I'm so happy to read all that, Liese! And Halloween seems like the perfect time for it. So glad that neighborhood and house have turned out so well for you.

I think you are the platonic ideal of neighborhood carrots. My neighborhood literally likes carrots, with my bacon farmer and all!

It's not a perfect place. There's crime, which seems to be mostly kids breaking into sheds and cars. Pretty sure someone halfheartedly pulled at my shed door, but didn't challenge the little padlock. There's a good bit of racism. One of the local churches is building a village of tiny houses for the homeless, and the neighbors in that area are all up in arms against it, lawsuits and everything.

It's relatively poor, but doesn't seem to be gentrifying yet, so it's still super diverse, and I need to engage more with it in that way. My immediate neighbors are mostly white. I'm still looking for some stuff led by POC.

It's a really nice mix, though, it seems. A couple of my industry contacts turn out to live here, so that's also kinda fun, and makes me feel like it's the right place. I think people would be looking at me differently if I'd ended up in one of the big new high rises.

It's walkable to the gym and the library and the pharmacy and the coffee shop. Somebody has a little free library on the way.

But, yeah, I think it's super great. I landed right.

Landing stuck :)

My neighbor's car got stolen in the last couple days & we have our share of property crime for this city(which is higher than most.) So it's not Mayberry, but I feel like my neighbors are my community & I get that vibe back. There are lots of challenges, sure, but I feel like I can engage with them.

Happy Anniversary, Jilli and Pete!

I'm in Eureka Springs on vacation for Halloween. I was disappointed that all the events and partying seemed to have happened Saturday night, but at the last minute found out there was a seance/magic tricks dinner show at the Crescent Hotel and managed to get a ticket in the nick of time. I sat with a lovely former military family from Missouri, and had a wonderful evening.

I also actually got dressed up to go out for the holiday for the first time in years: [link]

Netflix has a wonderful British house-hunting show, Escape to the Country, where cityfolk are looking for houses in country villages. The British versions of these shows are very soothing.

It's just perfect for me, and the house is great, too. I really love it.

This makes me super, super happy to read.

No kids for me. I worked at the restaurant. My sister was dressed as Wonder Woman handing out candy to kids. As a business we always take part, especially since we're on the main street, and the kids love showing off to Lisa and seeing what she chooses to dress up as each year. I don't mind staying inside. It was a lot warmer tonight.

I successfully freaked all the preteen and teen trick-or-treaters, and a lot of parents. Backlighting + flowy dress with hood and sleeves + holding really still if anyone was looking + stepping toward them if they came near = screaming. So much screaming.

Tiny kids? Those I wave at, smile, and give extra candy. But rambunctious preteen boys proclaiming they weren't scared of anything, and that I was just a statue to walk around to get to the candy? Oh no, I'm going to lunge and bare my teeth. One of them fell over backwards trying to get away from me.

Looking wicked good, Matt!

Escape to the Country, where cityfolk are looking for houses in country villages

I love that show. You get a little tour of England, with descriptions of what distinguishes different counties from each other.

That warms my shriveled heart, Jilli.

We went to the Postmodern Jukebox concert last night; on their social media accounts, they encouraged the audience to dress up for Halloween. It was fucking freezing, so I wore my fleece unicorn onesie, and people actually asked to take pictures with me. It was awesome.

Best costume, though, was the guy who had one of the box seats and was, for real, Abraham Lincoln. Funniest shit EVER.