The ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties have gone back into storage and we have entered the true Holiday Season. I know this because we went to lunch yesterday and the restaurant was playing Christmas carols. Fortunately, two other patrons asked them to stop and they did. Phew! No Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, please.

With the two big holidays ahead, we start thinking of things we need to do, have to plan for or should have done already. The rush begins.

Our October Posts

In October Susanne and I wrote nothing about technology or business except for its ongoing acceptance of sexual harassment and the Great Wall of Silence that blocks consequences for abusers.

An ornamental; face

My Boston and History posts took on a decidedly spooky turn. People don’t often associate staid old Boston with otherworldly sites but we do have our share. They gave us four posts about spirits, mortuaries, and the Angel of Death.

In November I plan to focus on reasons to be thankful—a happier and positive topic.

Also, I added a short story a suitably Halloweenish feel as an October 31 post. “The Broadcast Circle” was published in “Ghosts: An Anthology of Horror from the Beyond,” edited by David Tyson, May 2015. You can read it here for free.

Roundup of October 2017 Posts

Here’s the roundup of October 2017 posts to help you catch up on a topic you may have missed before the holidays begin consuming your free time.

Boston and History

• Spiritual Temple or Movie House? – Aline
• Martin Milmore and the Angel of Death – Aline
• The Charlesgate: Haunted or Just Haunting? – Aline
• Boston’s Two Suffolk County Mortuaries — Aline

Food and Cooking

• Autumn in the Transition Kitchen — Susanne

Friends and Family

• Traveling with My Sister — Susanne

Health and Safety

• Yet Another Orgy of Gun Violence — Aline

Holidays

• Halloween Decorations: Ever More Realistic – Aline

Lifestyle and Culture

• Changing Cultural Norms Step by Step – Aline
• Changing Cultural Norms: Part 2 – Aline
• Sexual Harassment: Here We Go Again – Aline
• Sexual Harassment’s Great Wall of Silence — Aline
• Adversity and Opportunity = Character — Susanne

Travel

• The Ugly Tourist in Italy – Susanne
• The Journey of the Undocumented Immigrant — Susanne

Short Story

• The Broadcast Circle — Aline

It’s time for the geese to head south for the winter and for frost to decorate the pumpkins. As darkness falls early, we turn inward to bake in warm kitchens, read before the fire, and tackle all those pesky indoor chores we’ve avoided when Indian Summer lured us outside.