It happened! I really didn’t think it would happen this quickly, but it did. And when it did happen, I heard the heavens open up. Were those angels singing? Was it the choir from Hogwarts? Who cares. The sights and sounds were beautiful. So what if the sounds were only in my head. Halloween decorations! My first sighting for 2021. I can’t believe my luck.
It happened this morning when I walked into Michael’s. At first they tried to fool me with some stacks of hay and orange flowers. They even threw in some fake pumpkins. I wasn’t fooled and I held out for the real thing. For Halloween decorations to be truly official, I want to see some witches, ghosts, bats, and skeletons. I was not disappointed.
Having my first official sighting in July is early. However, I am going to blame the fact that we are still dealing with a pandemic and weird weather. So much is going on and has been going on, we need this Holiday. We need to be able to laugh at those things that scare us.….and there is still a lot of scary stuff out there.
Once I had my first sighting, I had to try other venues. Bath and Body Works told me they had some Halloween products come in, but were all sold out. Did they know when the next shipment would arrive? No. Just call back. Apparently there is a Halloween Hand that is very popular this year. I am more interested in the skull soap holder and the skeleton that will hold a candle. I’ll go back for them later. I also drove past the location where I have visited the Spirit Halloween store for the past several years. Oops. There is quite a bit of construction going on in the area. Since this work has been going on for several months, I am beginning to think the location for the seasonal store might be different this year. According to their website, they’re coming. I just don’t know when.
Do you think I might have bought a few items while I was at Michael’s this morning? Well, yes I did. Do you think I only purchased these four small items? I plead the fifth. However, I needed these things for story research. I am currently working on several Halloween themed short stories and one long story that involve witches, ghosts, grim reapers and such. I need these things for my creativity. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
All I know is that beginning to decorate for Halloween in July puts a smile on my face. Let me know if you feel the same way.
Until next time.….
Now, I have been visiting this Houston landmark since it opened in 1985. Back then you could easily run into folks washing their crystals in the wall’s fresh water on a Sunday afternoon. This is considered to be an energy vortex within the city of Houston. Since I did feel more relaxed after my visit, I guess I could vouch for the healing properties of the location. However, on this day, there was no one cleansing crystals. Rather everyone there seemed to be caught up in the art of the selfie. Back in 1985 I didn’t own a cell phone. And even if I did, it would not have had a camera for me to take pictures of myself everywhere I went. But that’s okay, because I did not have a social media account for posting such pictures. Of course neither did anyone else. My how times have changed.
After this wonderful visit I realized that I was within walking distance to the Galleria. This was one of many places I had not set foot in since the beginning of the pandemic. Curiosity got the better of me and I put on my mask to venture inside. I felt so very brave and adventurous! Of course the first thing I saw was the ice skating rink with actual people skating. In this picture the Zamboni machine had just finished resurfacing the ice and children had received the all clear to resume skating. As I walked around this mall, I was pleasantly surprised at how many shops were still open and doing a good business. There were lines at the Lego store and a jewelry store whose name I can’t remember. The Galleria has more than a few jewelry stores. Some people wore masks and others didn’t. I wore mine and I also tried to maintain a good social distance from others.
The one thing I didn’t see were any hints of Halloween decorations. I have been keeping up with a countdown to my favorite holiday. I have been reading on Facebook how some across the country were seeing stores selling the season’s first ghosties and goblins and ghouls.….Oh My! In hopes of finding my first sighting of Halloween supplies for 2021, I went by Michael’s on the way home. Alas, it was not to be. Empty shelves. Fourth of July decorations gone. It is my hope that these shelves have been cleared out to make room for haunted bits of mischief.
I received a lot of help from my cat, Hannah. She has turned into a zoom queen as she would walk back and forth in front of the computer. When she wasn’t doing her “cat walk” she spent a good deal of time enjoying having the couch all to herself. I left out an assortment of warm and comfy blankets and she made herself comfortable. I actually think she found it a bit inconvenient when I would try to sit on the couch with her in the evenings so I could catch up on the daily news.
Of course there was that one pesky day when both Hannah and I were disrupted by some noisy tree trimmers outside my office window. Instead of receiving her usual accolades from the other zoomers, she was busy protecting her home. As you can see Hannah tried starring down the pesky hard working trimmers. She didn’t keep them from trimming branches, but they didn’t dawdle once they were done either. Hannah kept both me and herself safe from any falling branches. What a good watch cat.…especially while she was safe inside my home. Meanwhile, I am enjoying lots more sunlight coming through the windows even if I did lose a bit of shade during these hot summer months.
desk chair. This spot was ground zero for my marathon sessions. Apparently Hannah wanted me to take the day off from writing and zooming today. Well, except for this blog post. Since I am showing three pictures of her, she has given this bit of writing her “paw” of approval.
