Boogey Season

The moment the leaves start turning yellow, America jumps feet first into non-stop holiday mode. October is the month of scary decorations and pumpkins. November is for autumn themed wreaths and wooden plaques with “grateful” and “home” written in cursive. And December is Christmas, the most consumerist holiday of them all.

Right now we are in spooky season. The definition of spooky is the same for everyone: spiders, ghosts, graveyards, witches, pirates, skeletons...

I'm a big fan of the skeletons chilling on porches.

If this is what the afterlife entails, sign me up.

There are also very scary pumpkins.

Stacks and stacks of scary pumpkins.

But the biggest bogey man is a tossup. Is it the round orange thing in this witch's cauldron?

It's what's on everyone's minds right now.

I appreciate the skeletal heart sign.

Or is it this other spiky orange ball?

A covid particle magnified by a factor of 5 million would subsume you whole.

For me the scariest thing is when people don’t wear their masks correctly. You must cover your mouth and nose, and leave no gaps for airflow around the mask. Don't rip holes in your mask like these zombies!

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After all that spookiness, here are some eyeball cleansers to celebrate the colours of an American Autumn.

Some trees turn peach pink, and it brings me joy.

A distant view of the islands of the Chicago Botanic Garden

The Mary Mix Mcdonald Woods