Goodbye October, Hello, November

I’m back to my blog, after visiting my daughter to make carrot soup and raspberry muffins and do some ferrying, surviving L.A. traffic. I loved her map to Jamba Juice: a perfect rectangle from her home to a corner, unlike the twisting roads in these parts, but for me it was adventure, with no harm done. I got to see Em’s and her roommate Colleen’s new apartment and meet their new dog and watch lots of movies while Em put on ice packs. On Saturday, Colleen, who works at Barnes and Noble, dressed up as Harry Potter for Story Hour, then came home with complaints of parents who thought their kids should focus on candy, not stories, and were aghast that if they wanted to bring home a book they needed to pay for it. Em and I did some shopping, going into a shoe store the size of a football field, where she still couldn’t find the silver sandals she wanted to complete her Captain America Halloween outfit. Generally it was a fun time to be in L.A., when I’d look around and wonder: is that a costume or  --not?


 
I got back just after the October Northeaster. No harm done at home, though we spent some time without and longer without Internet. I spent Wednesday afternoon among many wanting internet and outlets at Panera Bread, which I’d heard had been breadless the day before. As it was, all the soup was gone. I managed to read my students’ work and get it back, though it was hard to concentrate in the climate of people telling stories about what they’d been doing to stay warm.
 
Now, yay, for just dogs-with-an-eye-on-squirrel noises, the cat watching my elbow, drinking coffee Peter made me. Power. Internet. Sun, even if my view is of snow below trees with yellow and red leaves.