Cupcakes with candles! Just perfect for a celebration. What am I celebrating you might ask? Why, it’s the Third Birthday for the RoadBroads Blog! Now, doesn’t that make you feel festive? Works for me. No, I didn’t eat all three cupcakes by myself. I had help from a friend. I only ate the equivalent of one all by myself. Half red velvet cupcake and half chocolate cupcake to be exact. The flavor of the third cupcake will remain a mystery. Many thanks to the nice people at Sprinkles in Highland Village for the tasty treats.
RoadBroads is three years old? Back in 2018 Melanie and I took off on a road trip where we headed west to Boulder, Colorado for one of Max Regan’s 10-day writing intensives. During this trip we blogged on a daily basis to document our adventures. This is the Boulder Bookstore where we would meet daily with other writers to hone our craft. I also bought several books while I was there, because a writer never has enough books. In the evenings we had salons where we could share and discuss our recent writings. Whenever I was outside, I could see the Flatirons off in the distance. What a wonderful adventure.
through class meetings and salons. Max is joining us from Boulder, but other attendees are in Texas, California and Maryland, among other places. Instead of looking out the window to admire the Flatirons, I see the same neighborhood that I always see. Instead of staying at a nice Air B
Walking is my exercise of choice these days. I travel anywhere from 3 miles to 5 miles at a time. There is one nice neighborhood where I like to visit because there are a lot of short blocks where I can zig zag around and avoid things like leaf blowers and large barking dogs. Then the other day I came upon this little bear sitting along the side of the road propped up against a light pole. I couldn’t resist taking his picture and wondering how he got there. If he is lost, why hasn’t anyone come to look for him?
Happy Earth Day!!! Since the weather was clear and cool, I couldn’t resist going out into the wilds of the Houston Arboretum and visiting with some of my favorite plants, trees and animals. As soon as I arrived, Mr. Squirrel met me and beckoned me on. It looks as though all of nature decided to sprout, blossom and show off just for this particular occasion. What Mr. Squirrel was trying to tell me here was that there were many other nature elements waiting for me just inside. While this isn’t exactly a yellow brick road, I wasn’t hoping to meet any great wizards either. Not to worry, though. I always have my own flying monkeys if they are ever needed.
As always, there were many turtles. During this particular visit, I toured as many of the different ponds as I could find. The majority of the ponds were home to a wide variety of turtles. This particular reptile was most happy to sit on his favorite log and chat with me a while. He was also enjoying the fine spring weather. We both agreed that we were dreading the heat of July which was sure to come. This gentleman also made mention of the fact that there were many more turtles in the arboretum now than there used to be. More ponds, more room for more turtles. I wonder if the real estate market for arboretum wild life is as volatile as it is for us humans. I can understand birds wanting a nice high rise in the trees, but I don’t see that for four-legged creatures.
Next, I met Ms. Rabbit. She was most polite about sitting still while I took a good picture of her. Actually seeing a series of animals all sitting very still made me think. I began to envision a “union” of arboretum animals. Their job is to show up everyday just before sunrise and entertain the humans. Their duties include, but are not limited to, posing for pictures, looking cute and trying not to scare small children. At the end of the day.…say around dusk.….they all punch their little animal time clock and go home. Over dinner, they talk about the humans they saw that day just like we discuss our adventures in the arboretum.
Finally, I saw this beautiful egret. She stood very still admiring her domain. Then she did a bit of a dance where her neck went in one direction while her head and body went in another direction. Yes, I was very entertained. I wonder if this was her version of an “Earth Day Dance”?
her home. She assumed it was maybe a squirrel or a raccoon or something small. At some point the sounds got louder. This was an animal with large feet which made Sue wonder what the animal could be. Guess What? It was a 
Life kept moving along rather routinely for the new pandemic normal. Valentine’s Day 2021 was approaching. My Beloved and I were planning for a small and sweet celebration. Instead of going out to a crowded restaurant like we usually did, we determined which restaurant we would select for our takeout order. Of course we chose Govinda’s. Our now favorite vegetarian restaurant. On weekends and holidays their menu is vegan. What fun!!! This was our plan and a darn fine one it was. A romantic dinner, just the two of us, outside under the glow of a string of red heart lights.
a very festively decorated Govinda’s. The balcony was decorated, but the meal was moved inside. It was very nice, but all festivities were over by 4:00 p.m.
A week later the city has warmed back up again. One week the temperature outside was 14 degrees. Seven days later and the temps are back in the 70s. Ice has all melted and I have resumed walking outside for exercise. But not before taking a tumble on the sidewalk and bruising my left hand and wrist. Which, of course, makes typing a blog all that more fun. I hope you appreciate my efforts and suffering for my craft.
the trees, plants, turtles, crocodiles, birds and squirrels handled the wintry blast. I am happy to report that the animals seemed to have fared well. Turtles were resting on logs, birds were flying and squirrels were scampering. We did not see any crocodiles. Alas, several of the plants which had been green during our last visit are now brown.
