Last Day of September

 More pictures I came across on my Facebook memories today:

Fall Humor

 I came across these pictures on Facebook today. All seem appropriate for the fall season.

Halloween Yard Decorations

With all that is  happening I am still not sure about what do this Halloween. Still trying to decide whether or not to dress this year. I have though maybe reuse something I still have leftover from a past year, just to have pictures to post on Facebook and my blog? Will let you know on that one when a decision is made. 

I was also unsure about decorating the outside of the house, but upon seeing the neighbors across the street beginning to decorate their front yard, and after driving by an already decorated house across town, I decided to go ahead with doing it myself. On a trip to the Dollar Tree yesterday, I found and bought some foam grave stones, spider webbing, glow-in the-dark skeleton arms with stakes and "Beware Zombies" tape. I also dragged out the homemade scarecrow I made last year.

In past years, I'd always decorated the porch, but this time I decided to decorate the lawn and the put the scarecrow on a porch chair by the tree in front of our house, under our homemade Biden and Harris poster. And I hung the wreath made last year on the front door.

Here are pictures:

Reading, Blogging, and Crafting During the Pandemic

Six months into the shelter-in-place and I have surprised myself at how much I done in terms of writing or crafting. Not as much as I have been reading. I am amazed at how few blogposts I have gotten each month. Only one writing piece completed, but I guess that is better than none at all. The only art I've completed is that shown in this post. I now want to try something using clay made from bread. I'm just not certain when to begin. I want to try something with paintbrushes, like those in the photos below (found on Pinterest):

I think that bread clay would work for this. I'm eager to try it, but just haven't gotten around to it. Once I do, I will post pictures. At the end of February, about two weeks before the pandemic hit, I had done another craft using paintbrushes. Here is the one I did:

On the subject of reading, I recently saw that the blog hosting one of my challenges this year has been deleted. It is the Indie Reading one, one I had not read a lot of. One of the prompts on the Book Riot challenge this year is a horror book from an independent publisher, something I've been planning for October. So once I'm done with that one, I will be closing out the Indie challenge now that the hosting blog is down. Another challenge I did this year was on an Instagram account that apparently has been deleted. I discovered this just when I had one book left on this particular challenge. So I finished it out. This seems to happen every year. These reading events are supposed to take place all year, but the blog or other social media account that hosts it disappears before the year is over. 

And now I am starting to plan my reading challenges for next year. I said I wouldn't post them till as early as next month, but  maybe next week. Some people get ahead of the game, like the A to Z one I have already signed up for. I got a late joiner one of my challenges fo this year, then decided to close out signups for the rest of the this year. I've already been making images to display on the posts. 

Again, I have surprised myself at how little I have done during this long down time--less than I might have expected. 

First Day of Fall

 And the photos below still apply:

Weather is expected to be in the 90s next week, during the last days of September. Not hard to imagine in my neck of the woods.

Did Not See This Coming At All!

 This came up on my Facebook memories today:

No one could have imagined what 2020 was going to be like. 

Last week marked six months of the shelter-in-place. Every day has seemed almost the same as since March. Still staying at home most of the time, though as of last week I am now working two days a week for two hours each day. We are now doing art on Monday (each of us has an art kit with paints, crayons, markers and color pencils). Since returning in June, we have also been doing either a writing activity or a topic discussion on Wednesday. All the while keeping our safe distances.

2021 A to Z Reading Challenge | 4th Annual

I can't believe this one is already posted! It's only September. I don't plan on posting mine until next month at the earliest. The website for this one has changed yet again. I will count the first book I read that begins each with letter.

