BY EILEEN BRADY
​THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO

The first day of autumn usually triggers some kind of cider-craving mechanism in my brain. And while a global economy makes it possible to eat mediocre apples year- round, only those recently picked at an orchard are crisp and fresh enough to make it really feel like fall.
The perfect apples of my memory came in a small paper bag, which had a cute carrying handle, bearing the words “A&M Orchard.” I remember the sweet coolness of the Apple House and the cider we’d take home, unmatched in quality anywhere. 
It is the drink my young Ohio-bred nieces and nephews asked for by the name “side-uh,” influenced by their grandmother’s New York accent.
So I decided to restart a tradition of visiting the orchard near Midland and proposed a day of apple picking with my daughter, who eagerly tagged along.
We headed south on U.S. Route 68,

BY EILEEN BRADY
​THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO

I thought it was a normal question. I just wanted to know what night the local kids were supposed to trick-or-treat. 
My co-workers looked at me as if I were already wearing a two-headed-woman costume. 
That’s because I was in my first post-college job outside Ohio, working in a North Carolina newsroom. Beggars Night may as well have been drenched in tomato-based barbecue sauce for the reaction I received, because coastal Tar Heels prefer their trick-or-treaters to arrive on Oct. 31 and their pork to be bathed in vinegar.
Nonetheless, a reporter called the local sheriff to ask when trick-or-treating would be held, to which he replied, “Halloween is Halloween. It comes when it comes.” It was a grand proclamation of the obvious, stated earnestly, which helped make it one of those quotes that still makes me chuckle, such as when a crime witness told an Illinois reporter, “I thought I smelled something felonious.” 
So Halloween arrived on Oct. 31 in North Carolina. 
It came on Oct. 31 in a series of other states. Just as the Grinch couldn’t stop Christmas from arriving in Whoville, somehow or other, it came just the same.

BY EILEEN BRADY
​THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO

From the summer shade of our front porch, I frequently saw our subdivision neighbors walk their dogs, ride their skateboards, jog with their headphones, and enjoy the fresh air with their families. 
That was pre-gravel. I mean “chip seal,” or “chip and seal.” Otherwise known as cheap seal. Poor man’s paving. Township torture.
Chip seal is a resurfacing technique, cheaper than asphalt, that has been increasingly used in Clinton County, around Ohio and in other states facing dwindling budgets. It is anywhere from 5 to 12 times less expensive than asphalt but about 100 times less user-friendly, especially at first, and not as long-lasting. After a tar-like emulsion is sprayed on the road, noisy, dusty gravel is placed into the black goop to sink in and resurface the street, which is then supposed to be rolled and later swept to remove the excess gravel. 
We waited three weeks, and the sweepers hadn’t come — because they weren’t coming. My neighbors called township trustees, as did my husband. There were no plans to clear the gravel from the roads. “In time, it gets pushed to the side,” said Michael R. Rose, Adams Township vice president. 

BY EILEEN BRADY
THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO

After almost nine long months of mental and physical preparation, the pain hits hard and fast, sometimes with a lot of screaming. Then it’s over, leaving a mess behind and even more hard work ahead. 
Some remember the pain, but apparently most forget. 
I’m talking about moving. 
Since adulthood, I’ve had one child, with epidural assistance.
In that timeframe, however, I have moved my stuff 24 times, not a doula in sight.
A few of the moves were in college, most with my military husband. They weren’t all major moves, because we didn’t always require a tractor-trailer trailing us wherever we went. At first, we had a futon, boxes of books and a hair dryer.
Now we have what the military refers to as “household goods.” Thousands of pounds of them. It took two days