I was just thinking about October

I was just thinking about how I love October! Especially Octobers that are so cool. I have lived through 81 Octobers and that is a lot of Octobers. Some of those run together and were the same every year, and I like to forget those! Like when it is still like summer and it is so hot and dry, and Daddy would be a bad mood, muttering and talking to himself as he worked on the tractor, or any work about the farm. When you saw Daddy talking to himself, you wanted to stay far away and not do anything that would  get him to cussing and yelling!

But I love to remember all the cool Octobers, and rainy Octobers (of which they are seldom in South Texas). But this October the weather makes me happy and remembering the best Octobers. It has been so rainy and cool...I hope it last forever. Makes me want to get in the kitchen and cook...a big pot of chili, or soup, or stew.  Or bake something. Yesterday I made banana nut bread. Yumm, it was from a recipe in my dietetic cook book that I bought to cook for Eddie all those years. It doesn't have a lot of sugar, and it is dee-licous! Julie and I had a piece last night, slathered in butter and cream cheese!

On days like this on the farm, Daddy would be in a good mood, and like i have written before in my book, rainy days were my favorite days, because he had mother roast some peanuts (they called it "parch") and then we would all sit on the front porch and eat peanuts and watch the rain come down! Heaven!

Daddy was in such a good mood and he would sing songs for us!

Then I remember going to school when it was cold in October, and we would all sit by the wood stove or heater, and read during recess since we could not go outside. Or we played games like I-Spy, Blind Man's Bluff, or Gossip. 

I still remember one of my favorite books to read when I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade, was a book about a squirrel that hunted for acorns in the fall, and always wished we had an oak tree, or pecan tree, so we could gather acorns of pecans. All we had to gather was Mesquite beans in the summer...but we didn't know about how they were good for smoking barbecue then. We just left them laying there, or fed them to the pigs.

In October the week before Halloween, in school we all made, Jack-o-lanterns and witches made out of construction paper and put them on the windows. Then of that day, before we went home, the teachers had a party after lunch for us. I think maybe Mother  was one of the mothers who brought cookies and the teacher furnished punch and we had a Halloween Party! We bobbed for apples in a wash-tub full of water and played other games. It was the highlight of October for us on the farm. No one ever heard of trick-or-treating.

But when my kiddos were little ... I only remember them going trick-or-treating in the 1960's. Julie was an Indian Princess (I had made her an Indian dress when she was in Campfire Girls), and Derek was a cowboy, and Kristi was a little witch. Trent was too old-a teenager- so he gave out the candy at the door.

Then when we moved to Hurst, in North Texas, Octobers were the best, because it was always cooler up there. I could not get enough of the trees which had leaves that turned to gold, orange, and red in October! The October we moved to our new house on Yucca Trail, the kids and I went over to Chisholm Park and picked up firewood for our  new fireplace. The trees were so colorful and the park was under construction then so we had lots of firewood when we got home. Somehow that days stands out if my most favorite memory of Octobers. I had never seen trees that beautiful and when we got home, we had our first fire in our new house. I think we popped popcorn that night too. On one of those poppers that you held over the fire in fireplace. That night all of the family gathered around the fireplace in the den, and had a good time. I wonder if any of my kids remember that.

This October reminds me of that day. I wish we had a fireplace. Eddie loved our fireplace. One October he and I went to Jacksboro to find some wood. We did! It was a beautiful drive and we stopped for lunch somewhere and came home with our trunk full of wood, and an order of a cord of wood to be delivered later that week.

Then there was in 1991, in October I went to New York to visit Gerry in New Rochelle. I stayed a week and it was glorious. One day we went walking for hours and the trees and foliage was so vibrant and beautiful, it took my breath away. All the trees seem have turned all colors of Autumn, gold, orange, yellow and red. I took a ton of pictures. I need to find them. One day we went up to West Point and then over to Connecticut and drove all over and that was even more spectacular. It was like I was in a wonderful dream and it was not in black and white - it was...in color!! I didn't want that week to end. The picture above was taken in Connecticut - though I didn't take it, I took many just like that!!!

Later I will tell about my trip to Durango, Colorado to see Kristi and Taylor and it was in the fall! O my...that was another good trip. See why I love October?

I love October! Especially cool and rainy days!