THE BEST OF TIMES, THE SCARIEST OF TIMES

I'd love some input from folks in other places, re this comment in my last post from my friend Tim, who writes from K.C., MO.  He wonders what things look like in other places:

"The more I talked with people yesterday -- not just the three I called first thing (and the basis for my earlier comment about an "even" exchange) -- the more an Edwards all-out victory seem to emerge.  Chaney's blatant gaffs about not meeting Edwards and the totally wrong website address, got a lot of play in our local press and airways.  More importantly, this debate, like the first Presidential debate, has energized the Democrats and put the Bush/Chaney supporters on the defensive.  Is it my imagination or am I really seeing a lot more "Kerry/Edwards" bumper stickers and yard signs these last six days?  What's it like in Delaware?  And are your readers seeing the same phenom in their states?"
Comment from joetimkc - 10/7/04 9:35 AM

What it looks like here is that the back of my truck is full of Kerry/Edwards signs that I'm dispersing through the neighborhood.  The state party was supposed to get us about a thousand signs, but only came up with 400.  They've been widely disseminated at the beach, but here in the conservative heart of the county we're awash in Bush/Cheney signs.  I just took a bunch down to the union office (UFCW, Local 27) in Millsboro for a compatriot there to pass out, along with bumper stickers and flyers in Spanish.  I met with the Dem. candidate for this district to the State House and the union rep yesterday at La Esperanza, a Hispanic community center where we've been doing voter registration.  We were trying to come up with an idea for getting Hispanic voters more involved.  An interesting note - there seem to be quite a few yards where all the local Rep candidates signs are displayed, with the notable exception of Bush/Cheney.  I'm hoping these are Republicans who have seen the light and realized Dubya is not really a Rep, that he's leading the country into every possible sort of disaster: fiscal, environmental, military, etc.  It's my hope these people won't vote for this lunatic this time.

So, as Tim queries:  What are you seeing in your states?   

On another subject entirely, I hope you're seeing this glorious weather wherever you may be.  Autumn has always been my favorite season, despite the fact that now -in addition to long grass, unpruned bushes, flower and vegetable beds full of weeds- the yard is covered in fallen leaves.  The days are clear and warm, not a cloud in the blue blue sky.  The nights are crisp and chilly, quilts have been added to beds, and it's possible to sleep like babies.  The fans and air conditioners are all stilled, the crickets and cicadas sing through the evening hours and the mockingbirds, mourning doves and cardinals wake me up before dawn.  I can breathe again, no more humidity weighing on me like a sodden wool blanket;  I can walk for miles, drive with the windows down, smell the leaves and dry corn stalks.  Much of the corn has been harvested, the fields now have that bare autumnal look.  The light has changed, the shadows are long and clearly defined.  As a child Halloween was my favorite holiday, beating out Christmas and even birthdays.  It was the mystery, the sense of the supernatural and spooky, the lurking through the dark as a witch or pirate, as the wind swirled the leaves and the smell of burning pumpkin filled the air.