Tomorrow is the dreaded general election, which is when we’ve decided to vote, having weighed the various risks.  Hopefully the lines won’t be too long, and COVID precautions will be in place.

Then it’s just the beginning of a long suspenseful week (month?) of results being tallied.  We can only trust that trump’s criminal suppression and intimidation of voters will be exposed for what it is, and the majority of votes will count.  We also hope for many down-ballot races to turn the tables toward more progressive legislators, and defeat some of these conmen holding our democracy hostage.  That’s about all the hope and idealism I can muster in the face of so much disintegration of sanity and justice.

Until then, here’s something more down-to-earth I’m thrilled about–my fall saffron crocuses started to bloom!  These are the ones that produce actual culinary saffron threads.

Here are some fine bloody marys (maries?) E made last night.  Also an herby windowsill view.

It’s been getting frosty at night, and a bit chilly by day, so I decided to harvest what’s left of my peppers and tomatoes.  Soon I’ll be bringing the potted tropicals and herbs in.  There’s still much work to be done outside to prep for winter.  One step at a time, which is about all I can manage right now anyway.

For Halloween we stayed home (what a surprise) and watched old cheesy classic horror movies.  No candy was involved, just cheese and kitsch.  It was good, safe fun.  It was also a rare full “blue moon”, the first on Halloween since WWII, so that was different.  Let’s hope a year like this one only comes that seldom.

Also on Halloween, my son returned to St. Louis for some indeterminate period.  I’m very thankful I got to see him one more time.  One never knows these days if it will be the last.  I didn’t get to say all the things I was thinking, but I hope he knows by now I love and miss him all the time.

It’s definitely changing over to fall on this Nov. 1, with chilly wind and night temps falling to the 30s.  It must know we turned the clocks back an hour, or that it’s my brother’s birthday.  Where we’re from, it would be seriously into cold, icy weather about now, or at least before climate change.  But here it’s still springlike during the days.

Today I managed to transplant a few more cedar saplings to the driveway fence line.  I’d do more, but my back has been killing me.  I look like a zombie shambling along.  I fit right into the scary season.

Here’s my show-and-tell for today.  This empty wasp nest fell down on the porch, and I found this beautiful butterfly or moth with bluish fur, and a tail like a tiny bird.  I think it’s a long-tailed skipper, found in S. America and parts of the southern USA.