1. Although Covid has definitely taken its toll on Halloween fun, our town has gone over and above to make the best of the situation. They’ve hosted a “Grand Raven” decorating contest in our town square, with local merchants decorating scarecrow-sized ravens, and done Zoom readings of Edgar Allan Poe works, and Wednesday night they hosted a free drive-in movie showing of ‘The Birds’. Our local 1920’s movie house popped popcorn and Brandon, Miss L & I brought our own goodie bags of Halloween treats and enjoyed the festivities. I’d forgotten how long it takes this movie to get going – at least an hour of Mitch / Melanie schlock before the pecking starts. But the playground scene was entirely worth it.

2. With the weather turning colder and the leaves falling, Brandon has been requesting some “comfort food” for dinner. Last week, he had a yen for red beans and rice. I’ve never made it before (not being a huge fan of sausage) but this recipe from Damn Delicious made me a convert! It was economical, quick, and absolutely yummy. Miss L was at her dad’s for the night so I made it extra spicy and got Cajun andouille sausage. Served with hot rice and cornbread and we devoured it and had a fire in the woodstove and split a bottle of Malbec and it was perfection!

3. This from a bestie made me ridiculously happy.

4. I’m getting into (more of) the Halloween spirit listening to Phoebe Reads a Mystery tackle ‘Dracula’. Is ‘Lucy Westenra’ pronounced the way it looks or is it pronounced ‘Wes-TERN-a’? Anyone? ….Bueller?…

5. Yesterday was a doozie. A few minutes before Miss L needed to join her online classes for the day, and before I needed to dial into the first of 4 hours of work-related Zoom and Skype calls, we managed to blow the fuse for JUST MY STUDY (and her bedroom) where the router is located. The fuse seemed completely gone so I used a series of completely unsafe extension cords to construct a fragile web to plug the router into an entirely different part of the house. I got up and running, joined my call, got booted off twice and then spilled coffee all over myself and my workspace just as I was reconnecting. Good times…

Suffice it to say, I’m glad there’s a festive weekend ahead. Join me here this weekend for a peek at Miss L’s costume and the complete listing of our 21 Days of Horror viewing (along with my starred review)! I hope you have a deliriously atmospheric Devil’s Night or Angel’s Night – whichever one you prefer. And don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend and VOTE ON TUESDAY!