Coming to the End of October

The Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series and all the ball players are headed for their winter homes.

Here in Shamong, the autumn leaves are streaming from the skies. The colors are still pretty, but they're fading fast. The air is fresher. You need a heavier coat now. Speaking of heavier coats, the woolly caterpillars don't look particularly heavily clothed. We've seen several in the last few days. Maybe it will be a mild winter.

There was a complete eclipse of the moon the other night. We had too much of a cloud cover here in South Jersey so I didn't get any pictures.

I see in today's news that a new species of humans has been discovered on a tropical island between Asia and Australia, a pygmy-like creature that appears to have been a mighty hunter some 18,000 years ago.

Pictures of Titan, one of the 33 known moons of the planet Saturn, are being sent back to earth from the Cassini spacecraft and are puzzling scientists who have found no evidence of fluid of any kind on Titan which, we are told, is as big as the planet Mercury.

The political campaigns are reaching the end. Shortly, we'll know which direction our country is headed for the next four years - or maybe not. Many pundits are predicting a wild finish that will leave us all hanging.

It's an interesting world!

On With the Show

This day has begun inauspiciously (gee, haven't used that word in a while!). It's cloudy and bleak. Looks like it could rain again. Dickie and I did manage to get our morning walk in. They're expecting rain in St. Louis tonight, too, for the third game of the World Series which I'm hoping the Cardinals will win. My team kind of got creamed up there in Boston. Maybe some home-cooking will do them some good.

There's not much to report around here today. We tried to get some flu shots yesterday, but the place was so mobbed we decided to skip it for the time being. Hope we don't live to regret that.

I've been working on my November web page and reading a good book, "The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth. Watched the last half of "The Lost Prince" on PBS last night. It's the story of Prince John, the brother of King George V. Here's a link, if you want to know more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lostprince/matthew_thomas.shtml .

My Picture of the Day

For months I've been submitting digital photos to BestFoto.com in an effort to get one posted as the picture of the day. I finally managed to do it on Tuesday, October 19. Here's the URL that will get you there: http://www.bestfoto.com/ . To see it on site after today, you'll have to check the "archives" for October 19; but, just to make sure you see the picture, here it is below:



I've had a great time taking pictures over the past ten months, but getting one chosen for "Picture of the Day" has been a special treat.

The Cards and the Astros

Wow! My last post on this blog site was nine days ago. It's amazing how fast time flies when you're having fun!

Dickie and I had a visit from acquaintances from years ago last week. The Grosses stopped by for a couple days. They've been doing that every 45 years now! At least, it was about 45 years ago that we last saw them. Took them down to Atlantic City so they could satisfy their urge to gamble. Didn't win anything but we had fun trying.

At the moment I'm excited about the prospects of my favorite basball team, the St. Louis Cardinals. They beat the Astros, 10 to 7, last night in the first game of the NLCS. I like the Cards' pennant chances at this point. Don't know about the World Series. Looks like whoever wins in the NL will play the Yanks for all the marbles. That could be tough.

I didn't see too much of the Bush/Kerry debate last night, although Dickie watched the whole thing and we recorded it so I could watch it, if the spirit moves me. I've already made up my mind as to how I'll vote, so watching the debate doesn't seem that important anymore.

A Beautiful Day in New Jersey

Hey! The sun is shining brightly today. It's a little brisk, but invigorating. Dickie and I didn't walk this morning, since we had some chores to tend to. Maybe we'll still get a walk in later. It looks like a great day to take pictures. I think I'll grab my camera and take a look around.

My Cardinals played a great game yesterday and beat the Dodgers 8 to 3 in the first game of the playoffs. They looked strong! Hope they can keep it up.

We're expecting company this afternoon. Gordon and Evelyn Gross (from Colorado) will be arriving for a brief stay. Haven't seen them in 46 years or more. Should be fun catching up on the between times.

I've been reading Bill Clinton's "My Life" for the last few weeks and I'm coming down the home stretch. It won't win any Pulitzer prize, but it's interesting. How the man managed to do as much as he did, with all the constant nagging of the opposition, is amazing. Of course, he made a monumental mistake, but the hounds were after him, even without that mistake and, that they didn't succeed in bringing him down, is a testimony to his own intelligence and strength.

The Baseball Season Is Over

Looks like all the races have been decided now. The Cardinals will play the Dodgers in St. Louis on Tuesday at 12:09 CST according to Mike Shannon. The Astros will play the Braves in Atlanta, I suppose. In the American League, the Yankees will play the Minnesota Twins and the Red Sox will be the guests of the Anaheim Angels, I believe. Should be an interesting round of playoffs!

Raining Again

Well, I had a whole new post composed, but I made a wrong choice and blew the whole thing. I'm too lazy to do the whole thing over today, so I'll content myself with this. I do notice that this editor is just like any other web page editor. You can change the color of the text, resize it, link to another site, even post a picture, it appears, although it was while I was trying to do that that I blew my first composition today. I'll have to work on that one.

October Begins

I've been patiently waiting for more of my relatives and some of my friends to post a comment or two on this blog site, but, so far, no luck. I'm beginning to think it's too hard for people to figure out how to post a comment.

All you have to do is click on the word "comment" (in yellow) at the end of this post. You'll see a pencil appear and find that the words at the end of this post will change slightly to: "Post a Comment". When you click on those words, you will bring up the "Sign In" page. Since you are not a registered blogger, click on the little blue line that reads "Or post anonymously". You just click on that and start typing in the dialog box that comes up. When you're finished writing, just click on "Submit".

You can say whatever you want here. Tell us how your day is going or what you had for breakfast or what the weather is like in your part of the world. This isn't really a "public" site. I haven't advertised it anywhere except on my web page. Come on! Don't be chicken! Jump in.