Halloween cemeteries and apple cider

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I have blogged. Thank you to those of you who continued to check my blog, long after it appeared I was not going to be a faithful online journaler. I have two things I want to mention here

1. I have a neighbor who has created a "Halloween cemetery" in her front yard. There are 15 plastic tombstones all across her front yard, skulls hanging from the front bush, spooky spider webs, etc, etc. All year long, they have a little fountain by their front garden, and yesterday on our walk to the post office, Arturo mentioned that they should dye the water in their fountain red like blood, to go with the whole creepy cemetary feel. Needless to say, I do NOT like this type of decorating. It not only looks tacky, but is a bit insensitive to people who have recently experienced the death of a family member or friend. I do however, chuckle to myself as I walk by everyday. So to parallel with this, yesterday, one of my kindest students started giving me attitude and was just not herself. So I asked her what was wrong. She told me that her uncle had been shot in the back of the head over the weekend. Whew....the air went out of me and I struggled to respond appropriatly. The truly strange thing is that this occurance is not rare. Every few weeks, they post a new funeral program in our school office for someone related to the school who has passed. Not always in a violent crime, although that certainly is not rare. My heart is truly saddened for this little girl who is one of my new fourth graders. And I don't know how to put it into words, but I just can't help disliking the little plastic Halloween cemetery even more.

2. On a more pleasant note, last night was one of those beautiful autumn evenings. Being an "autumn-lover" I took a new pumpkin-cented candle, some apple cider, a basket of knitting and bills and sat out on my front stoop. I truly believe that in the simple moments that we choose to create and embrace, we find joy and life. Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and holidays are wonderful, but I have found that if I can create pleasant daily activities for myself, I am happy with who and where I am in life. When I choose to play Yahtzee with my new husband instead of watching "Dancing with the Stars", I am making a choice for the good life.

I hope you are also enjoying this crisp, colorful season, as our Earth continues its rotation around the Sun (which is what I taught in science today!). :)