October Thoughts Day 31: All Good Things Must Come to an End

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here, today is Halloween! These 31 days have gone by in a flash, and yet at the same time it feels like they have taken forever. I suppose that is how you know it has been a good month. This October wasn’t anything like I expected it to be and I still don’t know how I feel about that but time marches on. I have a few things on my October bucket list to cross off and a whole glorious day to do it in.

It has been fun seeing people in costumes early and hearing about all the festivities, but nothing can take away the splendor that is Halloween night. I have my candy platter at the ready in case any trick-or-treaters get lost and accidentally end up at my house. The decorations are all in place and the things that light up have been lit.

October gave me a wonderful surprise last evening. I got to sit out on the porch and watch a massive fog bank roll in. In mere minutes it had engulfed the house and was so dense that it disrupted the satellite feed on the TV. After the fog came a hard rain that sounded like it would beat through the roof. It was quite a treat. Hopefully this inclement weather system has worked itself out so this evening will be clear and bright. I always hated wet Halloweens. Trick-or-treating is no fun if you have to wear your rain gear. It defeats the purpose of having a marvelous costume.

I hope you have enjoyed the thoughts this year, they weren’t totally up to par, but I hope you found them entertaining nonetheless. I hope this October found you well and blessed, so much so that you can ride on the coattails of all that feel good straight into Thanksgiving.

Soon the magic of October will be boxed up and set upon the cosmic shelf for another year. The easygoing ways we have come to love will be replaced with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season as the old year slowly fades to make room for the new. So then, the challenge for today is to enjoy the remainder of October to the fullest. Bob for apples, finally pay a visit to that corn maze, wear a crazy costume, pass out candy, go on a hayride, drink come cider or eat pumpkin spice something. Make merry till the clock strikes twelve and your carriage once again turns into a pumpkin. Once you are tucked away safely at home and after you check under your bed for monsters looking to steal your candy, snuggle down in bed and make a list of all the things you were thankful for in this most wondrous of months. Hold on to that list and those feelings as you move into November and beyond. Consider it a belated October gift to yourself. Now quit reading and go out there and carpe some diem.

Happy October everyone and Happy Halloween!

October Thought Day 30: A Sincere Pumpkin Patch Anniversary

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” I don’t remember when I first saw it, but from then on it has pretty much been a pre-Halloween viewing staple. According to the official website, it is “the third special based on Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip—and second holiday-themed special after A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

No matter what special it is, I have always identified with Linus. I too carried my blankie around for years and I like to think I have the same childish enthusiasm and zest for life that he does. Linus isn’t going to let anyone sway him no matter what they think or say. He is a problem solver and we both have rolled pumpkins along because they are too heavy to move otherwise. I love his tender heart especially when he equates carving a pumpkin with gourd murder. Side note: I like how in cartoons, TV shows or movies pumpkin carving takes about three minutes tops if that and it always looks perfect. I think I need to hire their art departments. Unlike Linus however, my favorite part of the carving process is scooping out the guts.

Whenever I watch this special, the costumes always get me thinking. I know there is a long held adage that if you can’t find a costume you just cut some holes in your sheets and go as a ghost. In all my years I have never seen anyone dressed up like a ghost, nor have I seen anyone in cut up sheets. Where did this idea come from? At some point someone had to do it, or else it is another of those urban myths.

Like Linus I too have jumped into a pile of leaves for fun. However, what they don’t tell you is that it hurts and it is not as fun as it looks. Leaves have no padding what so ever which means that you hit the ground hard if you take a mighty leap. It looks fun in the movies, not so much in real life. I’m lucky I didn’t break an arm or a leg.

Every time I watch the show I am reminded that I want to try Snoopy’s leaf blowing technique. While Charlie Brown is raking leaves, one falls off a tree and drifts down toward Snoopy, who then blows on it to keep it aloft until it gets to the leaf pile. When I tried all I got for my troubles was short of breath. Gravity kept fighting me and the leaves didn’t want to float like on TV, yet another harsh reality.

I love that Linus writes to the Great Pumpkin like some write letters to Santa. Actually I just like the fact that Linus writes, I think it is a lost art form. I don’t care that it is an old show and not reflective of the times now. Maybe it will revive something. I wish I had though up the idea of writing to the Great Pumpkin, and speaking of, what a great character. I love that he comes from the pumpkin patch. Whenever I visit one I peer closely under the vines and around the pumpkins to see if I can find the entrance hatch to his workshop. It always makes me wonder what the Great Pumpkin looks like. Is he a pumpkin with arms and legs, or a composite man made up of many pumpkins? Is he tall or short? Does he have a round belly (he must, if he is pumpkin shaped) or is he orange like an Oompa Loompa? Or is he more like Santa, but orange and black instead of red and white? Does he live underground like Batman or is that simply where his workshop is located? So many questions, maybe that will be an October Thought for next year, fleshing out the character of the Great Pumpkin.

