There is an endless number of October poems, and a lot of them are related to Halloween. I love those types of poems, but today I was looking for a poem about the month, not the holiday.

There are very few poets that I like, and Robert Frost isn’t one of them. (Although I do like “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”) However, he did write a lovely poem about October, and I couldn’t pass it by.

After years of saying I wouldn’t, I joined Pinterest.

I always assumed it would be a time suck, and I spend more than enough time on Facebook already. But I decided to use Pinterest as a way to gather writing prompts and images of the characters and settings I write about, so I set up an account. So far, my interest in Pinterest has been meh.

I already collect a ton of photos in different well-organized folders on my computer. I was hoping that Pinterest would have better pictures to pin, but so far, it has been the same old same old. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong.

Are you on Pinterest? What do you like about it? Do you follow other people? (I haven’t yet done that.) I would appreciate any advice I can get because I don’t understand the allure.

I decluttered 2019 items in 2019.

I had hoped to get rid of 2020 items in 2020, but I’m only at 650 for the year.
Any decluttering is good, so as I made my goal list for October, I decided to focus on one area that’s easy to organize. I’m going to clean out all my drawers.

Drawers are easy to organize because they can be decluttered about ten minutes. I have 22 drawers in my house, so this goal is achievable.

Nothing makes me happier than opening an organized drawer. Why don’t I keep them that way? I guess if they were perfectly clean all the time, I’d have nothing to declutter.

Do you make monthly goals? I usually reward myself if I finish everything on the list by the end of the month. I wish you luck with your goals.

No, I’m not paraphrasing an insurance ad.

Today is National Good Neighbor Day. In the 1970s, several presidents made proclamations supporting this holiday, and in 2003, Congress officially made September 28 National Good Neighbor Day.

When I first thought about being a good neighbor, I thought of getting to know your neighbor and being friendly, but all the websites I checked had other ideas that had more to do with maintaining your property. I guess that makes sense, too.

Overall, I think people should be a good neighbor every day. The world needs more kindness.

Ways to be a good neighbor

• Introduce yourself to new neighbors and exchange phone numbers
• Share meals and treats when you make extra or flowers and vegetables from your garden
• Respect your neighbor’s personal space
• Don’t mow the lawn or make other noise early in the morning or late at night
• If you borrow something, return it promptly; if you damage it, fix or replace it before you return it
• Keep your property neat looking; don’t let branches hang over the fence
• Pick up after your pets
• Do something nice for your neighbors at Christmastime
• Work at fixing misunderstandings so you can be civil to each other

I heard about an intriging book on a podcast, so I put it on hold at my library. When it arrived, it was about three times longer than I expected. (Brandon Sanderson calls six-hundred page books, “chihuahua killers.”) Undaunted, I thought I’d give it a try.

At the rate I’m going, I’ll still be reading it in December, so I’m spending some quality time today with this book. I have other books to read, so I can’t linger on this one (plus it’s a library book, so I can’t keep it forever.)

So far, I love this book (I wouldn’t still be reading it if I didn’t.) However, I don’t want to tell you what I’m reading in case it doesn’t stick the ending. If it’s worth recommending, I’ll do so once I finish.

I hope you can inhabit a different world today.

There are two types of people in the world.

1. Those who like to buy bags or boxes without knowing what is inside.
2. Those who hate buying bags or boxes without knowing what is inside.
3. Those who have no idea what I’m talking about.

These items are called mystery packs or blind packs. You’ve probably seen them near the registers at grocery stores. All the packs have a themed item (for example, a Disney pin), and the available styles are printed on the display. However, you don’t know which style you’re getting until you buy the pack and open it. 

I have dear friends who buy blind packs all the time and have great success with what they get. Since I usually want just one specific style, I don’t like to buy a blind pack and possibly get something different.

This marketing gimmick is a moneymaker for the manufacturer because people will buy several blind packs trying to get the one style they want. But it feels like gambling to me, and I’m not a fan. If I buy something, I want to pay for what I want. It shouldn’t be a game of chance.

