Holy Moly, is it October already?!

I would’ve done this yesterday but I’ve been under the weather all weekend. The day after arriving home, my throat began feeling dry and parched, like I haven’t had water to drink in a long time. I thought maybe it was because I was returning to a very dry climate from a very wet one – from one end of the spectrum to the other sort of thing.

Then I started having a bad headache on Saturday followed by a round of stuffy nose on Sunday.

The weather has also been a little strange in the last few days with large temperature swings between warm and cold. So maybe my body is just reacting to that. Fortunately, after an afternoon of work in the garden, I seem to be feeling better.

Anyway, September…

Another year gone, another birthday in the history books, another year older.

It was a fast-moving month for sure. The first half of the month was all about getting work done – doing as much as I could at work as well as completing the garden expansion, which I’m happy to report that it’s finished. My goodness, that feels like it was forever ago and not just a month ago.

Of course, I can’t forget the big trip. Another country visited and yet, the good ole US of A is still home sweet home in my opinion. I have a feeling mom and I are finished going on trips together, which is fine by me. Her friend said our constant fighting was brought on by our polar-opposite personalities.

Thank you, friend, for saying that but can you please tell that to my mom?

So I guess I have permission to travel alone from now on?

As bad as the trip to Japan was, I did have some happy memories:

• Shopping by myself in Shinjuku on the first day – felt nice to take my sweet time to wander and pick out the things I want instead of being rushed.
• Finding the camera lens I wanted in Osaka. I now have a macro lens to take close-up photos.
• The nights spent alone in Kyoto where I got to pick what I want to eat instead of needing to satisfy my mom’s tastebuds. It was also nice getting to walk around the mall afterwards even though I hate shopping. It was like getting back a slice of independence after being on the leash for so long.
• Wandering on my own around the garden in Kawaguchiko, I love my flowers.

I also had some favorite photos:

So what now, October?

It’s strange, all I can think about is Halloween. I’m not looking forward to Halloween, to be honest. I’m not looking forward to having to be stuck inside the house waiting for a bunch of little kids to come bang on my door for candy.

There’s not much to look forward in October. It will be a month of cleaning up as most of my garden will be finished by the end of the month – tomatoes, peppers, melons, and flowers. I’ve already harvested and eaten 2 cantaloupes in the last few days. They were undeniably sweet and delicious. Beginner’s luck, I suppose.

I have planted a new wave of spinach and cold-tolerant veggies in my south garden last night as an experiment to see whether the 9-hour southern sun will be enough to keep my vegetables going during the winter or will the vegetables be like “You can’t fool me,” because I tried planting vegetables indoors during the winter and they wouldn’t grow despite having consistent 16-hour under a light.

That reminds me, I will have to move my indoor seed starting station into the garage soon so mom will stop blaming me each time she sneezes.