I love that Linus has his own brand of magic and that he can use his blankie like a whip. He’s a pint sized Indiana Jones. I also love how he finishes his letter to the Great Pumpkin, “PS, if you really are a fake, don’t tell me. I really don’t want to know.” I couldn’t agree more. It is fun to pretend.

I love that the show brings up the idea of Pumpkin Carols, yet another thing for me to try and find. It seems I will have some holiday homework. And since I am in a questioning frame of mind, what does a sincere pumpkin patch look like? I’ve always wondered and I still don’t know the answer. Also, I have never gotten a rock as a trick or treat favor and neither has anyone I’ve asked. Is that really a thing? Is that a trick that is actually played? Or is it like the ghost sheets, something people generally say happens but doesn’t actually?

For a holiday cartoon it is kind of a downer. The ending is bad and the depiction of kids is truthful but cruel. Kids can be mean, especially when you march to the beat of your own drum like Linus does. He gets ridiculed for his belief in the Great Pumpkin by friends and family alike. I respect him for sticking to his guns and it makes me like him all the more. He passes up trick or treating and a Halloween party to validate his beliefs. What a guy.

Every year I hope against hope that this will be the time that the Great Pumpkin rises for Linus from the pumpkin patch, and every year both he and I are let down, but he never gives up. He falls asleep in the patch waiting so strong is his resolve. I think it is sweet that in the end his cynical sister goes out to get him and leads him back home to bed. She may think he is a twit and she may disagree with him, but he is family and she still loves him.

There is a lot to mine from such a seemingly simple cartoon, which is probably why I like it. Ok, I like it because it has Linus in it and a Halloween connection, but the fact that it is more than surface deep doesn’t hurt either. So, with one day left before the big celebration, go out and find your sincere pumpkin patch and let me know if you get to meet the Great Pumpkin!

October Thought Day 29: Living in a Pumpkin Paradise

There is a quote that says, “I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” I don’t know that it would necessarily have to be a pumpkin, but this time of year, I would happily take a pumpkin throne. I am reasonably certain I would also have a pumpkin crown and pumpkin scepter to go with it. If the pumpkin were big enough, and some of them are, I’ll bet I could find someone to carve me an actual throne out of a pumpkin. Oh, now I’m getting ideas….

I meant to go to the pumpkin patch this year; and not to find a pumpkin throne either. I dreamed of all the oddly shaped wonders I could find. I poured over carving templates and crafty ideas. I tried to decide which color I would get and what size. It was a pumpkin delirium that I didn’t want to come out of.

In my pumpkin buying frenzy of a few years past I think I bought 31 pumpkins….ok, it may have been closer to 40. This year I didn’t make it to the patch at all, but I have some pretty wonderful friends who supplied me with plenty of gourdy goodness in all forms. Yesterday I got to carve them. Ok, I had help and it was only one, but it was very satisfying. I bucked tradition and didn’t do my normal face; instead I carved a ghost that looked frightened. On the template I chose the ghost looked adorably alarmed. On my pumpkin representation, he looks scared to death and has jazz hands. Ah well, you can’t win em all. I named him Mortimer.

While I was carving I was thinking about my pumpkin throne and all the different ways we use pumpkins this time of year. Naturally my curiosity got the better of me and I turned to the internet to assuage it. For instance, did you know that this month a champion weight pumpkin at a fair in California tipped the scale at 1,910 pounds (which is more than the weight of a U-Haul)? It had to be brought in on a flatbed truck and moved to the scales with a special hydraulic system. Such a behemoth could be used to make over 600 pumpkin pies, but that’s not even the biggest pumpkin on record. The world record holding pumpkin weighs in at 2,623 pounds. What on earth are they feeding these things, small animals? I am content with the ones that are the size of a standard classroom globe. I have no idea what I’d do with a giant pumpkin other than carve a throne or make a small play house. I went back to the California pumpkin contest and looked at some of their statistics and had a good chuckle, because the first award winning pumpkin won at a whopping 132 pounds. I think pumpkins have gone on steroids since then.

Weighing isn’t the only world record pumpkin related activity around. There are places like Keene, New Hampshire that have set a world record in most carved pumpkins lit outdoors and displayed. There were 30,581 pumpkins used to set that record and I can’t even begin to imagine what that would look like. The good people of Keene have set up a thirty-four foot scaffold to display a majority of the pumpkins, but even it can’t hold them all.

