News and blues

It's getting to be that time of year again. By what's displayed in the stores, you'd think Chri$tmas is around the corner. It isn't. It's Samhain, or as to the non-pagan community, Halloween. The end of the Celtic/Pagan year, one of the nights when the veil between the living and the dead is supposedly the thinnest. Luckily for us, the moon will be waxing gibbous, and by the magical reasoning, it will be technically "full" since the date of the full moon is November 2nd. (I think it was Uncle Bucky's Big Blue Book O' Wisdom that first imparted this little gem of wisdom when I was a wee witchlet.)

Me? You won't find me a-dancing in the nude under the full moon. Not up here. It's too damn COLD this time of the year (and the other times of the year are chock full of things like black flies (aka noseeums) and other biting insects, so yeah, never was a nudist either.) I'm dressing up the kiddo and going on that time-honored, loved-by-dentists-everywhere tradition; Trick-r-treating. Yeah, not far, mostly to the family, a few friends and then the fire hall for cider and donuts, but still - being a parent takes some of the fun out of the Old Time Religion. Hahah.


In other news, the leaves are nearly past peak, so all them #$^#$@^ leaf peepers will be going away soon. The NJ fishheads? Not soon enough. Between Salmon and then Deer season, the sleepy backwater "town" not 7 miles from my delapidated domicile has become chock full of tourists.

The only benefit I can see is that we occasionally get the stray European or the French-Canadian down here, and since the vast majority of BillyBobs and TankaRaes here don't even speak intelligible English, I'm usually the one who's in line doing the translation service. I don't get paid for it, no. But it's fun, nonetheless.

Ran into a German when I was on my way with the kiddo to Oktoberfest in full Tracht. THAT was interesting. He was on my six like, well, Hartmann on a Yak on the Eastern Front. He ended up actually following me in his car to the festival (a goodly 45 miles out of his way) with his fishing buddies (Bavarians all) and even though I ended up losing them in the crowd (thank god) they more than likely had a good time, despite the rain. First O-fest I've been to where it was raining. Miserably cold and rainy.

We seem now, however, to be experiencing what is called an "Indian Summer" - temps back up into the low 60s, which makes my gas bill a bit easier to digest. Winterizing probably this week, as much as I can for this old house.

In the next couple of blog posts, I'll probably end up posting some recipes, as it is getting into the baking season for me, and what better than sharing recipes with people?

In memoriam

Famed German Ace Gunther Rall Passes Away
Gunther Rall, the world’s third ranking fighter ace of all time, died at his home in Germany on Sunday, October 4, 2009, after suffering a heart attack on Friday, October 2. He was 91.