I wonder if I’m the only one who dislikes blind packs. Since I know a lot of people who buy them, I might be. So it’s time for a survey.

A Blind Survey

1. Have you ever heard of blind packs?
2. Do you buy blind packs?
3. Have you been pleased with what you find in blind packs?

My answers: 1. Yes. 2. Once in a blue moon. 3. Rarely

As I look out my window and watch the leaves turn to gold, my thoughts turn to quotes about autumn. I not only found a great one, but I have a new movie to watch as well.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Winnie the Pooh fan and have been since I was in the womb. However, I haven’t seen every Pooh movie out there (definitely something I should do), and I haven’t seen the one that this quote comes from.

Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin sounds marvelous. My library didn’t have it, but it’s on Disney+ so I can see it whenever I want. Since it takes place in the fall, it’s the perfect movie for September.

I always recommend the original Winnie the Pooh movies, and the 2011 Winnie the Pooh movie is amazing. If, like me, you’ve seen them over and over and want a new way to get a Pooh Bear fix, try Pooh’s Grand Adventure. Perhaps it could become an autumn tradition.

“It’s the first day of autumn! A time of hot chocolatey mornings, and toasty marshmallow evenings, and, best of all, leaping into leaves!”

Winnie the Pooh, Pooh’s Grand Adventure

I live in the Pacific Northwest for the rain. Seriously. I love the rain. Of course, it isn’t pleasant to run in, so I don’t complain about clear mornings. However, I feel we’ve had enough sun, smoke, and heat. I’m ready for rain.

Not only did we get rain today, but we got wind, which makes my trees dance. My cats love to look out the window and watch the motion. I like it too, but mostly I like listening to the rain ping off our porch roof. 

In honor of the rain, I found some cool rain facts from weather.com. One of them surprised me. I’m going to go for a run/walk in the rain later today because nothing will stop my streak (and because I like to walk in the rain.)

Remarkable Rain Facts

• Petrichor is the smell of rain.
• Falling raindrops are not tear-shaped. They are round in the upper atmosphere and change into a jelly bean with a flat end due to air resistance.
• Depending on the raindrop’s size and how far it has to fall, raindrops can take between 2 and 7 minutes to reach the ground.
• Mawsynram in the Meghalaya State of India is the wettest place in the world. It gets an average of 470 inches of rain a year. In comparison, Boston gets 47 inches of rain a year.
• Every minute, a billion tons of rain falls on the earth.

When I ran/walked 10 miles every day in July, I started in the dark. Throughout the month, I watched the Moon travel across the sky and grow and wane. It was fun to observe its path as I put one foot in front of the other day after day.

Most people don’t notice the Moon. We always know it’s there, even when we can’t see it. September 26 is International Observe the Moon Night, so it’s a great time to learn about our only satellite.

Nasa has a great website for this event. I liked the 10 Ways to Observe the Moon list, starting with looking up. 

In honor of the event, I went looking for fun lunar facts. It might be an every night object in the sky, but it’s also a fascinating astronomical body.

Moon Facts

• The Moon is a natural satellite. Satellites are bodies that orbit planets, planet-like objects, or asteroids.
• The Moon is the fifth largest moon in the solar system.
• The average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 238,857 miles.
• The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.
• The length of time it takes the Moon to rotate on its axis is about the same as the time it takes to orbit the Earth. That is why we see only 60% (50% at one time) of the surface of the Moon (the near side.)
• The part of the Moon we can’t see (the far side) is not dark. It gets as much sunlight as the near side.
• During a Moon day, it can get up to 225 F, while at night, it can drop to -243 F.

The autumn equinox is at 6:30 a.m. PDT today.

I’m starting my run during summer and ending it in autumn. Hooray!!!

I’m also participating in a weight loss challenge with Runs for Cookies. It goes until December 21, which sounds like a long way away, but is only three months. That’s right, Christmas is almost upon us and I hope to go into 2021 stronger than I am in 2020. I’d love for you to join me.

I wish you a wonderful autumn. It’s a great time for being spooky and giving thanks.