Happy Halloween, witch cake and shame on me

- This home is alarmingly close to a cemetery and always seems up for sale. I'm thinking it's haunted. 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.

- Tammy 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 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 someone's home Mama, because their key is in the door."

Smiling skeletons, rascals and sweet tooth

- A fun lunch at The Bone Garden Cantina at the Lumberyard Lofts. The skeleton playing the guitar out front fits in well with the industrial atmosphere around my work area. There is a whole Day of the Dead theme going on inside and more skeleton figures grinning from every corner. On Saturday they are having a traditional Day of the Dead celebration and anyone who shows them a skull, skeleton or Day of the Dead themed tattoo will receive 25% off their order! :)

- Sitting down at the mid-week church dinner with Eddie, Tom and Ed, telling them they look like the He-Man Women Haters Club and need infiltration.

- Bringing more Halloween candy in for the big blue bowl at work and hearing candy wrappers crackling all around.

City vs. country, fast food and some people pay for that

- Chatting with my sister by cellphone while deciding which gourmet dinner I will take home from Mimi's and she says, "Do you know how lucky you are to be able to do things like that?" I am lucky, but she is, too. Check out her home and property - indeed miles away from food purchases, but blessedly quiet.

- Mary, the woman working at Mimi's in the evening, chiding me with a smile for not wearing a coat. People often say this place is not friendly, but she always greets me with my name when I walk in.

- My mother had a allergic reaction that made her lips swell a bit and telling me over the phone, "Honey, my lips look just like Angelina Jolie's!"

Change, sweet and Good Fairy

- Attempting to do the "early voting" and marveling at the line wrapped around the building in just one of several locations in my county. The rush to vote is something to behold.

- Checking in on our Giant Panda, Lun Lun, and her as-yet-unnamed cub. The panda cam showing them having a cuddle.

- Receiving the November issue of Southern Living in the mail and noticing that a Good Fairy has renewed my subscription for another year.

Seasons, divine cuisine and college radio

- 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.

- Meeting friend Elizabeth for dinner at L'Thai. The owner proudly telling us that the restaurant has been designated "THAI SELECT" - Awarded by the Ministry Of Commerce Royal Thai Government for one of the World's BEST Thai Restaurants.

- Listening to old friend Album 88 on the commute to work and loving the laid back music. A welcome break from the political talk on other stations.

Magic, perserverance and funny man

- Giving in to a little cold and staying in all day, but venturing out to Main Moon for more hot and sour soup and finding that it works its usual magic.

- Perservering through writing minutes for long meetings last week and feeling the satisfaction of reading them after they are printed out.

- Having a Craig Ferguson marathon by watching five episodes in a row. He was in an amusing film I liked, "Saving Grace" and I just happened to see him one very early morning when I could not sleep and recognized him. Now he is DVR'd all the time.

Pampered, comfort and sleeping in

- Sophie on her special perch. She adopted this box that contained a stoneware bar pan a long time ago after I tossed it on the floor, intending to put it in the garbage.

- Having my usual "when not feeling well" hot and sour soup at work. We ordered Chinese in for lunch because of the rain.

- Sleeping seven hours in a row and then falling back to sleep again.