For a host of people, the day before Halloween means you put the final touches on your yard decorating and your scary drainage ditches in your neighborhood! I was laughing with a bit of surprise today when my friend showed me photos of how her neighbors put some cute and creepy killer-clown decorations inside the drainage ditches on her street! Don't get me wrong, I think it's hilarious, but you have to wonder if they'll lose their property either by fate or by the weather! It's cool though. I think Halloween has gotten out of hand really, but it's still a very visited and anticipated holiday. Can we even call it a holiday? The facts are clear that the next day, November 1, is the true holiday. It's All Saints Day! The word "Halloween" is a combination word, "Hallow" means to be revered, and the "ween" part is another word for evening, so Halloween is the evening of All Saints Day. Cool, huh? It's also a Scottish thing, just in case you didn't know. Seriously, it is. Google that.
NOVEMBER!! Oh, I can't say enough about the month of November. Oh, it is MY month. I celebrate it from the tip of the top to the very last drop of the hour on the last of its days. I love the month, and because it is my birthday month, I typically end up spoiling myself just a wee bit more than I do most other months. You have to know I'm very very good to myself. If I want something, I find a way to get it. If I can't make it happen, I find a way to survive. Today, although not officially a November day, was close enough to the date to allow me the pleasures of going into Barnes & Noble to find a few books, and you know, look around. Who knows what one may find in that incredibly versatile store? So many things to think about, so many things to look at. I ended up with a fancy picture cookbook; the type with huge pristine photos of the prepared foods on the right, and the recipe on the left. Just can't get enough of that; not in my heart anyway. I LOVE FOOD!!
I also bought myself another tin of Harney & Sons teas. This one is Citron Green. Twenty sachets to a tin, and about $8.00, so not the worst price. I've seen them online twice for as much. I feel pretty good about it. I'm actually imbibing now, and I must be honest, it's worth about what I paid. It's not strong, but it is good. Greens don't tend to be overly powerful unless you're talking Gunpowder green, which is so very succulent and awesome....love it. This tin will serve as a refillable tin, I will continue to buy replacements. I think I have 23 tins, but many I won't replace the blends for them. I either didn't like them enough, or they can't be found! It's rough trying to find Cherry Blossom! I made a HUGE mistake when I bought something like Vanilla Hysop, I can't remember the exact blend, but no. Just, NO.
Basically, the way this works is I have been saving all year long from January to about October, and I have a little kitty of money reserved for me to buy myself whatever it is that I think I can't live without. I may end up buying something in July or March, but it comes out of that stash! I, therefore, know, that when or if I do use the reserve it will indeed take that money out of my spoiling fund. I could add to it I suppose, but I'm rather disciplined. I don't want to outdo myself or get to the point that I'm overly obnoxious or carefree. I mean, that would be...well, possible.
I'm in the book-buying phase right now. I have been on Amazon and purchasing classics from Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Arthur Conan, and other Edinburgh favorites. I'm also thinking of buying either a Kindle or a Nook so I can physically carry the little book reader with me to work; most of the classics are actually free! What? Truth. I'm OK with that. I just learned today, and I can't believe I never knew this, that after 97 years an author does not necessarily have the right to royalties. I had NO idea. This year the Mickey Mouse tales and/or images are going to become public domain! Wow! That's very interesting. Seriously, I did not know that. I suppose it makes sense though; it would be hard to give royalties for say, "A Christmas Carol" to the estate of Charles Dickens. I just never knew. The Barnes & Noble salesman told me as we discussed the benefits of buying a Nook over the Kindle; which is an Amazon product.
With November also being a rather cool month, food (warm food) becomes so important to me. In the past, I've taken to going to Pinterest to find 20-25 dishes that I think I would like to make, but this year, today, I bought the picture cookbook, I'll post the photo here so you can see it. I'm going through it today, and making a list of all things wonderful which will be imitated, created, mimicked, and/or explored. I can all but guarantee you I will be adding to, taking away from, and altering things. I have mincemeat in a jar right now, waiting for the month of December, and you know I'm already thinking of adding cranberries and walnuts to it. I may even add a bit of orange flavoring. I can do that!! I can!! I might!!
I already purchased the espresso machine this month (October) and it did come out of the birthday kitty money, but it also came with an enormous discount and credit from Amazon because I had taken a few things back. Oh, and I have to send back the three books that I just bought because they are written in tiny tiny font! No, I'm not about to sit in my chair with my new Citron Green wearing my silly reader glasses, and STILL not be able to read the words. That, and the words are right on top of each other, basically no space whatsoever. That may work for some, but not this wordsmith. I don't worship words, but I do respect them. I can't believe someone would think it's OK to squish words of a classic in that manner. I should put my middle English on and really blast the hell of it, but instead, I'll just say "Tut-tut" and move on. Dummies.
I think the Kindle or the Nook is the way to go because I can order 100 books really, and be done with it. The books are usually free for the most part because I'm talking OLD OLD books like well, Rob Roy, The Letters, Ivanhoe, all the Sherlock Holmes books, and Kenneth Grahame's The Reluctant Dragon. Oh, and yes, Oscar Wilde. You can't have classics anything without including that man. It's not done. I was just not that happy at Barnes & Noble when I ventured to the Classics section and found it to be dismally small. They had one large bookshelf devoted to it. I wanted to buy standard-sized books from Scott and Stevenson that wasn't font size 10! Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING was in stock for either of the men, and nothing was there for Daniel Defoe either. What bookstore doesn't carry Scott, Stevenson, or Defoe? Wow...our world is truly coming to an end.
Defoe? Oh, have you not heard of Daniel Defoe? Wow. Well, he's only one of the greatest journalists who ever wrote and he did so during the years (high years) of piracy and sea robbing. He is amazing. He also wrote Robinson Crusoe, so you may have heard of that. I will read it again, but my favorite of his works are the works about and fully detailing the criminals, thieves, robbers, and Barrons of the sea! He met several of them personally, and he does not romanticize their actions. He doesn't describe it in gruesome detail, but he allows the reader to decide whether or not the actions of these rough men were deserving of their fate(s) to the gallows for the most part; some were drowned, some fought and lost, others escaped to worlds such as Madagascar and Indonesia. Crazy tales!! Fit for the wild imagination I've always had; thanks to my mom and her endless love of going to the library.
November is the month of Thanksgiving as well. It is the month of finally being able to wear sweaters, woolly warm socks, and maybe even a lighter onesie!! I have several just in case it gets cold enough during the month of November. I think it's a good evening when I can brew a wee cuppa cocoa, wear a onesie, cuddle up with the dog on the chaise and read a good book. Come on November!! Hurry!! You never disappoint.
Photo Credit: Me, but the book is Secret Restaurant Recipes (the ultimate collection) by Publication International.
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