Thank you!

Hello All,

Happy Halloween Eve! Ghosts and goblins will be here tomorrow night. Exactly one year ago on October 30, 2019, the very first PhylPhacts was published! It is hard for me to believe that it has been an entire year! In some ways it feels like it was just yesterday when I was sure I would break the internet – and in other ways, it has been a long 2020! I am actually still convinced that I am going to make some incredibly stupid mistake to break the internet…..and I do say a prayer (or two) every time I hit the publish button.

Thank you! Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for reading whatever strange and unusual things have popped into my head over these 52 weeks. Thank you for the feedback that you have provided that helped strengthen the blog and the blog site. And many thanks go to the King of the Blog who has singlehandedly kept me straight, answered panic-filled texts/phone calls and has made the site as Phyl-proof as possible!  He deserves combat pay!

So I am going to keep the blog going for another year!

It is going to be a fast and furious weekend! It is Halloween, a full moon, the time change and Sunday starts a brand new month!

Two of my favorite couples are getting married on Halloween. (It appears Halloween is a popular time to get married!) I wish I could go to both weddings to celebrate with them, but, alas, they are within an hour of each other and about 100 miles apart. (Contrary to popular belief, even my broom can’t fly that fast!) So to Leslie and Josh and to Devin and Rissa – CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES! I wish for you many, many years of magic, love, joy and laughter. You all deserve the very best that life has to offer. I know that the huge full moon you will be married under will help light the way to navigate the issues that will crop up from time to time! Remember to hold hands and hearts! And may Halloween give you all treats and no tricks!

Here is some trivia for you – the full moon tomorrow on Halloween is a Blue Moon, the second full moon within the same month. The next Blue Moon in a month with 31 days will be on August 31, 2023. The last Blue Moon that occurred in a month with 30 days was on June 30, 2007 – and the next one will not be until September 30, 2050! Ahhh – once in a blue moon!

It is also time for the clocks to “Fall back”. Did you know it was not Benjamin Franklin that got this started? Erin Blakemore in a 2019 article in National Geographic reported the first person who explored this was George Hudson in 1895. Mr. Hudson was an entomologist in New Zealand. He wanted a few extra hours of daylight to go bug hunting. Seven years later William Willett, a British builder, hit on the same idea. He went before the British Parliament to propose these time changes to “prevent the nation from wasting daylight”. (Never mind the fact it gave him more daylight to build things!) It wasn’t until 1916 when the German government was trying to figure out a way to conserve energy and increase production by having more daylight during “working hours” that the time change was adopted.

After Germany’s change, every country that fought in World War followed their lead! On March 9, 1918, the United States Congress enacted the Standard Time Act. The act did two things – formalized daylight saving time and defined our current time zones! So now you know the rest of the story!

Sunday is November 1st – a new month! November is both the month of Thanksgiving and the month of thanks giving. Another month closer to the end of this wild and crazy 2020. I am going to challenge you to do the same thing that I do every November, an exercise that reminds me of the abundance of riches that I have in my life. Every day think of one thing that you are thankful for – both big and small things (I can promise you that one day in the month PEEPS will hit the list!). Write it down. Make it real. Then give thanks!

Again, thank you. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to occupy a small part of your day. Hopefully I have provoked a thought, a smile, a giggle. You have made one of my long-term dreams come true!

So I will start my November list on October 30th – first on my list, I am thankful for YOU!

Phyl

P.S. If you have not already done so, then don’t forget to VOTE next Tuesday! 

P.S.S I am going to end this edition with the very same thing I  wrote in my very first blog. It’s flu season! GET YOUR FLU SHOT. Protect yourself and others!