For Day 3: Motherhood and Reproduction for 14valentines


By the time my son arrived, I’d been coming out to people for twenty years – for so long that I didn’t even think about it any more, that it didn’t even occur to me that I was coming out any more. I was just talking about my life.

( Coming )

I feel I have been taking good advantage of my summer recently! In the past two weeks I have seen the Gaslight Anthem twice -- once in Philly at Penns Landing by the river, which was an awesome show, and once in Jersey at the Stone Pony summerstage, which was a good show but not quite as awesome due to being in basically a hot parking lot full of drunk people plus not a super-long show. I do love Asbury Park, though, and we had a really good dinner there on the boardwalk first. Also had dinner in Philly, went out and had a great dinner and a lot of wine w/my sister & brother & sister-in-law, hung out at my dad's pool and hot tub, went to the farmer's market a bunch, consumed I think my body weight in delicious fresh produce, saw Inception and The Other Guys, read some good books and have just generally been having a really good time. One thing I have been thinking, though, is while a few of my favorites came out with new albums at the beginning of the summer, I haven't really discovered any new and awesome bands this summer. So if you have recommendations for good new summer music, tell me about them!

The heat has been keeping me away from my computer upstairs, and from updating lj. But we had rain today and the heat broke, which is good, as i think it's been making everyone out of sorts. My sister and I went to see The Kids Are All Right today, and the first theater we went to, the air conditioning was out in the theater with that movie only, and so we had to go over to the theater in Princeton. In line at Princeton, everyone kept bitching about standing outside in the heat (it's a small 2-screen (I think) theater, and even w/a line with about 9 people in it at a time, we had to stand outside), and how hard was it to say "two please" or make change, or whatever. (Also 3/4 of the line was people who had been at the first no-AC theater with us.) Then inside the theater, which was pretty crowded, a fight broke out over someone saving seats! An old-people fight, at least.

Some guy had put his coat over two seats while he stayed in the lobby looking for his friend or lover or son (my sister was in the bathroom for the part where he explained who he was waiting for to the people in front of us, and I heard son, but the guy who eventually came in did NOT look like his son) to give him his ticket. He'd asked the two older women in front of us, who were sitting behind his seats, to save the seats for him, and he came back in a couple of times to make sure the seats were there. Right as I was sitting down, I heard him ask if it was hard to save them, and they said, "Oh, no." Then he went out to the lobby, and trouble came in. In the form of another older woman, who looked at the jacket, then sat down in the seat and told her husband to sit down too. When the women in front of us told her (relatively politely) the seats were saved, she said, "Where are they? Who's saving them? You're not saving them, you're not sitting here!" and sat down. The women kept arguing with her, and her husband tried to point out 2 equally good seats in the next row, and finally a woman at the end of the row said she'd move over so they could sit at the end of the row. Then the guy comes back in, the women who'd been watching his seats told him what happened, and he started asking questions, and the couple who'd tried to take his seats heard him and started saying things to him, and he kept saying, "Sir, it's not a big deal, I'm not interested in talking about this, I'm NOT INTERESTED," and the woman's husband told him he had a big mouth. Then the guy went out to look for his friend again, and this time to save the seats he took off his flip-flops and put one on each of the seats, and walked out through the theater *barefoot* to find his friend. I was riveted by this whole display.

( The Kids Are All Right )

I have been mostly away from my computer a lot lately, due to the heat, and now to escape the heat here I am going to Washington DC in July! I have to go to DC most summers for a few days for work, and I always like to tack on a day or two, to see friends and to go look at something historic. One of these days I'd like to stay for a solid few days of vacation or a week or something, to really see all the sights I always mean to, but I kind of like dropping in and out as well.

In other news, I read a great story last night, Kiss Breath Turpentine by frausorge, which is Pete/Ryan, with such an interesting and tangled dynamic between them, along with frausorge's always lovely and telegraphic writing. You should read it!

I've also been watching some TV:

( SYTYCD )

( Friday )

I have been doing a lot of things lately, most of them fun, but all of them keeping me busy. This weekend I went to the Appel Farms Music Festival. It was unreasonably hot for Jersey in early June, so we went late in the day. We saw Patty Griffin, who was good although she played mostly her newest gospel album (at least that I heard -- I was kind of wandering around the farm for a while) and I wasn't familiar with it. Then the Avett Brothers played -- I'd never seen them before, and they were the reason we made the trek down south, and they were fantastic! They sounded really good, and they were so high energy, and just another band that really seemed to enjoy being up there playing, which always makes the show that much greater. Highly recommended -- I wish they were playing more around here, though my sister said they might be in PA somewhere in August, I think, so maybe we'll see them then.

