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

The Year Can't End Soon Enough!

Last night on the 11 o'clock news in my area, an anchor said that 2020 can't end soon enough, that is has been going by slow but fast. Totally agree on that. How did it get to be the end of August already?

I came across this on my Facebook memories today:

Well, little did they know what they were going to see. ...

And this morning I came across this article from the beginning of this year. Note this paragraph:

... Its (sic) almost science fiction writing that. For instance, I’m going into my 34th year writing this column and so much has changed. It seems spacey, that I was writing this piece 20 years ago and I was talking about something called Y2K. 20 years later, I’m sure there are some of you who don’t know what that is. Needless to say, typing the year 2020, seems Orwellian. Time keeps marching on. ...

It has seemed more sci-fi-like than what the story above, or anyone for that matter, may have predicted. Now read the last line in the story linked above. That certainly hasn't happened, and there are still four months left in the year, but it still isn't going to happen from the looks of things.

Many were looking forward to Cinco de Mayo falling on a (Taco) Tuesday and and found it ironic that the holiday was threatened by a virus that has the same name as a Mexican beer:

And as I have pointed out, Halloween--a day focused on mask-wearing--now seems threatened by mask-wearing being mandatory. And many were looking forward to the fact that the holiday is on a Saturday this year. Such irony!

It has been 20 years since many people worried about Y2K. I entered the new year expecting people to remember this. But little, if anything, was said, even before the outbreak began. And concerns over the pandemic have superseded most other news stories, except the protests and the upcoming election. This year also marked 50 years since the first Earth Day, 40 years since the eruption of Mount St. Helens, and 75 years since World War II ended. These might have been celebrated more if not for the pandemic, and most barely got  a passing mention, if anything at all. It was also 40 years since CNN debuted, something the channel itself barely acknowledged. The centennial of women getting the right to vote has been recognized this past week. 

As always, I'm doing my best to stay safe in this difficult time and reminding others to do the same.

Readers Imbibing Peril XV

I went looking around for this annual reading event and saw that the blog that hosted it it last year (it's been at different blogs since it began) is now defunct. Today on Facebook, I saw that the RIP challenge is now hosted is now on  Instagram and Twitter. As always, I will be joining and getting as many books as possible between September 1 and October 31.

My books:

1.  Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined--Stephenie Meyer
2. The Portrait of a Lady--Henry James
3. Thad, the Ghost and Me--Margaret Peterson Haddix
4. Creepy Carrots!--Aaron Reynolds
5. We Sold Our Souls--Grady Hendrix
6. Pumpkinheads--Rainbow Rowell & Faith Erin Hicks
7. Beep and Bob: Take Us to Your Sugar--Jonathan Roth
8. The Blithedale Romance--Nathaniel Hawthorne
9. The Witches of Worm--Zilpha Keatly Snyder
10. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove--Christopher Moore
11. Dark and Deepest Red--Anna-Marie McLemore
12. Zombies vs. Unicorns--Holly Black and others
13. Something Wicked This Way Comes--Ray Bradbury
14. Neferet's Curse--P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
15. Kalona's Fall--P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
16. The Skeleton in the Closet--M.C. Beaton
17. In the Shadow of Blackbirds--Cat Winters
18. A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting--Joe Ballarini
19. Stitches in Time--Barbara Michaels
20. The Bonesetter's Daughter--Amy Tan
21. Come Along With Me--Shirley Jackson
22. Ghost Boys--Jewell Parker Rhodes
23. Beep and Bob: Double Trouble--Jonathan Roth

Challenge completed on October 27

Still Don't Know About Celebrating This Year

from Imgflip Meme Generator


Does this seem weird to anyone? It also seems weird that the horror that has been occurring this year seems about to cancel the one holiday focused on horror.

I know it's still more than two months away, but I'm still wondering about celebrating Halloween this year. Dollar Tree has had stuff since July out and Target won't be far behind. I'm guessing in September. Halloween candy has been at Safeway for a while now. Kmart often had Halloween out in September, but now they are closed. I will miss seeing theor holiday items. They were still selling the leftover holiday stuff when they closed earlier this year. I was expecting to see leftover costumes from Kmart at Goodwill, but I have not been at the Goodwill since March. They were closed during the beginning of the lockdown, but have since reopened, following social-distancing protocol. I have not gone, though. No need to. On normal days, I would often go just to go to look. 

Right now, I still can't believe it is almost fall. Then again, it's been hard to tell what day, month, or season it really is, as it has felt like one blurred month.

Mask Humor

I definitely won't be bronzing my masks! I'm certainly more used to putting on a bra than a mask everyday. And I'd be more eager to burn my mask than I would a bra! The reactions to the bronzing post on Facebook were largely about burning masks. For now, I'll plan on just throwing mine into the garbage. Not much for starting fires. But I will not be saving my masks in any way.

Had to share and laugh at the flag one. Customize it to match your own masks, if you so choose! (I don't).

And I just had to laugh at the pumpkin spice. Are masks really going to get into the yearly pumpkin spice craze? And it just seems ironic that mandatory mask-wearing seems about to ruin the one holiday that includes wearing masks. As well as the months-long horror that seems about to threaten the one night of the year focused on horror.