Out for a wee walk in Colombian #Halloween 🎃 (a.k.a., street party night!).

Some people wander this mob with bags of candy in hand, dropping them in random kids' buckets, but most are just out in costume to buy street treats/dinner and enjoy the whole vibe with family.

(Later, it gets sillier, when kids go home, and the teens are out alone.)

Lots of great costumes, but as a rule I don't take pictures of random kids (wild, I know), so this mob shot will have to do.

#Colombia

@CanisPundit

Good puppers who play groovy tunes are always welcome. 💛

@AskTheDevil

Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings, but every time US democracy gets its bell rung, a Canadian gets a headache.

🙃

🙃 I did a lot of emotional labour after a meeting today. I know things will get easier after your election next week, and everyone won't be redirecting their stress to other parts of their lives, but for now...

Whew.

This support Canadian is tapping out, and going for a wee wander on Halloween night for pictures, before sending out a story and a newsletter!

(Also, FYI: If you need to visit after Nov 5 for any reason, please bring your own air mattresses or let me know in advance to stock up!)

@gemswinc

😂 For the purposes of this game, I am like a six-year-old asking on the family car trip if we're there yet, because we've been on the road forevvvver, when we just got to the highway!

@LiseL @jenebene @Novels56

@LiseL @gemswinc @jenebene

Morning, loves! Sneaking this in while someone is late for a call. :)

🚨
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Long tusks, tousled fur--
extinct, now ice-ejected:
mammoth's earned his rest

@LiseL @gemswinc @jenebene @Novels56

Woo hoo! Back from being a goof - but only because Lise leapt. (Thank you! That made cautious!)

Connections
Puzzle #508
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Strands #242
“Trick or treat!”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Keyword | 6 guesses | 0:34
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Perfect score!

This took forever because I couldn't figure out that first word. Silly brain.

Watch your noggins as you venture out today! :)

@WellWellWell3

Thank you, Bob! Excellently summarized - and that is indeed my reflective goal for this month. It's time to clean house! "Simplify, simplify!"

Many thanks to you for taking the time to share what's worked for you. 🤗 I sorely appreciate it.

@CinnamonGirlE

Morning, Cinny! 🤗 Hope you woke well!

Today I'm swamped again. Lots of work to be done to end the month on a good note. (Wasn't quite satisfied with yesterday's newsletter draft, either, so that needs to go up soon, too.)

But first - we run. 💪🏻 Morning, CoSo!

@kel

I hear you there, Kel! I have a long series of personal failures under my belt, but there's always room to "fail better" yet.

@AskTheDevil

In my childhood, my father created a very big, comfy cage of a no-kill trap that worked well, no harm done to the critters--but it took time and effort that most don't have.

Meanwhile, my sister was supposed to regularly check a smaller no-kill trap in her ceiling. She didn't, and I'll never forget the state of decay on the corpse I found within.

It is not ideal to kill. But if it must be done, the swiftest end is its own way of showing care for all creatures great and small. 💙

@ATXJane

As an aunt to five boys, three teens, I sorely agree. They will say I love you with full hearts, and face worlds that mock and diminish them for it. And when they struggle with complex topics, only to be condemned at the first fumble, it's hard not to fall further down terrible internet rabbit holes feeding on their initial anger, fear, and shame.

Thank you for being a steady guide and safe port for those around you. ♥️

@Graci

You got it, babe! 😉

Now, having said that about *other* people, I'm planning on a super minimalist November, to unclutter my own body & mind and turn my attention to "coaxing weakness & inspiring strength" for better mental, physical, & worldly habits.

I won't talk about one of my plans here, because I don't want to trigger folk on certain journeys of self-healing, but I'd like to rethink a lot of my own choices & tease out the flawed/reactive thinking in them.

What's *your* favourite approach to personal growth?

but worse is seeing them with no idea how to off-ramp from extremism, so they just info-silo deeper & defend even more staunchly views they *should* be able to let go of via new data as it arises.

Seeing how quickly humans can and do become apologists for terrible acts, it's hard not to empathize with those who are now slowly coming to realize that their views were wrong, but who don't have the tools to walk back to decency yet, because they've been caught up in the propaganda for too long. 3/3

From there, we talked about how that fear of being seen as a bad person leads people (usually men, in my experience) to rush to defend someone who's done wrong: racist, nationalist, sexist. They're so afraid of being called out themselves one day, they'd rather fight society's criticism of another than interrogate their own actions and pursue change.

And that fear shapes so many problems in our society. I know plenty of people I consider to be deeply in the wrong wrt political morality - 2/3

Yesterday's meeting with the "far-right curious" person I mentioned went better than expected.

He's of the "it's only fascism if it refers to an Italian state policy of workers bundled into guilds" persuasion, but using the 1940s film I wrote about a few weeks back, I actually got him to realize that even fascists of the era had a range of buy-ins to various forms of the movement - just like the range of "everyday conservatives" he worries are stigmatized unduly for liking extremists today. 1/3

@thewebrecluse

Four things!

We also learned in early days that our governments *did* have ways to rapidly reallocate funding, if they wanted to. And reallocate they did... by bailing out major corporations, while hemming and hawing over individual aid for months.

But all those political claims we'd listened to for years, about how tough it was to find the means to invest in better civic safety nets? Pure baloney--and we all knew it soon after lockdown began & private industry got its piece.