My Books:

A  Assata: An Autobiography--Assata Shakur

B  Boyfriend Material--Alexis Hall

C  Chasing Redbird--Sharon Creech 

D  The Dogfather--Susan Conant

E  The Edge of Town--Dorothy Garlock

F  The Flower in the Skull--Kathleen Alcala

G Girls Like Us--Rachel Lloyd

H The Happy Ever After Playlist--Abby Jimenez

I  Incendiary--Chris Cleave

J  Jane in Love--Rachel Givney

K A Killer in the Rye--Delia Rosen

L Lost Soul, Be At Peace--Maggie Thrash

M Me and White Supremacy--Layla F. Saad

N Never Look Back--Lilliam Rivera

O Other Words For Home--Jasmine Warga

P The Playboy--Carly Phillips

Q Queen of Air and Darkness--Cassandra Clare

R Ravished--Amanda Quick

S Sophie's Choice--William Styron

T Troubles in Paradise--Elin Hilderbrand

U Untamed--Glennon Doyle

V The Vanishing Half--Brit Bennett

W What Happens in Paradise--Elin Hilderbrand

X Xingu--Edith Wharton

Y You--Caroline Kepnes

Z Ziggy, Stardust and Me--James Brandon

Challenge completed on April 12

Trying the New Blogger

Ok, since I can no longer revert to the classic Blogger, I have just upgraded my Apple browser, which I was in need of doing anyway. The new Blogger was working fine except for posting. I wasn't able to get the icons needed on my screen. Now that I have upgraded, I'm going to see how this works. I don't want to have to move to another platform after nearly 12 years. I have often wondered why some people do that. I'm too used to this blog.  

First Visit to Goodwill in Months

Yesterday, my mom and I went to the Goodwill for the first time since it reopened after the shutdown in March. We'd both been hestitant about doing so until then. Last Friday, after I'd gone to the Bank of America ATM nearby, I walked down to peek into the window at Goodwill. And we had both passed by many times since the reopening. The photo above was taken by someone else and posted on a Facebook page for our town happenings.

The visit yesterday was the same as any other--either you find something you like or you don't, and I didn't. No books I wanted. I last got books there in February before everything that is happening now, and I think I've read most of those I got then. 

I was mainly eager to see the Halloween display, but there wasn't every much. I didn't see the usual rack of medical scrubs, scouting uniforms, sports jerseys and other things the store thinks can be made into costumes. I did see the three-cornered displays of costumes made by the staff of nurses, pirates, witches, hippies and such. I didn't get any pictures as I was too hesitant to do so after going into the store for the first time since its reopening. I saw a customer and her two kids looking at the costume displays and trying to decide on a costume. I still am not sure if I want to wear one this year. I was expecting to see leftover costumes and decorations from Kmart after its closing earlier this year. Maybe later, as they will have stuff coming in. I just don't know how often I plan to go. I did see a prepackaged costume from Spirit Halloween. 

The aisles were designated with one-way arrows on the floor. And only a certain number of people were allowed in the store at a time. Yet, there seemed to be someone in each aisle looking at the clothing racks except in one. That was how I got to the back of the store to look at the books. 

None of the other thrift stores in town have been open since March so it looks like the Goodwill is the only place to get used clothes for Halloween this year if needed. 

Never Forget

Today is 19 years since 9/11. Only one more year till the 20th anniversary.

I can still remember what I was doing this day. From my blog on the 15th anniversary in 2016:

One chapter in my memoir is titled "Tragedy in 2001," telling what I was doing in the months and days just before the attacks.  Here is a synopsis.  I was working at a restaurant under a new boss who began that summer after the previous owners sold the place.  The new boss was indeed a horrible boss, yelling at everyone, including his wife and their son. Work was now more like a prison camp, and it just got worse as the summer went on. Fortunately, I was able to get off for two different cousins's weddings, one in July and one in September. I ended up getting fired just before the second wedding; the horrible last day was the Sunday before Labor Day 2001. In the days that followed, I went looking for another job, to see movies and then to the wedding, which was just three days before the bombings.  

On the day of the bombings, after trying to keep up with the news on TV, I needed to be out and was I ever glad I made that decision. I saw that the Dollar Tree was opening in my town, so I went by to pick up an application and was immediately hired. 

Cancelling Halloween in Los Angeles

It seemed inevitable. And Los Angeles County was the first to do it. The county has banned trick-or-treating, haunted houses and parties for Halloween this year. 

Having car parades or online parties is being suggested for this year. Would you do any of this? I'm just trying to envision having a party over Zoom, which I'ms till not sure about using after trying twice for my writers group. Is anyone going to see your costume while you are driving in your car? Are you supposed to decorate your car? 

