I remember it as October days are always remembered, cloudless, maple-flavored, the air gold and so clean it quivers. —  Leif Enger, Peace Like a River

I love October, but this year it was a bit melancholy for me this year. Every year, pre-COVID, we head off to Michigan to spend a glorious chunk of time with my kids. There are trips to Lake Michigan, family meals, lots of laughter as we catch up with the things a phone call/FaceTime does not afford. We always go to the Empire Hops Festival with my son. None of those things happened. But it was still October.

I am going to talk about the differences that this October brought…and those differences were so good!

The first BIG difference was voting on the 10th of the month! This was a new experience for me and I confess, I love early voting and I plan on adding this to my October calendar next year!

I loved the multiple “Halloween” grands images! Pumpkin pants FTW! And what’s not to love about a cowgirl and her very own baby horse! LOL (But, those Dalmations on the 31st!! That one brought lots of tears, because of this:

Sam, Heidi, and Rachel – 3 of the 101 Dalmations!

The final different thing was our spur of the moment decision to head back to Erie at the end of the month. Steve has been trying to use up vacation days, but a day at a time really does not promote any sort of a mental health break. So, since we were not going to participate in handing out candy (or throwing out candy, as our Township determined… yep, stay at least 9′ away and throw candy at the Trick or Treaters) we headed to Erie for 5 glorious days. Things not captured in photos here… the birds. Wow. I saw so many familiar birds, including Pileated Woodpeckers, but we also saw birds I had never seen in the wild before like Bufflehead Ducks and Black-bellied Plovers. The weather was perfect, not warm and a bit rainy AND there were virtually no anywhere! We took Carolyn’s advice and headed to The Cork 1794 and had the most amazing lunch! But, perhaps best of all, we discovered Icing on the Lake and indulged, more than a bit! lol

So even in a month where I did not get to do what I most wanted to do, I did manage to find good things in October!

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