October - My favorite month!

My mom recently sent me this beautiful little plaque, no doubt because she knows that Autumn is my favorite season, and October my favorite month of all. Being at the vineyard during this season is proving to be as wonderful as I had imagined. Aside from the hustle and bustle of harvest, there are all the subtle changes in nature that are sometimes missed in overly developed areas, but which are accentuated to the very nuance out in the vineyard.



The wind has started kicking up, blowing through the tasting room windows and taking leaves off the trees outside. The winds of October always ignite a wild joy in my heart, and make sweeping the tasting room deck not only challenging, but completely pointless. Because I love getting out in the weather, I do it anyway. Besides, there is something cleansing about sweeping, as one can mentally sweep the cobwebs and problems out of one's mind as the leaves are swept away. And it's always good to keep a broom handy - in case my truck won't start, I can still get home.



On Thursday, the wind was so strong that it tore our nylon "OPEN" flag in half. The boss sent me out to buy a new one on Friday, with vague instructions on how to get to the store. Which wasn't actually a store, but rather someone's house, located on the south side of one of the main roads. Which actually wasn't on the south side, but the north side, and which I couldn't see at all driving in the direction I was going because of a huge stand of pine trees that comes all the way to the edge of the road.

And so, taking advantage of the fact that I had already driven well past the place where this flag shop/not shop was supposed to be, I just happened to pull in and turn around in the driveway of this wonderful haunted house.



Which isn't actually a house, but an old school. There is a sign out front which begs "Help save this school so we don't have to tear it down!" So I did my part - I took pictures. Now, even if they do tear the old place down, future generations can still enjoy the creepiness.

The upper part of the building really caught my attention, as there were shreds of torn curtains billowing out of the glassless windows. In one of the closeup photos I took, I captured the face of a haint looking out! If you half close your eyes, you may be able to see it, too.



Not quite having the cojones to walk around behind the school all on my lonesome, fearing bloodthirsty squatters or toothless pesos with trouble on their minds, I got in my truck and drove it around behind the old place, as I had a feeling it would be just as gruesome looking as the front. I was not disappointed!



If I told you that I drove out of there as slowly as I drove in, I'd be a big fat liar.