Author Archives: Alan Ilagan

While the red-leaved Japanese maple got all the glory this morning, this afternoon belongs to the coral bark Japanese maple, which offsets the red bark of its younger branches with this bright display of canary-hued foliage. It speaks its beauty without need for further words.

Sunlight through the leaves of a Japanese maple tree is one of my favorite sights – recompense for the early darkness of the day and the turn of fall that leads us irrevocably into winter. Making peace with this time of the year is easier when this kind of beauty sees the leaves off for the season. That doesn’t make it any more fun – the sun gives us happiness and life and warmth, and I am loathe to bid even a few minutes of its brilliance goodbye. That won’t stop it from happening, and so I bend without breaking, like the branches of this maple.

This is a brilliant ending to the day, and I’ll post it first thing in the morning to give us all a lift on a Friday in early November, when hope rides on the wind again, and we need a little inspiration to get us going. The weekend is almost at hand and we’ve earned a celebratory walk of appreciation around the yard.

Fall brings dark early, and once the sun goes down the temperatures plummet almost instantly. It’s cozy time, and the best way to welcome a small gathering of dinner guests is with a mug of warm mulled cider from the state that knows its apples. For the guests, I added some whiskey and rum and orange liqueur – I kept it to plain cider for my mug. On the sound system were the groovy vibes of the Flying Mojito Bros. Press play below and groove with us for a bit – it was all good company, and that’s the not-so-secret ingredient in the best dinner parties.

Fall brings us back to intimate dinner party gatherings – never more than can fit at our dining room table (ok, maybe one or two more on special occasions, but that means I have to slide into an unmatched chair, and you know how that irks a Virgo). It’s worth it for the friends we have. This is how we get through the darker months – good friends, good food and good grooves. I even lit a candelabra near the front entryway to light the way.

This is one of those transitory months that can begin with some lovely days, and then turn viciously cold and cruel. It’s still early enough not to mind it much – and a frigid snap with a stunning sun is actually a welcome jolt. A reminder that winter is indeed coming; I’ve made my peace with it long ago, and I would suggest you do the same. It’s much easier to enjoy a season that will arrive regardless of your wishes than to fight against it every step of the way.

As for the roads that lead through November – be wary and watchful. November begins with seductive beauty – this season especially finds many of our trees in glorious splendor. I’m looking outside our window now and seeing a tall mound of golden fountain grass and its sky-high seed plumes, as well as a fiery red coat for the Chinese dogwood. A climbing hydrangea has turned bright yellow, resplendent against a blue sky, and a pair of mighty oaks is all amber glory in the late afternoon light. I will make a memory of this moment for when the limbs are bare and the snow has come.

Has anyone else had issues with Amazon Prime ‘guaranteed’ deliveries running late? We’ve ordered things that were promised to arrive by a certain date (and for which we planned gatherings and other things) and the tracking will say that it’s scheduled to arrive by the end of the promised day, only to get an update around midnight that the package will be delayed, sometimes by several days. Why is anyone paying for Prime when this keeps happening? I know, we should cancel our membership and abide by the moral code of bringing business where it’s valued, but Amazon Prime is a necessary evil in today’s world, and I’m sorry to say I don’t have the luxury to afford bypassing them all the time. That doesn’t mean we have to pay for Prime guaranteed delivery when it doesn’t happen, and I found the following trick online which actually worked when I tried it.

If you have a Prime package that is late, go to the customer service tab and scroll until you find ‘Help with other issues’ (you want to find a chat with a rep option, but that won’t show up because they don’t want to make this easy). There will be options for all sorts of help question – Unknown or incorrect charges, Manage account, etc., just go to the next ‘I need help with something else’ option. That will bring you to an AI chat bot. Type in the following:

“My order missed the guaranteed Prime delivery date, and since Prime shipping is a paid service agreement, I am requesting a $15 promotional credit applied to my account to cover this month’s membership fee.”

The bot will reply with some other nonsense and the same list of issues, so indicate you want recompense for a late delivery and copy the same verbiage. In my experience, the option for a live rep was offered here, and I pasted the same thing, along with a note that this wasn’t the first time a guaranteed delivery was late. ‘Saurav’ indicated they would refund the $15 to my account and I said thanks. If Amazon’s track record is any indication, I may eventually recoup my entire Prime membership in a few orders.

The other tip I saw online was to never use the yellow “Buy Now” button, as Amazon puts the seller with the highest profit margin there, not necessarily the lowest price. Scroll down and click “New & Used from other sellers.” You will likely find the exact same brand-new item with Prime shipping for less.

Happy Holidays – go get some of your membership fees back.