In the theme of my new music summer, I have been listening a lot to the new album by the National a lot, which I'm really enjoying. Not in the theme of my new music summer, I have been listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell and James Taylor lately (I read a book about Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon, and one of the big takeaways was that James Taylor was apparently irresistible, despite being an incredible mess of a heroin addict all the time. Who knew? About the irresistible thing, not the heroin addiction).

And I actually wrote a story, a while ago at this point, for Remix/Redux, a remix of redsnake05's story Composition and framing, [The Shape of the Nearest Surface]. It's Jon/Tom, of course.

Here are some things I am finding awesome:

My brother emailed me a link to the style rookie's post about Sassy, dear departed Sassy. I remember the Kurt & Courtney cover! And the Dear Boy column.

I burst out laughing in a restaurant yesterday when I read, thanks to riorhapsody, that The Academy Is will be on tour with KISS this summer. Sometimes I would really like to see TAI's decision-making tree. Like, what is the process you go through to get to, you know what's the next logical step in our career? TOUR WITH KISS. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome, but I'd like to hear how that happens.

Also, I am currently enjoying this picture, which is clearly a picture of international film star Bill Beckett being accosted by an autograph-seeking tourist from Poughkeepsie:



Also I am enjoying the new Josh Ritter album.

I have not posted in a long time, and I'm very tempted to start out with an update about the weather! Probably because I'm in a phase right now where my mood is mainly driven by one of two factors: whether it's beautiful and sunny out or raining; and/or if my lawn has just been mowed or if I'm bringing shame on my house in front of the neighbors.

Speaking of neighbors, the other night at like nine o'clock I was sitting up in my office working on the computer, and I had the windows open and thought I heard knocking, but it went away and I figured it was from next door or something. Then suddenly I heard someone yelling from the street below, "Hey! Hey, I forget your first name! I see you! Hey! Come down!" and I looked out in the street and the old guy who lives across the way was standing in the middle of the street, looking up at my window and waving his arms and yelling. So I figured something was wrong so I ran downstairs, where he told me he'd noticed that a branch had fallen in my backyard. (It had, it was pushed neatly to the side next to my shed so my dad could come up and chop it up and take it away.) My neighbor told me he'd pulled it across my yard out to the street, and he wanted to give me the name of "the girl" I call at the borough to get them to come by and chip it. He knew the number by heart. Which, I mean, this was a nice gesture, but I don't see why the urgency and the yelling. Also, I was in my pajama pants. Neighbors, man.

In other news, I've been planning to see some shows this summer. I'm going to see the Avett Brothers at a music festival the first weekend in June, and then Gaslight Anthem twice, once at Penns Landing and once at the Stone Pony, and then the Hold Steady again. I don't think I'm going to get to see Empires on this east coast swing, which is disappointing, but I'm sure they'll be back. Summer always makes me want to listen to music -- I am still loving the new Hold Steady, and looking forward to the new Gaslight, but if you have any recommendations for good summer music I'd love to hear them.

New Hold Steady album streaming on npr.org -- I'm so excited for this, I can't wait to have it on my ipod so I can listen to it in my car as I drive around all summer long. There are three albums I'm dying for that should all be coming out relatively soon -- this one, the new Josh Ritter, and the new Gaslight Anthem. I'm also excited for summer/fall tours!

New Hold Steady song, The Weekenders. I got a little choked up listening, it's my favorite so far. Although I suppose I could take Hurricane J as a shout-out, but seriously, no one wants to be the girl in a Hold Steady song.

Lovely weekend after a pretty rough week -- Friday we went to Montclair, hung out in the sunshine, had dinner and then saw Wilco. It was an exhilarating show, really amazing. I've seen Wilco and/or Jeff Tweedy solo probably upwards of 15 times at this point, and I thought the show I saw last summer, on the ballpark tour, outside on a gorgeous summer night with everyone I loved best in the world, was probably the perfect show, but Friday night was fabulous. They were rocking, it was so much fun.

