Ghoulish, fun cake and busted

- This home is alarmingly close to a cemetery and always seems up for sale. The current owners obviously have a great sense of humor about the whole thing. When you get close to the ghoulish figures, they cackle and howl.

- A co-worker brought in a cake to work shaped like a witches head complete with hat. Nose holes were fashioned using two inverted chocolate chips. Every time she walked by it, she smiled at it.

- I never get Trick-or-Treaters in my condominiums, but a few years ago I was out to dinner on Halloween night and when I got home a group of little ghouls were walking toward my building with their mother. I hurried in and (shamefully) just didn't answer when they got to my door since I did not have anything close to a treat to give them. Then I heard a little boy say, "I know somebody's home Mom, because their key is in the door."

Maybe they'll have better luck this time. I'm always prepared now, no matter what. :) Hope you have a delightfully spooky weekend, friends!

Rainy night, laughing on the outside and mint

- A rainy night in Georgia. Ahhh - I finally used that line. It rained all day, too, the kind of rain that you can hear from a windowless cubicle. There were mad dashes from car to buildings all day, umbrellas not helping all that much. I love it though and we needed it.

- Seen on a concrete post in the parking deck of Georgia Public Broadcasting: someone has written $949.00 on a black smudge and circled it.

- Two employees having a laughing fit when I come around the corner. Her: "He threw candy at me and hit me!" Me: "What kind of candy?" Her: "These. (Opening drawer.) Do you want one?" Me: "Yes." I take my wrapped mint and go. It was pretty good, even after having being through warfare.

Mr C's, upcoming nuptials and pretty fingers

- There didn't seem to be any lines forming. This sign only stayed up briefly - Frank must have arrived to see it. :)

- A soon-to-be bride shares a few of her wedding plans and shows a photo of herself on her iPhone wearing her newly purchased wedding gown.

- Receiving an email with the subject: Your mom got her nails done. A photo from my mother's assisted living facility shows her proudly displaying newly painted nails. This is new, but I like it.

Moby on the lake, sharing and fallen

Photo by ALM

- My sister and brother-in-law's dog Moby, keeping vigilant watch on swampy Lake Miccosukee in Jefferson County, Florida. My niece and brother-in-law took him on this boat ride at one of her favorite places in the world. Her other favorite body of water is the nearby Wacissa River, a spring-fed river. A company wants to start pumping water out of it to bottle and sell for drinking water. I am proud of my niece for her responsible activism for the opposition.

- A wee girl walking with her mother in the early morning darkness. The mother has shed her jacket and given it to her daughter, the sleeves so long on her that they drag the sidewalk.

- Sweeping all the fallen maple leaves off my back porch makes me recognize it really is no longer summer. So the blue and white striped throw rug is rolled up and stored away until it is warm again.

Free spirits, Tater Pie and glimpses

- This silver maple tree at my church that stands alone in its leaf change glory. The trees around it have either have been mostly in a hurry to shed their leaves or are obstinately refusing to change at all.

- A beloved uncle has passed away and he put in his advance funeral directive that we sing his favorite song. A crazy little song* that he taught all the children and we always sang it at Thanksgiving with him. This time a group of adults stand around his grave site and sing it. The part that made me smile - just before walking up to the grave site as a group, there is a whispered flurry of making sure we have the words right.

- Later, after lunch, his granddaughter tells me that she is now teaching an 11th grade English class in the same classroom she learned English in as an 11th grader. And she took it over from a retiring teacher who taught it to her. His wee three-year-old great granddaughter demonstrates her ballet moves for me and is the most proud of her bow. A really low one in which her fingertips touch the floor. She comes up smiling.

*Knowing someone would ask, I put the title in my title above. The song that comes up on an internet search has the same title, but completely different words.

Blooming, welcome to the world and Zen-like

- These flowers blooming in front of The Salvation Army's Southeastern Territory Headquarters. We are having a run of beautiful weather here and these vibrant beauties caught my eye on the way through the parking lot.

- Watching the local news and a report of a baby being born in a car during morning rush hour in Atlanta, right in the area known here as "the connector." And realizing that was the car with so many emergency vehicles around it that I had passed on my way in that morning. The mom gave birth to a lovely baby girl before help arrived. Baby Olivia gave a big yawn for the camera and will have an exciting tale to tell someday.

- Having put off going to the dentist way too long, I am a bit nervous about it now. Friend Kim recommends that I take my time getting there and arrive at their office in a Zen-like state. She says, "I just get into this faraway place - like everything is being done to me from a great great distance and I can observe it, but it doesn't affect me at all." Thanks Zen-master Kim!

I hope that you have a vibrant weekend, friends!

My old school, blending and graduates

- The Georgia State University mascot - the panther. Purposefully walking the long way to an appointment in downtown Atlanta so I could go through this part of the campus of my alma mater. That's my purse and bag on the bench in the second photo - I stopped at the bookstore and bought a fleece pullover with the same growling panther on the shoulder.

- I had never finished college, so went back as a full-fledged adult when I had the opportunity to go full time. On a chilly morning in January 2003, I carefully dressed in black turtleneck, belted jeans and boots. Looking at myself in the mirror, I thought, "No one will mistake me for a professor." I just wanted to blend in.

- Of course I didn't blend in. My first class was full of sleepy-eyed freshmen and sophomores. A young lady, April, the child of parents who had her late in life, immediately attached herself to me that morning because she is "more comfortable with adults" and walked with me through the campus later. By the end of my two years there and graduation, I did blend in a bit with my sweat pants and t-shirts and came to love this place. And April? She went on to law school, marriage, and passing the bar when she was eight months pregnant. She is now the mother of a baby girl and a working attorney.