Item #1: it’s in the mail 
Today’s mail brought a voter’s pamphlet (what’s going on) and the printed ballot for Washington’s ‘vote by mail’ proceedings.
Years ago we went to a polling place, stood in line for about 3 minutes, saw a few neighbors, filled in a ballot, and went home.
Now we get to do this at home, beginning about 3 weeks prior to the vote day.
We can drop our completed ballot in a box near the County’s courthouse. While this is about 12 miles away, we go past about 3 times per week. Thus, no big deal.
There are not exciting issues this year, in our State. Every few years we get to vote on keeping “stealth” taxes off of the car registration fee. This is one of those years.
Anyway, our voting is an easy process. There is almost no fuss compared to some other states. Some day all states will do it this way.
Item #2: Land on the move 
A word common now in the news is unprecedented , such as this:
Major Southern California fault line eyed after study shows unprecedented movement. See:
Garlock Fault
The first line of the article is:
“A major southern California fault capable of producing a magnitude 8 temblor started to move for the first time in 500 years following a series of earthquakes in the Mojave Desert over the summer, . . . ”
It has moved before, so perhaps “unprecedented” is not the correct word. The Collins Dictionary defines unprecedented as “never having happened before.”
For synonyms, among others, it gives: exceptional, unusual, and ground-breaking.
My choice would be ground-breaking.
Think about it!
Item #3: colors 
Winning photo of East Lake Ainslie, Nova Scotia, submitted by Verna MacMillan. See here Hope they don’t mind. Contest now closed.
My home town of Clarion PA calls itself the Autumn Leaf Capital of the world. The 2019 festival (over now) was the 66th annual. I was there for the 1st.
Now it is a 9 day affair, internationally recognized, and sponsored by Allegheny Toyota. Don’t know when Toyota got involved. This seems to be a car sales place in Franklin, a town 27 miles west of (and nothing to do with) Clarion.
Search using images for “autumn colors leaves clarion_county” and you can view many colorful pictures – some from the area.
The ones with the tall brick building, with clock, are of Clarion. We lived about 4 blocks (1/3rd of a mile) from that building – the Court House. Our school was another 3rd of a mile away.
Google Earth will show where Clarion is, with the River to the east and north. The green area is mixed forest, hardwoods and conifers, and very pretty in autumn.
Item #4: You may ask, how did I get here?
{a reference to a song titled “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads}
on the banks of the Derwent River at Howden, south of Hobart, Tasmania
Only the first part of the link is about this photo.
The driver was a woman in her nineties. She, and the next guy are very lucky people.
Item #5: Too fast – 131 mph 
” charged with driving under the influence, driving with an open container of alcohol, reckless driving, speeding, fleeing and eluding …”
I hope it was his car, and not stolen. I suspect neither car or driver will be on the roads any time soon.
And that, for this week, is the not so nasty news.
John