Saturday I screwed around doing a bunch of things. I was planning to start doing something about the garden I want to plant this summer. As I told my sister, I kind of started, and she said, "Do you mean you bought a book about gardens?" And yes, that is what I meant. My Mad Men Season 3 DVDs arrived, too, which I have been eagerly awaiting since I mainlined S1 and 2 this winter. I am trying to ration them out but I think I'll burn through pretty quickly.

Today I actually did spend a couple of hours sorting out my front yard, getting the windowboxes and the small beds ready for planting. I still have to sort out the side yards, then plan what I want to plant and how. I have a lot of shade in the front yard, due to some large old trees, but back and side yards are sunnier, and I'm thinking about doing some containers on the deck. Good thing I bought that book!

New Hold Steady single streaming here -- I heard it on XPN as I was pulling into the parking lot at Trader Joe's today (wow, I win all the bourgeois points there -- I was listening to member-supported public radio as I pulled my Toyota into the parking lot at Trader Joe's in Princeton. I think it would only be better if I drove a Prius) and I wasn't listening to what the DJ was saying, then the song came on and I was like, "wow, this sounds like the Hold Steady -- is there a Hold Steady song I don't know -- oh, they have the new album coming out soon, it must be the new single!" I like it a lot. From interviews I'd been slightly concerned, as there was a lot of talk about fewer anthems, etc., but it sounds a lot like the Hold Steady to me.

Remix/Redux 8 is open for sign-ups! I always love this challenge, I think it's so interesting. Bandom (MCR, panic/TYV, and FOB) is a qualifying fandom, so I hope some bandom people sign up. Also, it looks like popslash is included as a qualifying fandom this year.

Had a really nice weekend -- beautiful weather, lots of time outside, got lots of stuff around the house done. Hope we have many more like this past one coming up soon.

Here's the kind of day I had: when I drove in, our office manager had parked in my parking space, which was odd, because she usually only does that when she knows I'm going to be out all day in meetings or something, but I figured she must have misread my calendar or something. Then when I walked in, my boss said, "What are you doing here?" I was like, i work here, and she said, "You took today off." Yes, I FORGOT I had the day off. So I worked anyway, because I was there, and I'm going to take off next Monday. Still. That's a bad start to the day!

So, those Empires fellas, they're pretty great! Bang is really good. I don't know why I feel surprised, I really liked Howl and all the singles, but it's really satisfying, I'm very pleased. Sadly, my pleasure is dimmed by the tragedy that is Tom's hair right now. What happened? I don't understand. I feel like I'm in some cautionary tale about being careful what you wish for, I spent so much time wishing for Mike Carden to get a decent haircut and to my surprise he did. I never thought I had to worry about Tom -- his hair had always been above reproach (a testament to the old wives' tale that washing your hair in beer (or spilling beer over it) keeps it looking good), but now look what's happened. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not horrifying or Cardenesque (in the classic sense), but still. Attention must be paid. I can only hope this situation will be remedied soonest.

And The Young Veins -- they're like a real band now, huh? I'm actually kind of surprised they've gotten it together, but also pleased. Admittedly the video I saw from the show was not good quality, but they were pretty good, and I loved the promo pictures. Ryan looks great, in his Ryan-ish way, and Jon, well, I have long said that he's one of those people who is completely transformed by a haircut (I have said this mostly to imogenics and my cat, but they both agree with me). I can only hope that touring in a van and hauling their shit around will make Jon's arms like awesome like they have in the past. Speaking of which, I hope that the Young Veins actually playing shows and touring around in a van will produce the Holy Grail of photographs: a) Jon & Tom in the same place at the same time at SXSW; and b) Ryan carrying heavy things or doing manual labor. We can only dream.

The purimgifts stories have started going live! So far I've received two fantastic Gilmore Girls stories:

Cupcakes Take the Cake, a great story about Lorelei as a mom, and young Rory, and cupcakes; and

Tart but Sweet, another great story about Lorelei and Emily and wedding cake (are you sensing a theme?)

The only problem -- these stories made me hungry, and there are neither cupcakes nor wedding cakes at my house.

from softlyforgotten and blindmouse:

Give me between three and five first lines from your own fics, and I'll write a comment-length ficlet using the same first line. Please include a link to the fic along with the line!

