Good morning! It's overcast and 64 here this morning. Today's the day I treat the granite, so the kitchen windows will be open while I go grocery-shopping. The stuff stinks to high heavens! Raeanne, my oldest Dson and DDIL are coming in very late tonight. They'll be driving down from Dallas, and she can't get off early. I'll probably take a nap this evening while waiting up for them! Youngest Dson and his family are coming over tomorrow to spend the long weekend with all of us. His new job now gives him weekends and holidays off! Two full days with my kids: I'm so excited! QOD: I'll be hanging out with my sons and their families, doing whatever we find to do. It only matters that we're together, for me. I know that we'll eat out some, a challenge I'll be prepared for with my WW "dining-out" book, and my kids love my kitchen and are all such good cooks, so they want to get in there and cook some, too. I'll get lots of time with the granddaughters, too. Dee, I hope the biopsy goes well. It's awful having things hang over you like that. Jen, holidays make some of the seasons, so I don't blame you for posting your favorites! Patti, I was so tired from my unsuccessful shopping yesterday that I didn't mind not going out to dinner last night. We don't have but 4 little restaurants around here, and they'd all have been crowded. I'm going to clean house today and have H take me out for dinner tonight instead. Suzanne, stay warm! I'd gladly split the difference in our temperatures with you right now! Got to get busy with my counter treatment then shopping. I hope everyone has a good day! I'll probably peek in this weekend to get my SS-board fix. LOL

Marianne, your granddaughter is absolutely charming in those photos and someone put a fair bit of thought and effort into her makeup as well. I think the fun of dressing up may be universal as it seems like most cultures develop some reasons for costumes (for adults and/or children) even though sometimes it fills a very real purpose like retelling shared stories or past events. I didn't realize that Maundy Thursday is a day to collect sweets in Sweden - we have Easter basket traditions with treats in the US but I think everyone would be confused by kids going house to house for treats in spring. Sympathies on the chaos of Bonfire Night, Marlorena. Our nightmare fireworks day is the US Independence Day on Fourth of July which (not surprisingly) isn't something you'd celebrate in England. Even our national anthem refers to "the rocket's red glare" though that's in a different war and hardly the actual excuse for the fireworks. Our kids from about age 3 to 8 were petrified of the loud noises for several days in early July and we used to try to go to a hotel for the night of the 4th with an interior room to block out the noise. Some folks have to tranquilize their dogs in the season because it's so upsetting and so pervasive EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately, around here there isn't anywhere for at least the two days preceding July 4 that isn't a solid haze of sulfur from fireworks going off all day and way into the night. Ah well, keeps the mosquitoes down for a few days. I grew up in Michigan where fireworks by private individuals weren't legal (& I don't recall Wisconsin having them either when I lived there, Marianne) so all we had were hand-held sparklers and the fireworks put on by cities that are usually quite contained. I think bonfires sound like a lot more fun if they stay put and draw people together into community events. Our immediate neighbors host a Fourth of July mini-parade for the kids to all decorate their bikes and ride around a couple of blocks to music and another hour or so of treats and social visiting with neighbors. That's more what I think of for the holiday spirit. BTW, it's lovely that you know where Kearney and the Platte River are since few US people out of the region could name anything but Omaha and Lincoln in Nebraska (and many not even that). I can't think of a pizza place near Kearney that would be particularly noteworthy but Ramos Pizza up by Branched Oak Lake north of Lincoln was surprisingly good pizza in a local place off the Platte way off the beaten path. The weather so far is lovely for November and I was out collecting my annual filled leaf bags from the neighbors in a light sweatshirt at most yesterday. It's supposed to be hovering just above freezing as a high in the next few days with lows down to about 15 F (maybe -8 C?) which is more typically season appropriate. John & Rosefolly - thanks for the extra information and education about squashes. The tendency of the pollen to intermingle sounds like it could contribute to the closely related variety of squashes that Rosefolly describes in the books. I admit that I don't taste a ton of difference between most of the squashes I buy - Hubbard, Butternut, Acorn, Pumpkin - mostly they taste very similar. For me in a cold zone, the bigger issue is which ones can grow fast enough to set good fruits in our growing season. I've only ever successfully grown Acorn squash among the winter squashes though tons of pumpkins are grown regionally and there are several commercial pumpkin patches nearby that have elaborate play areas and amusement type attractions like haunted houses to add to the seasonal attraction. I'm still having trouble picturing the pink outsides of the banana squash John, but I'm relieved to hear it's at least an accurate description of the fruit. Cynthia

