The Nationals and D.C. held a parade and rally today honoring the 2019 World Series champions, and I braved the crowd for the parade part. (Honestly, I sort of envisioned the rally as a bacchanalian party, which was not what it turned out to be, but I enjoyed my afternoon anyway, so it’s best not to have regrets.)

I cannot tell you what was happening in the parade in between the buses, because I was far enough back that sometimes I could see the plumes on band members hats, but that was pretty much it. I saw Teddy (Roosevelt, the racing president) on some sort of micromobility device (a scooter, maybe?), and I could see the Budweiser dalmatian, but not so much the Clydesdales. And my cell phone camera was really not up to the task of getting photos that were both zoomed and detailed.

But I was there, and that was what was important.

This is relief pitcher Sean Doolittle, whose name you should know if for no other reason than that he visited indie bookstores on every road trip during the season this year. And he succinctly defended our closer, Daniel Hudson, when he decided to miss the first game of the NLDS for the birth of his third child — a decision questioned by a lot of dude bros, including a lot of media and at least one (non-Nationals) sports team owner. (“If your reaction to someone having a baby is anything other than, ‘Congratulations, I hope everybody’s healthy,’ you’re an asshole.”) He also was the first National to declare he wasn’t going to the White House (and gave measured reasons for his decision — the highlight of which was “I don’t want to hang out with someone who talks like that.”). A huge Star Wars geek, Doolittle famously celebrated the NLDS victory by wandering back out onto the field with his light saber and asking camera crews, “What are you talking about?”

And here are first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, “Mr. National” himself, and manager Davey Martinez (on the far side) holding up the World Series Commissioner’s Trophy for everyone to see. Zimm was the first player the Nats signed as a rookie after moving to D.C., has long been acknowledged as the District’s favorite player when a walk-off homer is needed (he hit the game winner when the Nats moved from RFK to Nationals Park in 2008), and will surprise no one if he announces that he’s going to retire after this season. You may have heard each Nats player had a home run dance. 35-year-old Ryan’s mimics using a walker. (Incidentally, did you know that there is now only one player born in the 1970s in MLB — Nationals relief pitcher Fernando Rodney? Don’t you feel old knowing that?)

Should you ever get a chance to watch one of your favorite teams be feted with a ticker tape parade (or the modern equivalent thereof), I recommend it, even if you are crowd-averse. You’ll be glad you were there.

Both things I had on my calendar for this weekend have been postponed, which means I now have to think about doing other things with my days. Plus, there’s that extra “Fall Back” hour to fill. Here’s how I’m thinking I might use the time:

• Watch the Nationals World Series parade. I’m iffy about the crowds, but someone Rudi knows suggested the last massive sports parade he attended was manageable near the route start, so I may give that a shot. But if it’s too overwhelming, it’s not like they need me there to have the parade.
• Go to the library in Virginia where the book my new book club is reading is on hold for me.
• Do laundry.
• Ride a bike to a hot drink for a coffeeneuring stop.
• Start cleaning my apartment. My holiday party is in a month, and my apartment is more messy than ever.
• Bake something seasonal, possibly using quince.
• Eat pizza.
• Book a rental car for Thanksgiving.
• Finish my shawl. Then I could block it, because although it will be cool, it will also be sunny and dry.
• Visit the garden to pick the last of the tomatoes and basil and pull out dead plants.
• Read Rainbow Rowell’s Pumpkinheads, which takes place on Halloween.
• Spend as much time outside during daylight as possible, since weekends will be the last I see of daylight for the next several months.

How about you? What will you do with your extra-long 2-day weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Did you hear the Nationals won the World Series?

2. The volleyball friend who lives closest to me and I walked home together after our game on Tuesday and both decided it was too beautiful to go inside for the night, so instead we stopped for an impromptu supper at our local watering hole.

3. Five minutes before we were closing up our candy-dispensing operation, our largest crowd of small costumed characters — including a lion, The Stig and a scientist — arrived at our doorstep, ending our Halloween on an up note.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

It’s been great being a Washington Nationals season ticket-holder since they moved to town.

This year, they have played a season of scrappy, heart-filled baseball that has been a joy to watch, both in person and on tv.

Tonight, they culminated their impressive season with a World Series win.

Congratulations, team! You deserve this!

My favorite Halloween song is probably “Zombie Jamboree,” popularized when I was growing up by Rockapella. It wouldn’t be for another couple decades before I learned that they were simply covering the song, written in the early 1950s by Winston O’Conner (who performed as Lord Intruder and debuted the song as “Jumbie Jamberie”) and popularized on the folk circuit by the Kingston Trio.

The Williams Street Mix, an a capella group at my college, made this one of their most popular tunes. This is a slightly more traditional version of the song than Rockapella usually performed.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday post from That Artsy Reader Girl is Halloween-themed, so I thought I’d share some suggestions for Halloween costumes you could do based on literary characters. I have only used some of them personally:

1. Pippi Longstocking:
   
2. Phryne Fisher (the tv show demonstrates how many amazing outfits you could pick from)
3. Raggedy Ann:
   
4. Sherlock Holmes (it helps if you own a deerstalker hat)
5. Anne of Green Gables (I’ve noticed puffed sleeves are in right now)
6. Anyone from Harry Potter:
   
7. Any of the ragtag group from the Oz books (if you pick the literary version of Dorothy, your shoes will not be red and fewer people will recognize you; conversely, you could go as the tornado, although I would make it a two funnel-tornado in order to be able to walk)
8. Go classic with Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (for the latter, you would need to divide your costume down the middle)
9. Little Red Riding Hood:
   
10. Paddington

Have you ever dressed up as a favorite bookish character?