But simply carving in bulk is old news and now there is a new trend in pumpkin mania, pop up pumpkin displays called Rise of the Jack O’ Lanterns. The displays will be made up of more than 5,000 hand carved pumpkins and they will all be lumped together to create one tableau. Think of a dinosaur or a car being made entirely out of pumpkins. Each display will take 10-15 hours to carve and in addition to the large displays there will be smaller works of pumpkin art. When I carve a pumpkin it looks like a third grader did it. These people who basically make sculptures out of pumpkins amaze me. They can do portraits and scenes from paintings; it blows my mind, the creativity of people.

Like my friend who made me a pumpkin diorama. She hollowed out a fake pumpkin and then created a haunted house tableau on the inside. There are bats and toadstools, moss, a mansion, skeletons and more. She even lit it and decorated the outside of the pumpkin. Stuff like that energizes me. What talent and creativity. My other friend painted me a pumpkin man on a rock. It isn’t a big rock but the detail is fantastic. I have it propped up in my room to enjoy and like my fake pumpkin; I will have this rock till the end of days. Both shall be cherished parts of my décor.

With all this pumpkin creativity around, my challenge to you is this, get out of your pumpkin rut and do something different. Carve something new, visit a pumpkin patch for the first time, find a pumpkin celebration or make your own. Maybe even wrap yourself up in a blanket and watch your very own pumpkin glowing by the light of the moon and take a mental picture of it. In short, enjoy the wonderful fall gourd in a way you never have before.  

October Thought Day 28: Holiday History

Talking about past candy scores made me think about Halloween’s past and how much things have changed. Change is inevitable, sometimes it can be painful, but it is interesting to see it progress. I remember that Halloween used to mean parents dressing up their kids and sending them out to get candy. Most of the time children were unsupervised or if they were it was with an older sibling. You went door to door in your neighborhood, got your candy and happily munched it without a care in the world. Then came the few bad apples that put dangerous things in the candy. So parents had to send the haul to a scanner before their kids could eat it. Then it got too dangerous to trick or treat so parents started taking their kids to the mall or churches or trunk or treats to keep them safe. Now most people go to an alternative Halloween affair, which is fun, but not the same as what I did as a kid.

It’s sad that in my short lifespan things have changed so drastically. In my mind that is craziness. Halloween has always been one way and to change it seems wrong. But has it really always been that way? I knew a little about the history of Halloween, but for the sake of this question I dug a bit deeper.

In the beginning, the time around what we now call Halloween was thought to be when the veil between worlds was thinnest and evil spirits could run amok. To confuse the evil spirits, people wore masks. If the spirit thought you were another beasty it would leave you alone. In the Middle Ages that morphed into people going door to door asking for soul-cakes for food. If they got a cake the recipient would promise to say a prayer for the giver’s departed family members. During that same time frame, the religious theme was compounded by people beginning to dress up in costumes, particularly those connected to biblical figures. These costumed people would roam the towns and tell bible stories as well as myths. This idea of mumming is partly responsible for the concept of trick-or-treating that we have now.

Trick or treating became popular in the US in the 30’s as a way to diminish youth causing mischief. The idea first took hold in the western US and then moved east. According to Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween, “It began as a new year’s celebration and a Christian commemoration of the dead. Over time it has served as a harvest festival, a romantic night of mystery for young adults, an autumnal party for adults, a costumed begging ritual for children, a season for exploring fears in a controlled environment and most recently a heavily commercialized product exported by the US to the rest of the world.”

Having learned the history of my favorite holiday, it makes me wonder why people do it now. I have never met anyone who dressed up because they were trying to confuse evil spirits. I have never heard a trick-or-treater offer to pray for a family’s loved ones in exchange for candy. Do we participate because of national tradition and a sense that we have always done it so we just keep on keeping on? If I had to make a guess, I would say collectively it is done to go with the flow, for kids it’s because of candy and for adults it’s an excuse for a party. I think there are some out there who use it as a day of remembrance like me, but even I do it for the fun of dressing up and decorating. I also love the parties. It is a way to get ready for the coming winter, a no pressure way to practice for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s funny and a bit sad that something steeped in such tradition has become a watered down version of itself.  

So why do you celebrate the holiday, or do you?

October Thought Day 27: Sweet Nostalgia

My favorite thing about Halloween when I was little was the candy….ok, my first favorite thing was the costume, but my hands down second favorite thing was the candy. My dad and I plotted and schemed and did dry runs through neighborhoods to see how we could maximize our sugar gathering potential. One year I came away with three pillowcases full, it was marvelous. There was nothing as satisfying as sorting it all out at the end of the night and divvying it up. The popcorn balls, apples, raisins and stickers all got shoved to the side and then I got down to the good stuff. My parents never exacted a candy tax; and even if they had I thought it was only fair to share, and by share I meant that I kept the good stuff and gave them the left overs. No, I wasn’t that bad, I gave them some of the good stuff too.