In my experience, yellowing is either bodily oils -- which will generally soak out with regular OxyClean or iron in the water. My dad's office had well water. No laundry there, but the toilet bowls would get mineral deposits or rust stains. I've only had to deal with a small rust spot on laundry -- and I've never dealt with Revive White -- and not going to after this thread. I was going to suggest charcoal or lava rock as an odor absorber -- or sunshine. I had a silicone mat for baking macrons that was on a Fedex truck that had a fire. When it arrived, the mat smelled heavily of what I assumed was burning diesel fuel and/or rubber. Awful, nasty stuff you didn't want in your house much less in you oven baking your food. I washed it, soaked it with baking soda and think I tried OC too. Put it outside in the sun to dry and forgot about it for days -- maybe a week or two, while the seller sent me a replacement. It did eventually deodorize -- so maybe you are onto something. Hope it works.

Some areas are absolutely doing better than others, and I would think that will affect how people chose to react when stores reopen, etc. The province I live in is currently considered the safest area in North America - we have had 120 confirmed cases in a population of 775,000, and no deaths (only 2 new cases in the last 20 days). Luckily we have some people in our government who had incredible foresight, and shut everything down hard and fast the middle of March. The government took a lot of abuse and criticism at the time, but I think most people now see how fortunate we have been. Our government has done an extraordinary job, and we have been lucky too. A neighboring province has about 145 cases all linked to one funeral in mid-March. We are so fortunate that something like that didn't happen here with one of our early cases. I work for our provincial government, and they called us into a staff meeting on March 17 and more or less said to most staff 'go home - don't come back until we tell you to'. A few positions were deemed critical so there have been a few of us working, and obviously essential services like road maintenance, social assistance, etc. have been operating at reduced capacity / as needed. A State of Emergency was declared and for the most part, everything was been closed early in March - retail stores (some exceptions - grocery, pharmacy, home repair, auto repair), dentists, restaurants (curb side pick-up allowed), hair salons/spas, parks, day-cares, campgrounds, recreational facilities, optometrists, most offices.... all closed. Non-emergency hospital services, elective surgeries, etc. were cancelled. Nursing homes and hospitals were locked down. Non-essential travel between provinces and the US is restricted. Anyone returning from out of province *must* quarantine for 14 days (and is checked on daily). I, personally, have never stopped going to the grocery store(s) weekly. I've been to Costco and Home Depot. I've eaten take-out fairly often to support my favorite local restaurants. Under the circumstances, I feel very safe. They limit the amount of shoppers in each store, many people are wearing masks, carts are sanitized after each shopper, physical distancing is encouraged with aisles being designated one-way and lines on the floor at the checkout, lots of hand sanitizer available, etc. Since the end of April we have started re-opening. On Friday we moved to Phase 2 which allows retail stores and restaurants to re-open provided they have certain guidelines in place. We are now allowed gatherings outdoors of up to 10 people. Day-cares are in the process of reopening, although schools are closed until the fall. Hospital services are resuming this week. Most offices that have been closed are gradually phasing in a return to work starting this week. There are many changes in how things are being done, but it's starting to feel more normal. It will be interesting to see where we are at in 7 - 10 days. "In New Brunswick — with 120 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 118 recoveries, no deaths and no active cases currently in hospital — it has been a story of what could possibly go right, and Cardy deserves a good deal of credit for it. The province was the first to lockdown, and has been one of the first to open up again. Its nursing homes didn’t become COVID-horror shows. Its government hit it out of the park." National Post: Heroes of the pandemic