It's November Already

             And it’s been that way for nearly a week now, but my last blog here was still in October. In the meantime, Election Day has occurred. I’m not really going to talk about it here despite mentioning it but the time leading up to it was certainly unnerving at times. And now? Well, I’ve written about superstitions, and superstitious me is keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. Now, let’s get away from politics and move on. 

            To what? Writing, of course. And yes, the story I’m currently writing has been moving along. My way of writing has remained somewhat different since I got my new desktop computer. I used to print everything out daily and edit both on paper and on the computer screen. Now, I’m still using a different printer since my old one is also broken, so I don’t print as much. That means my edits are all on the computer screen, and that seems to be working fine.

             And my new computer is still outside my office—partly because I don’t want my younger pup Roxie to visit me in the office with its clutter when I’m not watching her. She’ll get into everything! And I do want her to remain able to hang out with me.

             Hey, along with Election Day, Halloween is over. Looking forward to Thanksgiving soon! How about you?

 

           

Another Halloween

  I have been so intent on my manuscript, the days have gone by unnoticed.  I am letting other family members deal with Halloween.  I feel like kind of a Grinch about it, but Halloween has changed  from a couple of hours of princesses and pirates asking for candy to such a hoard that our street is blocked.  There are teenagers with no costumes carrying pillow cases, adults trick or treating along with their kids and entitled trick or treaters who fuss about what you offer them or simply try to help themselves to a handful of candy.

The number keeps growing too. No matter how much candy we get, we run out before the street has cleared.  I think we have about 400 little bags of gummy bears to give out.

I am hoping that the family and friends crew who are planning to sit on the front porch  to hand out the gummy bears shows up.  It has happened before--they all take off and I'm the last one standing to dole out the treats.  If that happens, I won't be a Grinch and will smile through the whirlwind of handing out the candy to the line of kids while wishing them all a Happy Halloween.

Personally, I am much more interested in Dia De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead.  I like the idea of making altars for those who have passed on.  They are filled with color, flowers and food.  

 

Happy Halloween!

             Happy Halloween—a day early! I’ll be home for Halloween this year, even though we often go to visit our grandsons and go trick-or-treating with them in Indiana for Halloween. But this year there was a conflict, so we’ll go visit them later, without trick-or-treating. I’m assuming we won’t get any trick-or-treaters on our narrow street in the hills, either. That means I probably won’t wear my usual witch’s dress. We didn’t get trick-or-treaters years ago when our sons were young and we took them elsewhere for their fun. 

            So Halloween will be like a relatively normal day for me, including having time to write. Maybe we’ll take a short drive to see some kids in costume elsewhere—after I’ve put my current characters in their usual jeopardy for the day on my computer. 

            If we did get trick-or-treaters, I’ll bet our dogs would enjoy it! We have a patio area behind a locked gate where they can look out at their small world when other dogs, and people, go by, so they could bark and tell us about any strangely-appearing visitors. We’d have to be sure young Roxie didn’t leap out if we gave out any candy. Older Cari isn’t likely to. 

            Oh, and by the way, speaking of that computer. I’m working on a new one now. My old desktop was giving me a lot of trouble, so we got me a new one and our younger son came over to help install it this week. It’s similar to the last one but has some differences I’m still getting used to. But so far, I like it—and I can write on it!

Crowds

 Back at my computer working on the rewrite of MURDER BY THE HOOK and the Chicago trip is just a memory.  The weather was great.  It was 80 on the day we left.  It was sunny with blue skies the whole time.  The leaves were brilliant colors.  It was all very fallish, 

By chance, I saw there was an event over the last weekend called Open House Chicago.  Buildings all over the city that aren't usually accessible were open to the public.  And it was free.  We skipped the neighborhood buildings and went right to downtown.

We started off with lunch at the Berghoff, which was packed thanks to the draw to come downtown.  It is a very old restaurant that has nicely kept the interior the same.  It's German food and has wonderful side dishes of things red cabbage and spatzle that work for a vegetarian. It was only a short walk from there  My son was excited to be able to the trading floor the Board of Trade which is never open to the public.

It's at the spot where LaSalle Street meets Jackson and I heard was the most photographed block in the city.  I think it has been used a lot for movies.  Normally, it would have been desolate on a Saturday, but it was packed with people.  There were two bridal parties taking photographs in the street who must not have realized there were going to be all these people wandering around.

The line to go through the Board of Trade was a block long though it moved rather quickly. The interior of the Art Deco building was very old school elegant when buildings had all kinds of decorative touches.  First stop was the vault which was huge and then an elevator ride up to the trading floor.  The crowd was very nice and friendly.  The trading floor looked smaller than expected, but my son was fascinated. It was very user friendly.  They had samples of the jackets that people wear on the floor, available to try on and take photos.  There were giveaways of cups and kids' size sun glasses.  

I did sort of write about that area in one of the Writer for Hire books so it was neat to see what the inside of the building was like.

I took a break after that and sat outside while my son went to the money museum and came back with bags of shredded bills.  It was fascinating watching  the crowds of people.  The Chicago loop as it's called used to be a shopping mecca.  I see pictures on Facebook all the time of thick crowds on State Street which was where all the department stores were located.  Between them, were large shoe stores and a giant Woolworthts and weird little stores that always claimed to be going out of business.  All of that is changed.  Only Macy's is left and it's been whittled down.  There are a number of  schools  and more people are living in high rises down there. but the thick crowds are gone--except for that weekend.

There were throngs of people everywhere.  We stopped at one more building before we called it a day.  They had opened a completely empty floor to the public.  There was nothing in it, but great views of the lake, other buildings  and the street if you looked down.

Sunday we hit North Michigan Avenue and the number of  people downtown was staggering.  I hung out in a five story Starbucks while my son did his wandering.  It was mobbed.  I just loved seeing so much life back on the street.  As we drove home, we passed crowds waiting to get into Orchestra Hall and the Auditorium theater which is part of Roosevelt University where I went to school.  People were walking through the park on their way to  Buckingham Fountain and the lakefront. What a great surprise for the weekend.