I reserve the right to:

a) pick and choose between replies depending on what strikes an idea, without anybody thinking I'm rejecting their lines as not good enough! (because that will have nothing to do with it, seriously), and

b) give the ficlet a different pairing to the original, or different characters/a completely different fandom if the first line doesn't actually mention names!

I'm feeling a little sick today and so I'm hanging out on the couch watching the Olympics. But not very carefully, as evidenced when my sister called and said she was watching the Olympics too. "I don't know what sport this is," I said. "It's skating -- "

"Skiing," she said.

"And shooting arrows."

"I'm pretty sure they're shooting bullets," she said, "because they have guns." Whatever, I'm sick.

( the perfect album )

I have also been using my sick couch time to read the paper, so I will leave you with this Valentine's day link about Victorian personal ads: [The happy gentleman must be wealthy, stylish, handsome and fascinating].

I am not at all sorry to see January end, I have to say. Kind of a rough month, busy too, and I always love February, a short winter month, my birthday month.

I did my taxes this weekend -- hurray for mortgage interest deductions -- and also took the cat to the vet. He was very sweet AT THE START, so much so that the vet asked if he was always this friendly, then behaved very, very badly -- howling, hissing, ran away and had to be chased through the animal hospital, tried to bite the vet. I actually got worried that he was sick or something was wrong and he was in pain, but the vet said he was just ornery. Apparently he's in perfect health. "Keep doing what you're doing," the vet told him, so I guess eating a lot and 19 hours of sleep a day are good practices. A lesson for us all.

There's about nine million things I'm going to write this month, my help_haiti story and bandombigbang (once I decide on what I'm writing for bigbang, but I'm almost decided. I know what I'm writing for help_haiti.) I've been reading a lot lately too, though, and that always gives me ideas for AUs I would like. imogenics got to hear about the horrible book about the mail order bride in 1860s Seattle, and of course the natural progression to Tom Conrad: Hot Mail Order Bride. But I also just finished a quite good novel that had as its background British suffragists, their friendships and projects artistic works and alliances and dissensions, and it made me want an AU with The Like, bosom friends, sleeping in the same beds when they're not sitting up all night talking and working, Tennessee maybe running a printing press for their magazine, serious and dedicated, and Z the charismatic center of their group, a little careless but inspired when she wants to be, criticized for the frivolity of her dress and her speech but refusing to change, or even to talk about changing. She smokes sometimes, in public, more to occasion talk than because she likes it the petty gossips say, but Tenn knows she smokes even more in private, cigarettes with red lipstick traces scattered through Tennessee's rooms in Z's wake. Sometimes Tennessee picks them up and puts her lips where Z's have been, so gently that she doesn't smudge the marks Z left. There's more Z leaves in her wake, in Tenn's rooms, magazine articles with outraged notes scribbled in the margins, a small evening bag with a thin gold bracelet inside. A sheaf of manuscript pages, a half-finished story, tossed in a corner, half-hidden by a thin abandoned white chemise edged in lace.

I finally managed to break my ipod at the gym last night -- I dropped it (for the third time) on the concrete floor. The first time I dropped it, about a quarter of the screen blacked out, and the second time I dropped it more of the screen blacked out and I bent the bottom where it docks somehow so I had to jam it into my ipod dock when I used it. But it worked. Last night after I dropped it, the entire screen went white so I couldn't read anything, but it did play. However, this morning it was completely dead. It's several years old so it doesn't owe me anything, but I rely on my ipod a lot -- I listen to it constantly when I drive, at the gym, and a lot at home. I'm thinking of getting a nano to replace it -- I have an iphone, but given the way I apparently throw my ipod around (although I'm going to try to stop, i swear, i don't mean to), I want another ipod instead of relying only on my phone.

Other than that, which really isn't bad in the scheme of things, my week has greatly improved over last. A work presentation that had been hell last week went well when it actually happened on Monday, and another one scheduled for tomorrow has been delayed till next week, so that's a relief.

From viggorlijah, ( meme: 7 habits/quirks/facts about yourself )

I slept in until incredibly late today and I feel so good as a result. I do have to do a little work today, putting a powerpoint together, and I worked for a while Saturday night, but for most of today I'm planning to do not much of anything. I might try to finish my current book (Ten Days in the Hills) and watch some episodes of last season's Lost -- I'm trying to catch up before the new season starts.

