This is the time of year that has me all messed up mentally, and it makes me grumpy.

- Hating the fall having taken over from a summer that never seemed to happen because of all the normal events that were cancelled.
- The dimming of the light, and the oncoming time change that will make that all the starker.
- Stores that barely put away beach towels and flip flops are now showing shelves of Halloween goodies. Next aisle over is the Christmas stuff.
- One friend reported snow in Chicago, and others were out picking out a tree at a Christmas Tree farm for later delivery. And it was 80 degrees here Friday.

The mixed up holiday season overlapping the transition between nature's seasons feels like it's in some unrealistic aggravating never-never land: it's neither one thing nor another. Folks always say we have rose-colored glasses in nostalgia, but in reality, the things I nostalgically remember are what gave me a sense of the cycle of the year. Back to School supplies were only slowly replaced by Halloween do dads & candy, and all that was well put away before Thanksgiving trappings came out. Then there was the semi-magical Black Friday event where the day after Thanksgiving, all the Christmas decor made it's FIRST appearance. But this part of the end of October seems to be victim of the feeling that there are no longer appropriate seasons for things.

Ok I got that off my chest / end rant.

Joanne in Cleveland