Month: October 2025

Every year, as we drift into the darkest days of fall, pumpkins, jack-o’-lanterns, and spooky decor arrive in our neighborhoods. Then, just when you think all is safe, nocturnal, costumed spirits visit our homes with petitions for tricks, or more often, the more desired, treats. They zip from door to door, sharing their fanciful charm and catching fun and festive Halloween vibes along the way.

I’ve been buying candy for the past four weeks. We now have a gigantic mountain of fun- and snack-sized sweets, all ready for our Friday visitors. The stash I have is about 10x what we actually need. I don’t know why, but I instinctively grab some each week. Sometimes it’s the variety, a special deal, or just the delight of having enough to pass around. Yes, they got me!

Do you like Halloween? The history is fascinating! You can trace it back a few millennia to the Celtic festival at the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. They saw this time as a bridge between the living and the dead, believing spirits would roam the earth. To ward off evil spirits, people lit bonfires and wore costumes. Many centuries later, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as All Saints’ Day (aka All Hallows’ Day), honoring martyrs, which meant that the day before, October 31, would be called Hallows’ Eve. We now call it Halloween. The blend of traditions somehow became the fun and spooky annual event that brings cute, costumed princesses, heroes, goblins, and ghouls to our neighborhoods.

I don’t know about you, but I love it! I can’t wait to see the characters of all ages visiting our home and roaming the neighborhood. It reminds me of my own childhood, doing the same, and the joy of taking my own kids on those fanciful evening visits.

Halloween ushers in a season of traditions, celebrations, and gatherings. Each year adds a ring of memories to our story. Layer upon layer, those previous years show up like ghosts, visiting us and bringing to mind fond and powerful sights, scents, and sounds. Spirits of our past, our departed friends and family, visit us. We remember them. We see them in photos and imagine them sitting in those empty chairs. We savor those precious times and are grateful for the gift of memory that lets those spirits visit us once more.

As we go into this season, I encourage you all to live each day to the fullest. Cherish the fun. Treasure the spirits that visit you. Enjoy the traditions that decorate our days! Life is short, so be sure to buy plenty of candy.

Happy Halloween!

They are like waves. Every day rolls in and crashes on the sandy beach of our lives. A gentle swell forms as the sunlight bends over the horizon. The shadows of the night’s slumber deepen and then disappear as the crest of the day roars to life. Noon welcomes the midday cap, foaming and churning as the evening gravity pulls the day’s energy into the afternoon churning surf. Soon, the evening beach catches the breaking swash of the ending day, spreading out the final momentum as the fading sound bubbles across the glistening night sky. The ebb of today retreats to form a new tomorrow. 

At first glance, every day looks the same. They crash upon our lives with a dependable rhythm. We can gaze upon our calendar and even see the forming swells of tomorrow. We can predict the sights and sounds that will be much like today, or yesterday, or the day before. But the truth is, every day is different. Some will come in with a roar, some with a gentle whisper. Each day has a new energy. It may follow the same flow, but the story will be different. It will wash new memories into your life. New encounters. New adventures. New challenges. Every day is unique. It is a gift, a precious experience that will soon fade tonight and begin anew.

Look out into the ocean. Your day is arriving. What does it look like today? How will you meet it? What will it bring? I don’t know about you, but I’m going in! I’m ready. I feel the cool foam of yesterday on my feet and can hear the new crescendo rising. Today’s crest is approaching, and it looks magnificent. I think I’ll take this one, enjoy it, and embrace the energy as it carries me through the joys and trials of today’s story.

Will you join me?

The gilded season is upon us! In our neighborhood, the transformation has already begun. The autumn landscape has started its cool, crisp transition into golden yellows, rich browns, and vibrant reds. Nature herself is adorning our part of the world in a lavish royal cloak before settling into her deep winter’s slumber. Slowly, the redshift of fall will bleed into the foliage, trees, and lawns, washing away the summer emeralds and crystallizing the blazing hues of the year’s final sunset days.

During this time of year, nature unspools her tapestry with a breathtaking flourish. A cool, crisp breeze heralds the transition as the emerald city fades, and the world ignites in a golden age. It’s as if the earth itself is donning a lavish royal mantle. Each tree and bush, jeweled in autumn’s opulence, readies itself for winter’s gentle, silent embrace. Slowly, the vibrant memory of summer unravels. Sunsets linger longer on the horizon, their fiery hues crystallizing in the leaves, a final, brilliant coronation before surrendering to the tranquil blues and silver grays of winter’s winds.

This parade of color, a dazzling spectrum over the year’s shoulder, is a spectacle to behold. In these brief, gilded days, the world is radiant, serene, and wistfully beautiful. It reminds us that all things change. Every story, every transition, and every year must come to an end. Our journey around the sun has entered its final act of the year. It reminds us to reflect, to appreciate, and to celebrate the brilliance before it slips quietly beneath the frost. Fall is here. The gilded season is upon us.

It’s time to remember and bid farewell to summer, and to welcome and embrace these new golden days. Take time this week to notice the change, soak in the emerging colors, and prepare yourself for the season ahead. And yes, you may need a jacket.