Between the good and bad, that's where you'll find me, Reaching for Heaven

I finally figured out what I was doing wrong: The Alavert/Sudafed cocktail I've been taking first thing in the morning wasn't kicking in since I was taking it on an empty stomach. I just have to remind myself not to reach for the pillbox when I first get up. I slept much better last night (well enough to have an amusing dream about wrapping Christmas presents, and the tape wouldn't stick to the paper for some odd reason.

The autumn decorations went up in the store where I work, sometime between last night and this afternoon: garlands of silk colored leaves hanging from the ceiling-tile supports, painted jack o' lanterns in the bakery department, cornstalks and hay bales on top of the refrigerated cases along the walls. And Nature is starting to do a little autumn decorating, too: I've noticed that the leaves on some of the trees are starting to color up juuust a little more. The days are getting noticeably shorter, too, and the nights are getting cooler. I know it's not officially autumn until Sept. 21 or thereabouts, but the summer season technically ended with Labor Day (Monday).

And, ooh, I wore the Red Shirt today... the color is appeasing the Merv, but I caught the word "burlap..." on his lips. Speaking of work, and of soulbonds, I found a way to handle getting uncomfortable while talking with my (now married) boss: I let Flood front during those moments, though I hope my boss didn't notice when quite by accident, I somehow took on Flood's slightly stagey-sounding British accent.

I've been sitting by the window in the computer room/study, looking out at the snow falling outside... it's so quiet out there, not a car going past, not a single sound... you can hear the stillness, as it were... Maybe the snow is a hazard to drive in, but it's God and Nature's reminder to us humans to take it easy, sit back, relax, read a good book, or just watch the snow fall, spinning past the window panes...

The sky has turned that odd shade of tan you see only in the winter, when it's snowing at night. I read somewhere why that happens, but for the life of me, I can't think of the explanation. It's unusual. And it reminds me of a famous painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, an American Impressionist painting (can't think of the artist's name, but when I do, I'll edit it into this entry); I think the title is something like "Winter's Night on Boston Common".

Okay... My dad and I were planning to go to the Topsfield Fair today, but he ended up working later than he had hoped for, so we decided not to go. Oh well! That way we can save our money and go to the "Lord of the Rings" exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston on Sunday. I tried buying the tickets online just now, but for some reason, I can't seem to access their secure server. Screwy computer...

I went for a walk with my mom up to the elementary school she used to attend, formerly the Shawsheen School, but which is now called the Louise Trahan School (I think). She took a few pictures of the building and the yard and the colorful trees behind the building. Then, when we walked back, we passed through the old burying ground on the corner of Shawsheen St. and Main St., the way we used to walk home when I was taking dance classes as a kindergartener, when I was going to Donna Miceli's Dance Studio back in the days when it used to be on the second floor over an appliance store. Well, Donna Miceli (whom my mom went to high school with) moved her studio to another, larger space on top of the old Central School near the center of town, and the appliance store got rennovated about 15 years ago, so now it's just a one-story building. ...But the old burying ground is still there: it's a typical New England cemetary with tombstones dating back to the late 1600s, when the town of Tewksbury had barely been incorporated. The newest ones date back to around 1919, so it's *old*. There used to be a big dead oak tree in the middle of it, with a "NO TRESPASSING" sign on it, but the tree blew over during Hurricane Gloria back in the '80s... I miss that tree... What's a graveyard without a big, spooky dead tree in the middle of it?

Well, anyway, the remains of the tree got cut down and now there's a big stump in the middle of the graveyard... and someone keeps putting a jack o'lantern on that stump sometime during the night on Halloween, each year, for several years in succession. I'm determined to find out who the jack o'lantern-leaver is, so this year, I'm planning on bundling up in some warm clothes and hiding in the bushes in the graveyard on Halloween night and watching to see who leaves the jack o'lantern.

I wonder if they're the same person who left a pair of small brass bells tied on either end of a length of string draped over a slightly tilted tombstone at the corner of the lot, near the entrance/exit path. Is there anyone here who can tell me why someone would a pair of small brass bells on either end of a length of string, draped over an old tombstone that's slightly pushed up from the ground? Is this some kind of occult thing or a superstition or just someone being odd? Thanks!