with a blue sky, a bright sun and a small breeze. It will be in the 60’s. Today is dump day, how exciting! This is a four uke week: practice, a lesson and two concerts. We’re doing cowboy for the concerts then starting transportation 2 with mostly songs about walking for the concerts.

I vacuumed this morning. My house was filled with tumbleweeds, aka dog hair balls, which flew when I walked by them. The dust gave the house a bit of a haunted look, a seasonable look.

When I was a kid, I loved fall. I loved the colored leaves. I’d save them by putting the most colorful, usually yellow, between two pieces of wax paper then I’d iron the paper. Sometimes I’d use cardboard and glue to make a bookmark with the leaves. I’d save the best for Christmas presents.

I remember how wonderful the air smelled on a crisp fall morning. We’d walk on the sidewalk to school. It was covered with fallen leaves from the trees, a sort of arbor, hanging over it. Our steps were silenced, muted, by walking on the coats of leaves. While we were in school, the day warmed. It was perfect for recess and for playing outside in the afternoon.

I was never good at drawing. I drew stick figures and could only differentiated between male and female by giving the females a single line of flipped up longish hair and triangular shaped dresses. The males were au natural, just sticks. I’d give them all fingers, 5 straight lines at the ends of their arms. Sometimes I’d draw a flower on one of the fingers. That was when I felt especially creative.