Autumnal Musings  It's that time of year: frost is actually on the pumpkin, at least in my neck of the woods. On sunny days like today, the afternoons are golden, inviting you to sit on the porch and marvel at the late autumn colours. Yes, there's snow in our future. We'll worry about it another day, as we admire our neighbour's energetic raking – all the deciduous trees are in his yard.
Autumn brings out wit, especially over at the hardware store. George, the senior salesman over there (emphasis on 'senior'), has stand-up potential.
Me: 'Do you have any signs?'
George, suspiciously: 'What kind of signs?'
Me: 'The kind with arrows on them.'
George, helpfully: 'Nope.' He let himself be cajoled into showing us what he had. True, no arrows, but as George sagely pointed out, we could buy one, turn it over, and draw the arrow on. After all, we only wanted it for two and a half hours, to direct our young trick-or-treaters to the side porch on Halloween. (The side door has a bell that actually works.) George suggested I buy the sign that said 'No hunting or fishing on these premises' so that I could flip it over and reuse it. I approved of this repurposing, especially since it will protect the valuable wildlife on our quarter-acre, and prevent hunters from shooting those deer that visit at 3 am. George pretended to be impressed that I could read, whereupon I told him that in North Carolina, where I used to live, you didn't dare tell people you'd forgotten your reading glasses, as they'd assume you were illiterate. George replied, 'Well, if you didn't tell them in that accent of yours…' It's that sort of repartee that keeps you going back to the hardware store – that and the need for a dooflidgey to hold together the thingumbob. I have lived in odd neighbourhoods, one even with a minaret, but this one has its own exotic ambience. That and lawn-tractor drag races.
Autumn teaches us to look around and realise that as the colours change, we see the familiar world differently. Spring or fall, how are things changing around you? What's different this week? Can you snap a photo, send us a vignette, share a story? We'd love it if you did. In this issue, our contributors are doing just that. Awix even has the skinny on that Bond film you're all dying to know about. I suppose I should try to watch it, but frankly, I fell asleep during Skyfall and never went back to it...I'm the wrong person to review that, but Awix is definitely the right person. He even gets the cinematic references.
Oh, and speaking of cinema: November is upon us, and you know that means NaJoPoMo. As is often the case, Your Editor is doing the Freebie Films, and while the reviews aren't nearly up to Awix's standards, you might find some fun stuff, and the price is right. (And yes, some of them are in Romanian, as always. What do you mean, you don't love Romanian New Wave cinema?) Are you writing a daily journal? Share! (It's not too late to get started, and feel free to send your photos and journal entries to the Post.) What journals are you following? Be sure to drop in a comment or two. Enjoy the writing madness this month, and have a good week!
Stop Press Recipe: Check out MVP's solution to an emergency bounty of quinces. (I had to look up what a quince was. Now I want some.)
Follow your mouse finger, see what else you discover in here.
Dmitri Gheorgheni
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