How much fun was the no_tags challenge last week? I really enjoyed writing with such a quick deadline, and it was great to see all those stories coming over my friendslist. One thing that writing my ficlet made me think about is that while there are two times I love thinking about equally -- Tom on tour w/panic after leaving TAI, and, well, right now, Jon out of panic and (in my mind, at least), trying to put things together with some help from Tom -- there is basically one story I wanted to tell about Tom on tour with panic, but I feel like I could write about a million stories about Jon and Tom in various permutations set right about now (and appear to be well on my way to doing so!). Maybe because I thought about the story about Tom on tour for a very long time before I wrote it, I don't know.

In other news, I have had a chance to watch a little TV lately: ( Project Runway )

Writers have been revealed at no_tags! I wrote a ficlet, Patches for the Holes, in response to the prompt Tom/Jon, post-divorce bff-ness.

[Patches for the Holes]
TYV, Empires. Tom & Jon. PG. Did you know that the first circus was in ancient Rome, and featured chariot racing, animals, and barely repressed homosexuality?

( Patches for the Holes )

Thanks to airgiodslv for organizing the challenge!

I've made a donation to Doctors Without Borders and I'm also offering a story at help_haiti.

My offer is here. I'm offering a 1,000 word story in bandom (patd, the young veins, empires, TAI, The Like, Greta); The Wire; Deadwood; or Gilmore Girls (Rory/Paris or gen), or if there's something you know I write feel free to ask.

popoffacork authors are revealed! (let me know if I got anything wrong or forgot anyone!) Thank you so much to everyone for participating, and especially to everyone who wrote a pinch hit (or volunteered to, everyone's always really great about that)!

This year I wrote [thieves like us], a Jon/Tom story (I know everyone is shocked).

[thieves like us]
Jon/Tom. Written for just_katarin in popoffacork. 4,000 words. Is it really stealing if you only take what no one wants anyway?

( thieves like us )

popoffacork stories are live! 40 stories, and I haven't had a chance to read all of them yet but so far they've all been winners.

I wrote a story for popoffacork of course, but I can't talk about that for a week. I also wrote a story for yuletide, which I can talk about now: Things Too Wild for Their Words, a Where the Wild Things Are story. When I signed up this year, I decided only to offer a few fandoms, most of them old favorites, but then at the last minute I saw Where the Wild Things Are on the fandom list and signed up for it. Of course I was assigned that, and I really loved writing the story. The movie is a favorite of mine, and it was really interesting to play in that world for a little while.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to pinch hit for popoffacork -- I was actually out of town yesterday and today and trying to organize everything with my phone and spotty Internet, so I know that I might not have responded to everyone, or at least not quickly and I apologize for that, but I really appreciate everyone who volunteered. It definitely made me happy instead of anxious, so thank you! At this point, as long as none of the pinch hitters have any emergencies or anything and the one person still with an extension comes through, I think we're all covered! And I've been peeking at some of the stories as I check them in and there's definitely a lot of good ones to look forward to :)

I was feeling a bit disgruntled about popoffacork last night and this morning, as there was a higher than usual rate of people not turning in stories and not responding to me, including someone who I really couldn't believe hadn't answered my email following up on a missing story -- I was actually getting concerned that something had happened to her, it was so unlike her. Then I checked my email this morning on my phone and saw a story had been submitted, but when i got to my computer I could find no trace of it. So I tracked it down, finally and weirdly, to my Spam folder, where it had been moved somehow, and also found a couple of stories there, including the one from the person I'd been concerned about (who had of course submitted on time). Thanks, gmail! Though now I'm a lot happier, and feeling a little less like my emails are invisible or something.

That said, I'm in need of pinch hits for two final (I hope!) stories -- if you have some time to write a story in the next couple of days, please let me know, especially MCR and FOB writers. Thanks!

Snowpocalypse 2009 has begun, along with my vacation. 16 days off before I go back to work -- the past two weeks were crazy but I have earned my vacation. Last night I was really dreading being snowed in, i don't know why. I still have xmas shopping and other errands to run but wasn't planning to really go shopping till Monday anyway. But today I'm not minding so much. I didn't set my alarm this morning and slept in as long as I wanted, and then lay around watching the snow and reading. Now I'm on the couch with my Christmas tree lit up, watching Cabaret and drinking hot chocolate and watching the snow. At some point I should finish my yuletide story, but I'm not even stressed about that. Yay vacation.

