On the day after Halloween (and earlier in some places), stores were already stocking their aisles with Christmas merchandise. People at work have been talking about holiday shopping and family plans since at least the beginning of October. As for me, I can hardly believe it is the beginning of November.
The weather has been unusually temperate over the past month. We have had temperatures below freezing on a night or two, but so far not too many cold nights or days and I am still routinely leaving the house at 7 AM without a jacket. This week may change all that, as the forecast predicts several days with highs in the 40s, a few days with lows in the 20s, and possible flurries on Tuesday.
Our furnace has not been switched on yet, but I did change the air filter last week (which turned out to be a ridiculously complicated process that should not be initiated at 11 PM).
On Halloween, our household skipped the trick-or-treating and went out to dinner and a movie instead. We saw Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which was enjoyed all around.
Our friend JoZEr is in the process of moving to Madison from Seattle, so he and the Guffeys came over on Friday night and we had dinner together at our place and (finally) watched Pan’s Labyrinth. I have been thinking about some mini-film fest (trio) ideas and I would have to add Pan’s Labyrinth to a World War II/Holocaust Remembrance line-up that includes Schindler’s List and Life is Beautiful. We would all have to start in a pretty good mood to be able to finish watching that trio, though. I might include A Very Long Engagement (and possibly Saving Private Ryan) as well. Very serious stuff.
On Saturday, we spent much of the day helping JoZEr unload his belongings into storage. Somewhere between dinner, Gang of Four, and Venture Bros., we watched Johnny Dangerously. Three of us had never seen the movie before and immediately loved it.
Today we have taken a day for downtime, mostly just poking our computers, doing laundry, and shopping as needed for next week. Our plan for the evening is to head out in a bit and see Transformers on the IMAX.