You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October, 2007.
Taken from The Writer’s Almanac;
Today is Halloween, one of the oldest holidays in the Western European tradition.
Today, 70 percent of American households will open their doors and offer candy to strangers, most of them children, 50 percent of Americans will take photographs of family or friends in costume, and the nation as a whole will spend more than 6 billion dollars. In terms of dollars spent, it is the second most popular holiday of the year in this country, after Christmas.
For the Celtic people of northeastern Europe, November 1st was New Year’s Day and October 31 was the last night of the year. Celts believed it was the night that spirits, ghosts, faeries, and goblins freely walked the earth. It was Pope Gregory III in the eighth century A.D. who tried to turn Halloween into a Christian holiday. Christians had been celebrating All Saints Day on May 13. Pope Gregory III decided to move the holiday to November 1st, to divert Northern Europeans from celebrating an old pagan ritual. Instead of providing food and drink to the spirits, Christians were encouraged to provide food and drink to the poor. And instead of dressing up like animals and ghosts, Christians were encouraged to dress up like their favorite saints.
In the United States, Puritans tried to outlaw Halloween, in part because of its association with Catholicism. So it was the Irish Catholics who brought Halloween to this country, when they immigrated here in great numbers after the potato famine in the 1840s. By the late 1800s, Victorian women’s magazines began to offer suggestions for celebrating Halloween in wholesome ways, with barn dancing and apple bobbing. And by the early 20th century, it became a holiday for children more than adults. In 1920, The Ladies’ Home Journal made the first known reference to children going door to door for candy, and by the 1950s it was a universal practice in this country.
By the end of the 20th century, 92 percent of America’s children were trick-or-treating.
Happy Hallowe’en or Blessed Samhain to Spo-fans far and wide!
I grew up in the Detroit area; October 30th was called Devil’s Night. I don’t know when it started: it was always there when I was growing up.Kids would go out at night and toilet-paper the trees and soap windows and ring doorbells. In the 70s the fires started. In downtown Detroit; they became world famous.
I was not allowed to go out on this night, and truth be told I did not want to. I wanted to stay home and guard the house from kids in the neighborhood I knew were plotting an attack. My parents never seemed alarmed by this night, which left me with the anxious obligation to ‘stand guard’. I recall our house was hit only once – and I was literally hit with an egg while outside guarding the front. On this night father turned on his police radio for our entertainment. We heard of the various goings on in the suburbs.
We lived next door to a couple who did not have kids. we kids liked this couple and vice versa. They were interesting as they were our parent’s age but had no kids – what a concept.
Mrs. C was fascinated by Devil’s night, not having it where she came from.Apparently she wanted to go out to see the event. I don’t remember how it started, but my brother and I started an annual ