Actually, I did want to know, so I Wikipedia-ed it: All Saints' Day (also known as Hallowmas - 'hallow' meaning "saints" and 'mas' meaning "Mass") is a feast celebrated on November 1st in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. Halloween - the day preceding it - is so named because it is "The Eve of All Hallows". So, there ya have it! But, if everything surrounding Halloween, then, is based on a religious connotation . . . I wonder where the spookiness / Fright Night aspect of Halloween came in? Maybe I'll delve into that next year.
BUT, even more important than today being All Saints' Day . . . it is the 49th birthday of BigView FlyBoy - one of our most favorite fellas (and definitely our most favorite pilot)! Wonder what we'll all be doing next year to help him celebrate the big 5-0? Hey, he could come to a Halloween party (our first Halloween party at the new pub, I can only hope) dressed up as a crippled-up old man! ;)
Speaking of feeling like an old man (only temporarily, we hope) . . . after falling off the roof on Saturday, Tom is still quite gimpy. I have been pushing the idea of getting his left foot (the worse one) x-rayed, but I haven't had much luck convincing him of that yet. Sooooo . . . I guess he'll continue to limp along (pun intended) and play it by ear.
We had a LONG day in Duluth on Tuesday (left at 8:00 AM, home just before midnight). Various appointments (including an eye exam and new glasses for Tom) and the usual massive shopping list. I can tell that we're both still on the edge of exhaustion, though, since just one long day absolutely wiped us both out. We weren't done with our appointments until 3:00, so we didn't get to begin our errands until then. I went into one store, looked around for about 5 minutes, then replaced my shopping basket and walked out to the truck, empty-handed. I just didn't have the brain power to put into picking out what I needed!
Temperatures have finally cooled down to closer to appropriate for the season. We had 21 degrees Saturday night and snow/rain/sun squalls all day yesterday. It's getting to be that time to think about taking in the hoses, etc. All the leaves have been down for some time, and it's getting to be Bleak November . . . although the grass is still green which is fairly unheard of for this time of year. The snow birds (Snow Buntings, technically) returned a couple of weeks ago, and, everywhere you drive (on gravel roads, anyway), they flit along just ahead of you. They're one of my favorites, and their return each fall always reassures me that winter is, indeed, on its way!
Today signals the first installment of the next 12-month series of seasonal pictures that we post on our other blog. If you check back later today, I should have that - and the new November picture of the house - posted.
Before his fall, Tom got a little more work done on his workshop in the garage: insulating the east wall and beginning to insulate the ceiling.
The dogs and I took a walk down to the river two weeks ago during the heavy rains we'd been getting. Here you can see Tucker checking out the results of beaver activity. That tree is - at least - 10 or 12 inches in diameter!
Nine days ago, the river had crested its banks . . . and then some. This is the boat-launch / public-access area. The mounds of grass you see out past the dogs signal where the bank of the river is SUPPOSED to be!That's all for now. Happy 1st Day of November!
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