It actually worked out really well. For the most part, the stuff I kept they didn’t like and the stuff I gave away was their favorites. I can’t remember what my favorites were; probably the mini candy bars and the Reese’s, maybe the Dots oh and Tootsie Rolls, definitely Tootsie Rolls. I got to eat a few pieces that night and then it all went in a bowl that was put on top of the refrigerator. After that I got one piece after dinner each night or as a treat at other times, at least that was their understanding of the system, I never let on that I devised a method of reaching the bowl and helping myself and I never took enough to raise suspicions. I think I would have gotten in more trouble telling them how I got the candy than the actual eating of the candy. Most years it lasted almost until the following Halloween.

Now that I am an adult I miss trick-or-treating. I miss the strategy sessions and the mission impossible type feats of getting to the candy bowl. Being able to buy my own bag in the store doesn’t have the same appeal and walking to the cashier and yelling trick or treat just gets me weird looks. I liked having to “work” for it by going around the neighborhood. It somehow tasted better that way, more satisfying.

Now that I’m on the purchasing end of the spectrum I can observe the holiday from a different perspective and get mad at the unseasonably early marketing ploys. It was late July when the first Halloween candy aisle got put up at my local store. That is way too early. Even August is way too early. There is no reason Halloween candy can’t come out in October. But of course that messes with their marketing. You buy the candy in July/August, you eat the candy in July/August and then you have to buy more in September…..which leads to eating in September which makes for another grocery run in October. I get it, but I hate rushing things. Like now, Halloween is still four days away and we haven’t even gotten to Thanksgiving and they are selling Christmas candy and trees. Sigh.

But we can’t end a candy post on a sour note, so here is some trivia for you to munch on. On average according to the all wise and knowledgeable internet, Americans spend about $44 on candy each year or 2.1 billion on candy total. Imagine what would happen if we all kicked in our candy money for one year, think of the national bills we could pay. Treat indeed. The top five candies are candy corn, Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Kit-Kats and m&m’s, which sounds about right to me.

So what is your favorite candy? What are the most trick-or-treaters you’ve ever had? Do you prefer giving candy or getting it?

October Thought Day 26: The Place to Be

Back home there was a quaint little coffee shop on the corner called “The Place to Be.” I thought the name was kinda clever as it was advertising in and of itself. After all, it simply was the place to be. It was cozy, the servers were friendly, the couches were deep and soft and the coffee was good. In short it was the perfect coffee shop. Alas, not all good things can last and now it is a very uninspiring furniture store. But what’s my point?

There are lots of places to be around this time of year. Many people travel to New England to watch the leaves change in a glorious riot of color. More than a few head to Keene, New Hampshire for the massive pumpkin festival that has set world records in pumpkin carving. Some intrepid souls hitch their wagon and set out for Salem, Massachusetts for the historical reenactments. Salem is a town that has taken its fifteen minutes of fame and turned it into a lifestyle, which is also what St. Helen’s Oregon has done. The movie Halloweentown was filmed there and every October the town recreates the set for the thousands of visitors who flock in. And speaking of towns that capitalize on entertainment, one can also go to Sleepy Hollow, New York to experience the legend of Sleepy Hollow firsthand. The town keeps the story alive all year round, but do a little something extra come October.

Halloween is a growing holiday and it seems like more and more places want to put their individual stamp on it. There are coffin races in Manitou Springs, Colorado and the World’s Largest Halloween party is held in Louisville, Kentucky. The Halloween capital of the world is in Anoka Minnesota where the first Halloween celebration in the country was said to occur. But the Halloween fun isn’t limited to the states, Airbnb is offering a night in Dracula’s Transylvanian castle this Halloween.

There are ghost towns a plenty all over the country and the seven scariest ghost towns in America (according to the internet) are Dudley Town in Cornwall, Connecticut, Bodie in California, Animas Forks in Colorado, Centralia in Pennsylvania, North Brother Island in New York, Thurmond in West Virginia and the Seattle Underground in Washington. Truth be told, there are “haunted” locations to visit in each one off the fifty states if you know where to look.

