Oh, How I Love To See October Go

October is supposed to be the nicest month in autumn, but it's increasingly turning out to be my least favorite month.  I didn't think it could be possible for there to be a month worse than February, but October is increasingly becoming it. 

Because I'm not a fan of political correctness, you might think one of the reasons I increasingly dislike October is because I'm sick and tired of people bellyaching about the need to abolish Columbus Day, but that's not it.  Actually, I happen to agree with the PC crowd on that, although the heated debate between Columbus-haters and Italian-Americans who revere him has gotten so ridiculous that every second Monday of the month I wish I were celebrating Thanksgiving with my Canadian friends (yes, I have a couple).  No, it's mostly because of Halloween, which is a kid's holiday, and I'm not a kid.  The idea of dressing up in costumes and going out for candy isn't the problem.  It's the adult Halloween celebrations I can't stand.  Somehow, I can't fathom the idea of going out to some party dressed as a monster or as a cowboy and trying to lighten up.  And some of the adult costumes you see in any given year - this year the idea of guys dressing as  Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair is popular - are, well, sort of tasteless.  

Even worse is when Halloween affects social media.  People on Facebook always have to show themselves in some sort of costume, and the costumes are usually lame.  And then there are the Halloween-themed profile pictures.  A ladyfriend of mine has posted as her profile picture for Halloween a photo of herself wearing a feathered mask, a picture I've seen before, which always freaks me out when I see it . . . maybe because the backdrop is totally black.  It spooked me all day long.  Nice earrings, though.  

Of course, the biggest reason to wait for October to end, apart from the fact that my birthday is in November and also apart from the fact that Election Day occurs early that month (which means we no longer have to put up with obnoxious campaign ads on our TV sets or obnoxious campaign junk mail cluttering our mailboxes), is the weather.  October weather is actually making me eager for winter.  In 2011, we had a freak October snowstorm that caused tree limbs with leaves still on them  to collapse on power lines, in my case knocking out my power for three days; a year to the day after that, we had Sandy, the six-day outage from which you already know about.  This October started with a nor'easter, knocking out our power for ten hours (though, if Hurricane Joaquin had hit instead, it would have been much worse), and this past Wednesday we had such a horrendous rainstorm from the remnants of a Pacific hurricane (New Jersey is not on the Pacific Ocean - think about that for a moment) that I had to cancel an appointment for that evening.  It was miracle that he electricity didn't go out that time.  How can I appreciate a scary holiday like Halloween with the weather in October is getting scarier?  A marvelous night for a moondance?  We haven't even been able to appreciate many nights like that this October.  Drought conditions in the East have dulled and in some cases delayed fall foliage.

Ugh.  I'm glad it's almost over.  Today, my mother and I held our first ever garage sale. Preparing for it was a pretty contentious deal, and though the garage sale itself went smoothly, there were still a few complications.  When I went around the neighborhood to take down the ad signs after it was over, I cut my finger on one of the push-pins trying to get it out of the utility pole.

Not very cheery this evening.  Sorry.

For those who are wondering . . ..  It's the fifth, and my favorite color is blue. ;-)