I've been trying to do some writing to get warmed up for all the challenge stories.

[all exits look the same]
Jon and Tom, out in the cold. 2,300 words.

( all exits look the same )

No shopping for me today, I hate crowds and Black Friday is basically my idea of hell, so I am ensconced in my house on this very gray November day. I have a bunch of things I'd like to do -- clean, write, make turkey soup -- but apparently I am screwing around on the Internet and having an impromptu Michael Pitt film festival, Murder by Numbers and now Last Days. I may go out to the gym and the drugstore later, but maybe not.

It's that time of year, and I love to send holiday cards, so if you'd like one, please give me your address! (Even if you think I have it -- I just moved and am still having trouble finding some things.)

Poll #1491161 Holiday Cards
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 18

Name:

Address:

Address:

Address:

I just set the out of office assistant message on my work email and so I'm officially off work till Tuesday! Very excited, I'm looking forward to relaxing. Usually I make a fancy side dish to take to my dad's -- his wife makes the big dinner -- but this year I'm bringing a nice bottle of wine as my contribution. I like to cook but I've been cooking a lot and am looking forward to a little break; I'd make a dessert but we have pies we get from the farmer's market in a 20+ year tradition, so dessert-making will have to wait till xmas. I've had a lot going on, and will continue to, so I'm just taking it easy this weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to see An Education, and I'm hoping to see at least one more movie this weekend, and Monday my sister and I have a yearly tradition of going Christmas shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

In other news, I really liked the little video empires posted -- I'm excited for more music! Also, just glad to hear more from them. Certain other bands could take note, I'm just saying.

Dear Yuletide Writer --

I pretty much covered everything that's important to me in my sign-up, but just in case:

( The Wire )
( RPF - Hip-hop, Beyonce Knowles, Jay-Z )
( The Like )

Here's a post about some things I find romantic in stories -- although absolutely no need to write anything romantic if you're not feeling it, I'd be very happy with gen for any of these, especially The Wire.

Thanks so much!

I mostly hung around the house today, except for running out for a pumpkin latte. I walked for two miles, did not rake my lawn, cleaned the whole house, and filed a bunch of papers relating to money and the house. I also made a sausage ragout for dinner and am now sitting around drinking a pumpkin ale and working on the popoffacork matches. That should mix well with alcohol -- you might want to double check those assignments when you get them! I kid, I kid, I would never do something so important unless I was sober as a judge.

Today is new (to me) music Sunday chez jae -- I purchased three albums I've been wanting for a while: The Gaslight Anthem, Sink or Swim, b/c I've been loving The 59 Sound for forever and they were great in concert and I'm hoping to see them again in December; The Mountain Goats, The Life of the World to Come, b/c I have been wanting it for a while; and The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You, b/c I am a wretched hipster. Or really, b/c they've been playing a song i love on XPN and that I remembered that that is basically how I found two groups I love, The Hold Steady and The Gaslight Anthem, from getting obsessed with a song I heard on XPN. (Also, I do sometimes like bands without the word The in their names.)

Fall back means I'm up early and well-rested, which is a nice change. It's a very gray and somewhat chilly day here, and I am thinking about lazing about the house for most of the day, doing some cleaning, maybe starting a new book. I have to do the matchups for popoffacork sometime today, which will take me a while -- I think we have more people than we've had before but I haven't really done a good count.

Halloween was crazy in my little town yesterday. I was kind of bummed b/c it was my aunt's surprise birthday party yesterday, smack in the middle of the day, and my dad wanted me to go but I thought I'd miss trick-or-treaters at my house. Then when I tried to leave at around 5:30 (I was there since 2!) my other aunt was all, She's about to open presents, you can't leave! and I had to hang around for another hour. I love my family, but these things that start at 2 kill my whole day, as it takes me over an hour to drive there. But when I came home there was still tons of stuff going on -- tons and tons of kids & parents on the streets ,and all the old Victorian houses were all decorated as haunted houses, with lights and fake fog and scary music. It was really fun! Of course, half an hour later it started to rain really hard so I still have a ton of candy.

Since I was going to South Jersey anyway yesterday I stopped at the farmer's and got some really delicious-looking, really large winesaps, just picked, and a big butternut squash.