This is the first day of October, so there are now two pumpkins on my front porch. In the middle of October I will gut them, toast their seeds, and carve amateurish smiling faces on them, but right now they are part of the feng shui of my porch. They look right nice there in front of the furnace filter that was the wrong size which has been leaning against the outer wall for so long all the cardboard wrapping has dissolved, and beside the weedeater that has been leaning against the park bench since months ago when it tried to devour my legs. The neon pink discarded flea collar on the bench is also a nice, colorful touch. I think maybe I’ll dress the weedeater like a scarecrow. Don’t anybody tell House Beautiful; I don’t want photographers and reporters running in and out of my house, annoying us as we lounge in sheer sophistication in our flannel jammie pants and ancient t-shirts from the dorm. Besides, the shock might kill some of those people. I mean, there is nothing white in my house, except for the refrigerator, and you can’t really see that any more for all the magnets. We do still hide wine behind the Corn Flakes on top of the ‘fridge, though, even now that everybody’s over 21. Before, it was so they couldn’t see it and ask questions and maybe sample some and get sick, and the ER doctor would call CPS on us. Now it’s so we don’t have to share.
There is also one red sneaker of unknown origin on my front porch. I looked for its mate a few minutes ago when I was washing down the siding with a regular garden hose and a 97-cent “SUPER WASHER NOZZLE” from WalMart, but I didn’t find it.
The nozzle spray washed off the dust and pissed off the spiders but other than that, the siding is still dirty. Rent-A-Center, here we come. Sigh.
Soon it will be time to trim the holly. Does anybody want some? It’s extra-lush this year, and we have more than we’ve ever had. Free. Come on over. You can gather some walnuts and hickory nuts and pawpaws while you’re here. Help yourselves. It’s hard to walk in the yard right now with all those lumps all over it. And the deer are so thick, and so fearless and pushy, it wouldn’t surprise me if I found some in the kitchen one morning, frying eggs and whispering about how the bread seems a little stale and did you notice the crumbs in the butter. . . .
It occurs to me, also, that I have been blogging for so long now (a year and a half!) that I find myself writing about seasonal things that I wrote about a year ago! This makes me happy, because I’m still here and still blogging, and it also tells me that maybe I am more consistent about some things than I realized. It gives me a sense of continuity about my life; this time last year I wrote about pumpkins, fall, etc, and I’m doing the same this year.
This time last year, I was sick with worrying about losing our house; this year we are still in our house. We’re still living on the edge of desperation, but we’re still in our house!!!!
This time last year I was beginning a new job for the first time in 26 years. This year, I blog about my job as a matter-of-fact thing, loving almost every minute of it still, and grateful beyond words to have it, but it’s no longer brand-new. This, too, is a grand and wonderful thing to me.
This time last year I was a nervous wreck. This year, I feel surrounded by friends, I have a job that I LOVE, and I know for a fact that good people are all around us.
If I seem to repeat myself on this blog now, it’s because old people tend to repeat themselves it’s come full circle. This blog may be a year and a half old, but this blog really came to life a year ago, in the fall. It came to life when lovely, friendly people started reading it, and telling me so. I thank you all.
All of life is a wonder, but good friends, near or far, are the most wonderful of all.