You know, it is horrible when your laptop crashes.  Mine did and for about an hour, I felt like I was back in the 80's.

​You see, I do everything on my computer.. I compose my blog entries in Word - gone now. I keep track of my expenses on a spreadsheet that goes into the future for one year - gone now. I downloaded my photos from my camera - gone now.

​I also do all my banking and bill paying online. This created a horrible few days for me. I had a list of all of my passwords on a Word document saved to my desktop for reference - gone now.

​I have spent the last 3 days trying to remember passwords to my emails, my bills, Facebook, grocery stores, drug stores, my bank account, my health insurance, my car insurance, and even this website. Of course, I could not remember these passwords because I have had to change them many times over the years  - hence the shortcut to the list on the desktop.

​I now have them all written down in a book that I have had for years and will not lose. I am glad to be able to communicate with you again and to pay my bills when the time comes.

​I am now back in the 21st century. That time travel to the 80's was terrifying. Now to get another laptop with my limited funds. Who knows when? Thank goodness for public computers; they will have to hold me over until????

Although technically I am a summer person, I like this time of the year because there seem to be more celebrations coming up in the next couple of months.

​Starting with Halloween, I become so excited. I do not have grandchildren and in my present residence, we do not have "trick or treaters," but I love it. I used to have a Halloween party to kick off the upcoming season of  festivities and parties. I LOVE planning and making all of the food, and it was fun to see who would "dress up" for Halloween. I have some great pics of years past and I look at them now, since I do not have those parties any more.

​And after Halloween, there is the preparation for Thanksgiving. Since I am on a fixed income, I have to start buying for Thanksgiving early. Yes, the answer to your question is I do still prepare a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, even though I rarely have guests. I found out years ago, that it fills up that week to prepare for the dinner - this week of family togetherness. I have no real family close so I do it for myself. Sometimes, if there are neighbors with nowhere to go, I invite them over. I turn on the football games for "background music" and cook, I usually start my cooking on Monday of Thanksgiving week.

​Now, December is a special month since my birthday is that month, as well as Christmas  and New Year's Eve. I treat myself on my birthday with breakfast, lunch, and dinner out (usually with coupons sent me by restaurants) and now, with a trip to the beach, too. I celebrate my "birth." For Christmas, I prepare a dinner, quasi-traditional foods but not as involved as Thanksgiving. I get some champagne and snacks for New Year's Eve (but rarely stay up to watch the ball drop).

​New Year's Day I prepare all the traditional southern foods, invite people over to watch games, or just go it alone. I enjoy the cooking and the fun, even if it is sometimes just me.

​So you see, I love this time of year. I put aside the fact that I am alone and go ahead and try to remember how fortunate I really am. And as a result, I have created new traditions for myself and I look forward to them. Happy Fall to all of you.