The dark days of late autumn have returned to slowly fade into winter around here, and the famous autumn rains have returned after so long of dry weather. Which bring me to how the beginning of the month was like.
It has been a smokey October for majority of the state of Washington with upwards of five major wildfires burning across the state. By the middle of the month the smoke was awful to downright a health hazard. A huge autumn storm rolled on in by the end of the month to wash away the smoke and left over of summer. Now it seems we have skipped over early autumn and headed into late autumn early winter in a matter of a day. It is a relief to finally breath clean air after going five months of the worse air quality.
But the smoke did not damper on what autumn time in known for around here.
Pumpkin Patch at Craven Farms
I feel it has been awhile since I have done a pumpkin patch. The smoke didn’t deterred friends and I from enjoying a evening at the local pumpkin patch picking out our pumpkins. I will admit the pumpkins in the fields look a little sad from the drought we had over the summer into early autumn. Just goes to show how important of a role weather plays, and the rain patterns this state is so famous for.
There were some shenanigans in the patch (mostly taking a picture that was an epic fail) and a photos with the red smoky hazy sun in the background. I even got to see the sunflower fields from a distance, something I missed back at the end of August.
Cozy Dinners With Friends
Thursday nights are cozy dinners with friends and wonderful conversation that lasts almost late into the night. These types of dinners have been missed for a long time after COVID put a stop to them. Nothing beats a good ol’ Sunday roast style dinner on a cool autumn evening.
Family Came For A Visit
One surprise this month was having family from Idaho stop by for a visit along the way of their road trip. Seeing them again after years was a real treat. It has been a long time since I last saw them, maybe since 2014 at my Nana’s birthday celebration back when she was living in Oregon. I am planning on heading out to Idaho next year to visit, and hopefully see them.
Halloween Time
Halloween this year was all about the 80s rock, and that was my costume theme. This year my team at work wanted to beat the other teams as the best group costume. We all came up with the plan to dress as 80s rock or pop culture and make sure to have a wig to complete the look.
All three Halloween parties I dressed at a 80s rocker chick or fan. As you can see, it worked really well and didn’t cost much (have you seen the prices of costumes this year! Inflation hitting us hard).
At a friend’s costume party I went as the rocker chick without my wig on (didn’t come until the next day- bummer) and just flat iron my hair. The other costumes: hurricane Ian with Weather Channel Reporter (a friend’s husband’s name is Ian), Robin Hood Fox, Star Wars Jedi, Princess Bride Princess Buttercup, Mariner’s Fan (we lost out to going to the World Series-again).
Work Halloween the whole group showed up in their 80s rocker costumes and we pun intended, rocked it! This time I had my wig to complete the look. We ended up winning best overall group costume at work. Costumes: Slasher and Axl from Guns N’ Roses, ZZ Top, rocker groupies/chicks, Cindi Lauper, and Ted from Bill and Ted.
Our pumpkin for carving contest at work was stellar as well. The theme was a Frankenstein version of all we do in the lab. Eyes are salmonella, nose bio hazard symbol, mouth a bat, brain with pumpkin seeds as rabies, stitches spell out our groups name. With a black light the pumpkin seeds glowed which represent what rabies looks like under the microscope. We almost won that contest as well.
Things Watched:
Miss Scarlet and The Duke (Season 2) – Masterpiece PBS (Started)
Magpie Murders – Masterpiece PBS – (Started)
The Empress – Netflix (Started)
Interview With The Vampire – AMC
Hocus Pocus – Freeform
The Cantervile Ghost – DVD
Star Wars; Empire Strikes Back – VHS
Books Read:
An Affair at Stonecliffe – Candace Camp
A Lesson In Vengeance – Victoria Lee
Claws for Alarm – Rita Mae Brown
The Witch of Willow Hall – Hester Fox
I cannot believe it’s only two more months and we say goodbye to 2022. The coming months are almost full of with the Christmas season coming up. Already I’m guilty of buying Christmas decorations and decor in October (Target Dollar Spot made me do it!). I am looking forward to the next two months and all the magic the season brings. I will be participating in NaNoWriMo for the whole of November, and will hopefully 50,000 words comes into fruition. You can join the fun starting at midnight November 1st. Until the next tea chat, have a wonderful November everyone.
Note: The Bridesmaid Diaries posts are still coming. The series should complete in November.
A Biotechie's Life 