Your Perfect October Day?

Let's see- the perfect October day would start with a bright, crisp morning. Maybe it's a friday. Sweeping the porch, smelling woodsmoke, maybe someone has built a fire nearby. Anticipation in the air.

Working on a last minute project, making lists for the upcoming party. Making pumpkin spice cookies. Remembering how I used to make cookies with my Aunt for Halloween. Afternoon schoolchildren coming home, that always makes me think of the movie, Halloween. That long childhood afternoon of Halloween Day.

A break for iced tea. (hey, I'm southern, it's good year 'round) Maybe I put the movie on, since I've been thinking about it, just so I can listen to that amazing music, some background noise while I finish up my day. Since this is my perfect October day, I think we'll have dinner out tonight. We'll be busy anyway, since there is a full moon and we have found the perfect Haunted Hayride to visit. As it gets dark, I turn on the lights outside, that orange glow never fails to thrill me, and I'm happy. October happy. There's nothing like it.

October 10th 2015

Run a 1/2 in temps somewhere around the 50s in the morning

The kids show up and help roll the funeral carriage out to the street

Drive down to Salt Lake where the Utahns for Nebraska gather and watch the Huskers kick the bajeeezus out of the stinkin Badgers

(If it was August/September, I would say: "hit all the Halloween stores on the way home" but since it's October, I would be beyond that stage.)

Swing by Lowes on the way home and buy something...most likely Chrstmas lights or replacement tools for the ones I misplaced in the prior weeks while building props

Watch more football hoping that they show lots of highlights of the Huskers destroying the Badgers

Oh, I so love October! I love waking up to a beautiful, sunny Autumn day...light, cool, crisp breezes, warm, cozy sunshine and bright, blue skies that contrast wonderfully with the firey, sun lit oranges, yellows and reds of the leaves on the trees. I would light an Autumn scented candle or warm an Autumn scented wax tart and help set that perfect feeling for the day. I would have something with apple and/or cinnamon for breakfast to start. There are many things we do in the Fall, but I would say my favorite way to spend an October day is stopping by one of the local farms and orchards to check out the pumpkins, gourds and and other Fall and Halloween decor...and sitting down to have some of their fresh baked Autumn treats like Pumpkin Spice or Apple Cider doughnuts, pumpkin bread or cake, and fresh cider!! I love to visit the animals on the farms, too...maybe even do a run through of a big corn maze! Afterwards, maybe we would go for a long bike ride or hike through the Fall trees...enjoying the weather, hearing the crunch of the leaves below us as we traveled, and stopping to take some pictures of all of the fantastic color! In the evening, if the evening is moonlit and perfect, we'd have a small outdoor bonfire, s'mores and hot cider...and, before bed, cuddling up on the couch to watch a good Halloween movie or ghost show...the Halloween lights adding a spooky atmosphere with their soft, spooky glow.
I also love to bake yummy, Fall treats and desserts during a lovely (or cool and rainy) October day. Baking in the Fall with all of those spice, pumpkin and apple flavors is just the best!!!

Thinking over this question some more.. I would like me to be able to suggest to the persons incharge of the Halloween parade to have the kids marshall in front of my haunted house,in that big,dead-end city parking lot,and I would place saw horses or other barriers across the open end to keep adults from driving through the crowd of children and adults just to deliver their kids at the starting point of the parade.
Sometimes they have grouped up the children 50 feet South of this dead end parking lot in the past,placing everyone in a narrow street between two buildings and I watch,holding my breath that no kid gets run over as some Parents force their car down such a small and crowded spot pushing the marching band aside.
They also sometimes marshall the parade a block East of my house in another parking lot where cars drive at them from2 directions.
For 3 of the last 6 years before the parade I am told they WILL be grouping up in front of my house them they... don't.
They even had it published in the local newspaper before the parade saying to group up at my house,then they don't? They even have toddlers in the parade and some people still drive very close to everyone as everyone is moving,wearing their little costumes.. I guess I am just supposed to not worry about this,since nobody else ever seems to be?
The Grade School Band Director tells the Band were to stand,then the paraders stand near them. The director doesn't show up ,is a piece of the problem.. very stupid.

My perfect October day?

It's Saturday, October 24th 2015. I wake up around 7:00 am. I get a cup of coffee and a slice of apple strudel, and sit in a chair outside my front door to have breakfast and watch the sunrise. The air is crisp and dry, about 48 degrees f, with no breeze. The sky is clear.

As I sip my coffee, I look around the yard, and feel a sense of accomplishment. My giant spider silent and vigilant; his spiderweb glistening in the morning sunshine; my cemetery fence, columns, and gate standing firm, keeping the living out and the dead in . My speakers, lights, and fog chiller/distribution system are in place. All my props are finished and ready to go. Nothing left to do until Halloween morning, when I'll set up the animatronic props and fog machine.

So I sit in the morning calm and drink my coffee. Red and yellow leaves glow brilliantly in the morning sunlight: the slightly musty smell of the autumn leaves in the air, highlighted by the occasional whiff of smoke from someone's now smoldering fireplace; the sounds of birds skittering around the bird feeder, eating seeds.

Close to noon, I go pick up my brothers, my niece, and my one-year-old great nephew, and we go out to a country farmer's market. We stop for lunch along the way. At the farmer's market, we do the hayride, pick out some pumpkins, apples, apple cider, and some ornamental corn.

The afternoon temp will only reach the mid 60's, with a slight, cool breeze out of the northwest, and clear skies except for the occasional bank of thin, high cirrocumulus clouds filtering the sunshine.

Afterward, we go back to my brother's house and carve pumpkins. For dinner we do steaks on the grill with veggie kebabs. After dinner I head home. I put together a playlist of music on my computer (mostly horror movie soundtracks, and other Halloween music), open a pumpkin beer, put on the headphones, and relax and listen.