But ghost towns aren’t the only spooky locals; there are also towns with odd spots in them like the Oregon Vortex in Oregon or the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. Then there are the towns you simply want to visit because they sound Halloweeny like Candy Town, Ohio, Cape Fear, North Carolina, Frankenstein, Missouri, Pumpkin Bend, Arkansas, Pumpkin Hollow, New York, Scary, West Virginia, Spook City, Colorado, Tombstone, Arizona and Witch Hazel, Oregon.

No matter where you go there is something fun to see, do or experience in the fall. Your challenge today is to get online or go to your local chamber of commerce and see what interesting attractions you can find locally then go visit them, share with me or if you can’t travel, make your own home the place to be.

October Thought Day 25: Whadda Ya Want on Your Tombstone?

I always loved that tagline from the Tombstone pizza ads, it gave me the giggles. It also made me think of pizza shaped tombstones and zombie delivery ghouls. Ever since I was a tiny tot, I have been fascinated with cemeteries/graveyards. They don’t scare me, they fascinate me. I even like the name graveyard, a yard full of graves. It paints quite the word picture.

I am an architecture/art nut and cemeteries have some of the best of both of those worlds, the creativity and artistry is off the charts. However, I am not an equal opportunity cemetery lover, it has to be certain cemeteries with certain qualifications, and any old graveyard won’t do. They have to have character. Cemeteries where there are only flat plaques in the ground don’t float my boat. The place just looks like a really big lawn and there is nothing interesting about that. I enjoy places like St. Louis Cemetery # 1 in New Orleans, the Roman catacombs, and the tombs in and around Westminster Abbey. The older and more run down a cemetery is the better I like it, and I love, love, love the old west goofy inscriptions on the tombstones. It gives a whole new meaning to having the last laugh.

When I first got mono I thought about the tombstone that reads “I told you I was sick,” that is one of my all-time favorites. So of course I Googled it and it came up with all sorts of other funny stuff which was not at all what I was searching for, but for today’s thought, it works.

It always astounds me what people will write on a tombstone. Pop culture references are all well and good until you have to spend an eternity with them. A man named Micah Green let his last words be forever immortalized as “I see dumb people” Really Micah, you want to antagonize the living who take care of your plot? Another of my favorites is showman impresario Merv Griffin’s tombstone which says “I will not be right back after these messages.” Still making us laugh Mr. Griffin, right along with Rodney Dangerfield whose stone oddly enough doesn’t say “I get no respect,” but does say “There goes the neighborhood,” which I like much better. Then there is an anonymous stone that says, “I made some good deals, I made some bad ones. I really went in the hole with this one.” It’s nice the occupant can find the humor in their situation.

One of the most disturbing tombstones I came across while googling was from a lady named Kim. The stone reads, “Jesus called, Kim answered” and it has a picture of someone who I assume is Kim with a cordless phone etched onto it. That thing gives me the creeps.

What you put on your tombstone is like trying to decide your senior quote, but for the rest of your unlife. People do all sorts of creative and crazy things. While googling I have seen full sized car, motorcycle and scooter headstones. Some people choose to build a family mausoleum. Others have chosen to turn their stone into a bench, which is my personal favorite. Some people get philosophical, some add bible verses, and some put only names and dates. It is interesting to see how people choose to be remembered; to look at the changing styles and trends. I’m not morbid; it’s the history major in me.

There are whole studies devoted to funerary iconography. I think it is fascinating how people view their dead and their placement. With the day of the dead celebration, loved ones decorate the tombs and picnic there. In New Orleans they dance their way to the cemetery. I love the idea of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where you can go and watch movies projected across the side of a mausoleum. Plus they have a whole cultural events calendar….for a cemetery, for the living. Very cool, it is on my bucket list to go there one day.

When people take the time to lovingly craft a cemetery it shows. I appreciate the neat and orderly rows of Arlington, but I also enjoy the tombstones out in the middle of nowhere that are grouped together, halfway listing because they have been there so long. Someone cared enough to stake out a spot, hem it in and bury their dead. These places have character, which is also why I find old church yards marvelous.

There is actually a list of scenic cemeteries one should visit, Green-Wood Cemetery in New York City, Granary Burying Ground in Boston, Highgate Cemetery in London, Pere-Lachaise in Paris, the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, La Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Cememterio General in Santiago and the Mt. of Olives in Jerusalem. Google them and you will see what I’m talking about. I love it when planners set up eternal resting places as places of contemplation and beauty rather than some afterthought for the afterlife.

This is what I like about October, for every macabre topic; there is also beauty to be found. So this is my challenge to you, find the beauty in something that normally wouldn’t be considered beautiful. Maybe it is a warty pumpkin, or a bug. Perhaps it is the dull flat color of an overcast day or someone you normally wouldn’t give a second look to. Look past the initial impression, dig deep and find the gem within, then let me know what you see.