I'm guessing the rest of the counties in California will follow L.A. County's decision. Although San Benito County is rather small and very little happens in the way of events. The San Benito County Fair takes place in late September/early October and like many other county fairs across the country, it has been cancelled for the first time since World War II. The Northern California Renaissance Faire is another annual fall event in San Benito County and it too has been cancelled this year. The Ren Faire runs for all for September and October. Bars in San Benito County often hold Halloween parties. No doubt they will be cancelled. Last year, I went to a Halloween party at the home of my writers group leader. This will probably also be banned as it is has been for Los Angeles County.


I have to admit that we don't get a lot of trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. So there won't be much to miss if San Benito County makes the same ban. But it's still hard to imagine what Halloween will be like this year.

Power Out Last Night

All this is certainly true. And what else could happen?

Last night, the people in my area were without power for about five hours. it had gone out for about an hour, only to come on and go back out again. 

This was a lot to deal with on top of the hot weather we have been having. Very little to do in the dark. But I was then remined of how people once lived this way for years, before there ever was electricity. Something to think about.

Before it got dark outside, I sat outside to read. After several hours in the dark with several candles lit, and two flameless candles and two flashilights on hand, I decided to try reading by holding a flashlight to the book. This was totally new to me. 

It was going to be hard to try to get to sleep without being able to run the fan. But I lay down for a while to try to rest around 11 PM and the power came back around 11:30. Soon I was wide awake, trying reset my alarm, check in on my computer, and turn on the fan. It took a while to try to get to sleep. I turned on the TV with the sleep timer.  I had to charge my cellphone overnight as the batteries had started to go out during the outage.

It was a tough night, along with all the other challenges that have been going on lately. Some were not expecting the power to return that evening. They were so wrong. I for one was expecting it to be out till midnight or later and half-expcted to be up till 1AM. I was partly right on that last one. I'm not sure what time I finally fell asleep. 

Now I'm waiting for the hot weather to go down. One hundred-something degress is still expected for today. 

Labor Day Weekend

How has your Labor Day weekend been so far?

Beaches in my area are closed this weekend. But to me that does not matter. I've never been one to head off to beaches on long weekends. And now it doesn't even seem like the long weekend it always has been. Just more holiday confusion caused by the shutdown begun in March. I nearly forgot that May 25 was Memorial Day (the first legal holiday since the lockdown began) and tried to get my prescription from the Safeway pharmacy that day, only to find it closed for the day. A reminder was posted on the pharmacy window. July 4 occuring on a Saturday was confusing enough even without going to the pharmacy.

In the past, Labor Day Weekend used to mean the end of summer, with school starting back after that date, though sometimes it would begin during the week before. But do people still see it that way, with school now starting in mid-August? 

And the hot weather in my neighborhood is happening as expected. It's supposed to be in the 100s today and tomorrow. Not looking forward to that ☹️

Hot Weather Expected

If you're from California, you already know this.

It's not fall yet, but it's getting near. I'm still not ready to retire the shorts yet. And now 90-degree weather is expected for Labor Day Weekend. How did it get to be that time already?

Chapter Break Bingo – September 2020

Here is the new card for September.

Argh mateys! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19. So we are celebrating pirates for bingo this month!

For the Man on the Cover square – give yourself a bonus point if that man is a pirate!

September Bookish Bingo

My Books:

1. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret--Judy Blume [reread] (4 squares): Audiobook, Grandparents, YA/NA, Not in a Series
2. You Should See Me in a Crown--Leah Johnson (4 squares): Ebook, Purple on the Cover, Book Club Read, New-to-You Author
3. Pirate Queen--Helaine Becker (4 squares): Pirate, Set in a Foreign Country, Travel by Boat or Ship, Sword or Dagger on the Cover
4. This Star Won't Go Out--Esther Earl (3 squares): Library Book, Physical Book, Free Space
5.  September Fair--Jess Lourey (3 squares): Free Book, In a Series, Investigator
6. Veil--Bob Woodward (1 square): Serial Killer
7. The Yellow House--Sarah M. Broom (2 squares): Man on the Cover, Cemetery
8. Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined--Stephenie Meyer (4 squares): Shelf Love, Fae, Urban Fantasy, Magic

25 squares completed on September 20