SUNDAY CHAT #13 - Hello October!

SUNDAY CHAT
 THIRTEEN

HELLO, OCTOBER!

Hello, lovely Library Lions and beautiful Book Dragons! I love October not only because of Halloween and my birthday, I also love the colorful leaves, the angle of the afternoon sun, and crisp air.

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Our county's Covid-19 numbers went back up to the worst they had ever been, in September, and there was a university student death, and a campus employee death registered. The hotspot last spring was a local nursing home and assisted living complex, but this time the hotspot is our university campus and a neighborhood with a large population of students living off campus; which just happens to be next to my neighborhood, and the store my son works in is in that neighborhood. We had gotten a little lax with our trying to stay out of the same room at home, so we've tightened that back up, and I am now wearing a mask 100% of the time my son is home in case we accidentally cross paths in the house. And yes, masks do protect you, too. That's why you see cancer patient's wearing them and why it is recommended that persons with compromised immune systems wear them on planes.

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I have been wearing the ugly blue three-ply surgical masks because they have been rated the best non-N95 mask. However, now that the prices have come down on fashion masks I'm going to grab a couple to wear over the surgical masks when I go walking, and when I feel it's safe to go out in public again. Do you have any favorite places you have purchased masks online?

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All this being said, the campus still hasn't gone to 100% remote online classes, and our county executive has left it up to stores and restaurants to revert back to take-out and curbside on an honor system. The bars need to be closed, but that hasn't happened. It's a cluster you-know-what.

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I just want to be able to hug my son and have Sunday dinner with him, and go to lunch with my sister. I'm Facebook friends with one of my college guitar instructors whose wife has MS, and because their daughter is a dental hygenist and their grandson goes to daycare, they haven't been able to hold him in over six months. They can only stand outside and blow kisses to him from the other side of a window. I curse all the people who have been irresponsible and just downright belligerent and selfish about wearing masks and not gathering in large groups.

A friend of mine took these at the park which is at the beginning of the river walk trail downtown, last week. I can't get down there and it makes me sad because it's wonderful to walk along the river at this time of year.

The leaves are about halfway there in my area of Upstate New York. This was taken in the village where I attended junior and senior high school, about 20 minutes from where I live now.

When I live in the city I miss small town living, but when I live in the countryside I miss living in the city. Is any one else this way?

NOT QUITE NIGELLA
I didn't think I could top finding these creepy eye pies from last year's Bumbershoot's Witchery Cookery Halloween post, but I did! Make sure you check out next Saturday's Halloween post to find out what it is!

Have a spectacular spooky season!