Mornin’, friends – how is it November, already? Did you have a nice Halloween? Do you have a plan to vote tomorrow?

Last week was kind of a doozy. It just felt like if something could go wrong, it did. Lots of computer issues, grouchy people, bad luck all around. I’m hoping I got it all out of the way and this week will bring nothing but GOOD luck – starting with tomorrow’s election! I’ve already voted – Steve and I filled out our ballots together and then he took them to a drop box for us – so now I’m just on tenterhooks like the rest of the country, waiting to see what happens. And trying not to read the news too much, but doing what I can in the meantime – including phone banking yesterday afternoon, which was an experience.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Saturday was a busy day – starting at the pool. Last fall the kids took swim lessons at one of the rec centers in Alexandria; this year, I made a point of finding lessons at a rec center near our new house. Both of the kids were a bit nervous about getting back in the pool – not sure why, after all the swimming they did this summer. I signed Nugget up for a “preschooler and me” class that allowed me to get in the water with him (he just barely squeaked in under the age limit) – that seemed to help. Peanut claimed to be anxious about her swim lessons, but any nerves she had melted away the second she smelled the chlorine. Swim lessons in COVID-times were weird, y’all. The instructor had a face mask and a shield on, and I wore my mask in the pool (Nugget got to take his off, because he was exercising). My mask got drenched and I didn’t have a spare, so I spent Peanut’s lesson shivering on the bleachers, sucking chlorine in through my nose. Yum. Anyway – we got home and dried off, then headed back out for a short hike at Rust Nature Sanctuary; hoping to see some birds. Narrator voice: they did not see birds. Peanut and Nugget were their usual loud selves, and at one point, Steve looked over to me and stage-shouted “I SURE DO LOVE LOOKING FOR BIRDS!” Yeah, no birds to be seen anywhere. Headed home for the hike and got ready for trick-or-treating, COVID-style. Mando and Batgirl headed out hopefully clutching their treat sacks – and I have to hand it to our neighborhood, they definitely came through. Most of the houses (including ours) had a contact-less setup down at the end of their driveways – and many of them were super-creative and festive! The kids ended up having a fabulous time.

Sunday was a much more laid-back day. It rained. We didn’t go anywhere. Steve watched sports pretty much all day, the kids played, and I spent several hours making calls as part of a phone bank through the Virginia Democratic Party. I actually hate talking on the phone, and generally won’t pick up the phone to anyone except my mom, my brother, my favorite aunt, or my best friend. So phone banking… yeah. Stressful. But important. I don’t want to wake up on November 4 thinking I could have done more – so I put my discomfort aside and made my calls. And as Steve pointed out, if I got even one voter to the polls who would otherwise have sat this one out, I’ve doubled my impact. Doing the work, y’all. Do you have a plan to vote?

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Reading. Last week might have been a rough one, but at least I had a good reading week! As you can see, it was pretty much entirely devoted to Halloween reading. I started the week with Lolly Willowes, a fairly little-known classic about a “surplus woman” who gets tired of being passed from relative to relative like a piece of furniture… so she becomes a witch. Moved on to some atmospheric autumnal poetry – first The Lost Spells and then Poems Bewitched and Haunted – and finally, to Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, which I finished up on – when else? – Hallowe’en night. For November, I turned to books that felt like fall but not necessarily Halloween; starting with the current autumn edition of Slightly Foxed and then moving on to High Wages, a Dorothy Whipple classic I’ve been meaning to pick up. I’ve been helped along by Jessica Howard’s #votedearlyreadathon – encouraging those of us who have already cast our ballots to set down the phone, stop doomscrolling the news, and read instead. It’s worked wonders so far; I’m sure I will be leaning on books for comfort into tomorrow evening, even as I watch election night coverage on CNN. Here’s hoping for another good reading week – more books, less news – ahead.

Watching. A few episodes of Rock the Park, as usual, a few episodes of Bake-Off, and – most exciting – I finally got around to watching Hocus Pocus. I’ve been wanting to watch it on Halloween night for years; it ended up being Sunday morning, with the kiddos (they turned it on of their own volition). I was kind of worried that the storyline (three witches who drain the life force from children?) would freak the kids out, but they thought the witches were hilarious. So… that’s a relief? After the movie, Peanut declared that she was a Sanderson sister and was going upstairs to practice spells in her room. I think she sort of missed the point, but if she wasn’t scared, I’ll take it.

Listening. Not much to report here. Making progress on my audiobook – Mrs. Moreau’s Warbler, by Stephen Moss – which is really interesting. Sprinkling in some music, as I am still on a New Pornographers jag.

Making. Lots and lots and lots of phone calls. Whew. I hope you have a plan to vote, or else I may have to call you, too. 😉

Moving. Same old story – stressful week = less movement. I did get a couple of runs in, and a short hike on Saturday. (I will not count Nugget’s swim lesson as exercise, because it wasn’t exactly heart-rate-raising activity.) I’m planning to get in my 10K for the Marine Corps virtual this week, and Nugget is doing the kids’ race – looking forward to that.

Blogging. A bookish week feels like the thing to distract us, right? October reading round-up coming on Wednesday, and on Friday I’m going through the books I have checked off as part of the #votedearlyreadathon… unless I have post-election feelings and need to get them out. We’ll see.

Loving. Guys. Phone banking stressed me out so much, and I just put in a couple of shifts on Sunday. I have so much love and appreciation for people who are putting in even more time and energy this election season. A law school friend of mine took the entire week off work to volunteer – that’s commitment. I just hope that all of our efforts are enough. I try hard to keep politics off this space – which in itself is a privileged position to be able to take – but I feel really strongly about the importance of this election; I hope that my small part in the effort helped someone to go vote, and I am filled with gratitude for those who have devoted much more time and energy to this stressful process than I have.

Asking. What are you reading this week? Do you have a plan to vote?