WELCOME TO NOVEMBER -- A LITTLE LATE -- AND OTHER TALES OF WOE

Hello, friends!  Happy cold Saturday to you.  After a week of beautiful weather in the 70s (low 20s C), November has decided to act like winter.  No more open windows and short sleeves.  But all in all we have not had a bad run.

Yes, it is really 4:00 a.m.  I am writing now because the pain I have been experiencing is tolerable and who knows what it will be like later.  I had a toothache before I went to the dentist.  After she cleaned my teeth, it got worse.  Much worse.  She wrote me a prescription for antibiotics and I took them, but they did nothing.  I was able to get in touch with her at her South Philly office and she gave me stronger antibiotics.  I have had only two doses so I don't know if they are helping or not.  I am living on Tylenol.  Not a good thing.  And soft food although even that bothers me at times.  I wake up from a sound sleep crying with the pain.  This is awful!  I found an emergency dentist on Google.  He has excellent reviews.  Out of 65 there are 5 poor ones, 60 excellent ones and nothing in between.  I am willing to give him a shot since the office is about 25 minutes from home.  Right near the Country Club Diner where you have heard me talk about in the past.  (My Philly friends will know just where that is.)  The office is open 365 days a year.  It opens at 7:00 a.m. and I will be one of the first calls.  I have to do something.  I can't continue to live this way.  I have already decided not to go to church tomorrow.  I am in too much pain!

That is my tale of woe, so now on to the welcome.

Yes, we are halfway through the month and I am just saying hello.  But let's see what happened in October this year.

I have been watching a lot of Hallmark movies.  47 of them to be exact.  Most of them were fall movies but at the end Christmas came in.  I am not ready for Christmas.  I want to enjoy Thanksgiving first.  People are putting up Christmas decorations and I am still finding my pumpkins and scarecrows to put out.

The tomatoes on my vines are finished.  For an investment of just over $3.00 I got 19 delicious tomatoes.  We still have some ripening in the bag, but most are eaten.  They were so good.  This is the best I have done in years.  I think I will plant my tomatoes in the earthbox again next year after I add some Miracle Gro soil to the box.

I spent a lot of October in the hospital.  Between doctor appointments, tests, and a visit to the Emergency Room, I am getting to know the layout of the hospital pretty well.  I had some more hospital visits (and doctor visits... and dentist visits) in November and I know I have some coming up in December.  Let's hope 2021 is better.  I am so sick of being sick.

The trees around here were really pretty for a week or two.  Now a lot of them are bare.  We don't really have a lot of color.  It comes in late October or the beginning of November and seems to go as quickly as it comes.  I usually see gorgeous trees when I visit my aunt for her retirement community's Christmas Bazaar, but of course that was cancelled this year.

October wasn't a very happy month for all the shootings, lootings and riotings we had.  Most of the stores along the avenue are still boarded up.  A lot of them have opened.  Some have not.  And some never will again.  So sad.  What did it accomplish?  Did getting a big screen TV, a new mobile phone or some expensive shoes really warrant ruining someone's livelihood and making things difficult for people who are not able to get to other stores?  What a world we live in.

We had a strange Halloween this year.  Joe went to the store and bought a huge bag of candy.  There were 100 pieces and five different kinds.  I have a five section tray, so I sorted them into the sections (one kind to a section) and it was looking so good.  All the KitKats together.  All the Hershey bars together.  All the peanut butter cups together.  My nextdoor neighbor and I sat out on our front steps and talked as we wait for children to show up.  They were around.  We saw them walking one street over.  We heard them talking.  Not a huge amount like in other years, but enough.  And we got a grand total of... 3.  Three sweet little kids who all said, "Thank you!" so nicely.  Tons of candy left.  Joe heard a pizza delivery coming to one of our neighbors, grabbed the tray and ran outside.  "Would you like some candy?" he asked the lady.  She laughed, said, "Sure" and helped herself to a couple of pieces.  And so Joe and I have been having snacks now and then.  There is still a lot left.  I am thinking of taking the Reece's pieces and adding them to my peanut butter cookie dough when I make cookies for Christmas.  It would use some of them up.

So I wonder what the rest of November will be like.  I am hoping healthwise it is better for me.  I am glad I have been good for part of the month.  Joe and I have decided to have Thanksgiving here at home by ourselves.  I just can't face a four hour drive (two up to my sister's house and two back).  I'm not feeling well enough.  And with COVID-19 rearing its ugly head again, I'd really rather not be exposed to people I'm not usually with.  My sister and I have agreed that each person needs to do what makes them feel comfortable.  We will be heading to my sister's house for Christmas when it is just the three of us and not other people around.  We three know we are COVID free.

Let's see the two calendar pages for this month.  Our Breathtaking View is from Yosemite National Park in California.  I wish I could walk down this trail and see where it leads to.  And look at those mountains in the background!

And our flower for this month is Mums.  One of my favorite flowers.

My tooth is beginning to hurt again, so I am going to end for now.  I hope you all have a good day.  Remember to pray for our nation and its leaders.  We sure need prayer right now.

Until later...

Kathy