October! My Favorite!

Jillian here. October is my favorite month of the year. I’ve always loved it. When we lived in Virginia when I was in elementary school, we’d always drive up Skyline Drive in October to get pumpkins and fresh, cold apple cider—there was nothing like that fresh taste and Florida has nothing to compare with it. Not many leaves change color here—a few trees do- like maples— but most are evergreens like pine. I love the look of bare trees in the twilight of mornings or dusk as well as in the fog. Some trees here have leaves one day and are naked the next.

Why I love October: Orange is my favorite color, the smell of smoke in the air always brings back memories of fall leaf burning, pumpkins, Halloween is fun, and the new baking shows with the fall themes are delightful to watch (not so delightful for my cravings for chocolate though) 😀And it cools off a bit here—most years, it’s low 80s at beginning of the month and 70s by end of month.

Lat year, for NaNoWriMo, I wrote a story that was inspired by my great grandmother’s name and her tombstone. Weirdly, her tombstone has her names in the wrong order which is kind of wild—I can only imagine they didn’t have the money to fix it when it was made incorrectly. I’ve always loved her first name. Her name (in the correct order) was Sophronia Neal Akers Richardson. The story I wrote is a ghost story/mystery. I turned in the edits this week, so I hope to have it out soon. It will be published under my other name as my mysteries are under that name to keep them separate from the romance-driven tales.

Happy October to all. Get out and enjoy some reds, oranges, fall scents and even some ghosties!

Gnarly pumpkin I bought —so wicked looking

Happy October!!!

Thanks be to God that September is over. I had a big ole case that has been driving my life for months and the trial was on the 26th. Life is now back to normal (well, almost– since I’m still playing catch up). This is my absolute favorite month of the year. Cooler nights and black cats, pumpkins, lattes with spices, witch hats and striped socks along with rust-colored leaves and bonfires make me a happy girl. I absolutely adore fall. When I lived in Virginia, we used to ride up Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge mountains and get fresh apple cider. Man, oh, man that was some good stuff. I miss that the most. It’s just not the same here.

Here is one of my favorite pictures here in my hometown. I know y’all have seen it before but it makes me laugh every time I get a gander at it.

I also got myself a new toy the other day. I love her. She’s a happy, fall-loving gal just like me. Check out her shoes- she’s even a shoe-hound like me!