Another rainy day on my trip to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  Lucky for me I am sitting inside watching children carving pumpkins.  Someone has lit a spicy candle and all is well.  My heart is back in California, however, and I wish I could send this rain to southern California. I ‘ve heard from a few friends who live in the area and all are well.  The news today highlighted the volunteer efforts of the local communities.  It always makes me glad to know that so many people care. Listen to Chopin Prelude No.15, Db Major “Raindrop.”  It is a perfect for today.

It’s almost Halloween and time for jack-o-lanterns and all things pumpkin.  These cuties were done by my kids two years ago.  I think of them as a pumpkin choir.  Remember Linus’ pumpkin carols? 

 A huge jack-o-lantern done at a local mall. Now that’s scary.

Here’s my “grandpug”  Pugsley in his pumpkin costume.  You can tell by looking at him, that he is thrilled to be wearing his costume.

 One of the simple pleasures of walking through neighborhoods in new cities is seeing how people decorate the outsides of their homes.  Next to beautiful doors, I love shutters and flowerboxes.  When I found this house in Charleston, South Carolina, I was overjoyed.   The detail and layering of the window set in a beautiful urban garden.  What’s not to love? So genteel, so peaceful. 

Compare the above window to this one I found in a small town in Italy.  Beautiful shutters, lovely old stucco.  If you forget about the frosted privacy glass and the metal pipes, I think the statement about peace (flag plus baby clothes) should touch your heart as well.

 It was announced today that Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will share the Nobel Peace Prize.  The Nobel Peace Prize according to Alfred Nobel is to be awarded to the person who “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding of peace congresses.”  Gore today reacted to the award:  “It is the most dangerous problem we have ever faced, but it is also the greatest opportunity we have ever had to make changes. This is a chance to elevate global consciousness about the challenges we now face.” 

“We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.”

  First appearing in an Oscar winning film, then an Emmy, and now the Nobel Prize.  Not a bad year.   Could the presidency be next?  The draft Gore movement is a really interesting example of grass roots politics.  

 Too bad my President doesn’t understand. Here are two of his statements about the environment.

“In terms of the CO2 issue… we will not do anything that harms our economy. Because, first things first, are the people who live in America.”  Explaining who owns the rights to the Earth’s environment, Presidential press conference, Washington, D.C., Mar. 29, 2001

“We want to reduce greenhouse gases. Ours is a large economy. We used to generate more wealth than we are today. And as a result, we do contribute greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.” Huh?  Press conference with Tony Blair, London, England,, Jul. 19, 2001

 (dubyaspeak.com)                                                         

It’s October and time to get ready for Halloween and find some scary music.  On Sunday I went to an organ concert featuring the brand new Forbes Pipe Organ at the Cohan Center at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.  The featured organist, James Welch, played “Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor by Max Reger.  He introduced the piece by saying it was October and time for something in D minor. (A little musicial humor) Everyone knows about the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565).  If you’ve never heard the entire piece and want to watch how it’s played on a real pipe organ check out this clip: Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor It is probably the most famous organ piece in the world.  Who hasn’t been to a Halloween party without it?   Since the Bach had been played at the inaugural concert in June, Welch chose the Reger piece. It may be my new favorite October music. 

Here’s the sunset as seen from my Red Door.  There is not much better than sitting and sipping a good port while watching the sun go down.  The incomparable salmon pinks and dusky blues against the trees and the waves.  Add a Chopin nocturne for good measure and the scene is complete.  Sometimes the view is so amazing that I can’t believe what I am seeing.  It is much like the first time I saw the Grand Canyon.  I remember my children saying that it just couldn’t be real, but, of course, it is.  How lovely.

The setting sun, and music at the close,
  As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,
    Writ in remembrance more than things long past.
                             Shakespeare-The Tragedy of King Richard the Second

$700 billion for the war in Iraq, but children’s health care? 

 2004

2007

Call Your Representative:

1-800-828-0498

These are the Congress members who voted against the bill.  If your representative is listed and you want an override vote to succeed, please contact him/her and let them know what you think.  The general consensus is that the Senate has enough bipartisan support for the override.  Let’s let the people be heard on this!

I have to count all of the pumpkins in this bin.  Let’s see, one…..

 A beautiful day at Avila Barn.  There is nothing as beautiful as October on the coast.  The sky is blue, the fog is hiding, and the apples and grapes are all being harvested.  Here’s a favorite poem by Helen Hunt Jackson:

October’s Bright Blue Weather 

O sun and skies and clouds of June
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fringes tight,
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks
In idle, golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunt
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers hour by hour
October’s bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather.