7 November …
First installment of the property taxes is paid. We’re safe until April.
~~~
My clock is still ticking and chiming away. A cousin suggested it may have been wound too tight and just gradually loosened enough to start on its own.
It doesn’t matter to me. I will accept the miracle and enjoy the chimes … which do strange things after dark. When I am in that place between alert and asleep, the Westminster song seems to change and can be quite entertaining.
Oh well …
~~~
Last friday morning I was sitting at my computer checking the news of the day (I am a masochist) when RED out the window caught my eye. 
The sky was on fire. Not destructive (we remain under fire watch), but beautiful.
~~~
Paul and I are still doing well in taiko. The class size is down (there were only three students last week including me) and that makes for a bit more personalization. We did so well with the renshu taiko kadas (warm-up/practice) that we began the switch from playing directly in front of the drum to the stance by the side of the drum. That is dramatic and uses a whole different set of muscles.
We did so well that the class work was done early and the teacher (whose husband has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor) played one of the pieces the main ensemble is practicing (practice for her … a treat and encouragement for us).
There is to be a recital the evening of the 17th.
~~~
Last wednesday was the parade of elementary children in their Hallowe’en costumes. They walk down Mt Shasta Boulevard from the north end of the business district to the main cross street of Lake Street, then turnaround and walk back. I was the appointed family photographer. 
Here’s Paul in his IronMan costume with two classmates and the teacher.
Also last week I had meant to share this VanGogh (Skull 1887). I goofed and forgot it.
Oh well …
Then for this month …
here is “The Rocks” painted in 1888. It seems he was still seeing things as immobile and sturdy.
It reminds me of here, since we have volcanic rocks, and of the Cornish coast.
~~~
Yesterday morning, as I went out the back door on my way to collect eggs, I saw Michael’s maple tree in the courtyard glowing. So I quickly ran back into the house and grabbed the camera for a final burst of autumn.
Mornings are increasingly cold. Near freezing. Not quite there yet, but getting really close. Fire in the wood stove nearly every morning now.
~~~
And finally a thought following the mid-term election…
“It is my prayer that our country sprouts. That this regression gives rise to a counterculture of grassroots movements the likes of which we have never seen. And to a culture of love beyond measure.”
— Vera de Chalambert
So … ‘til next week …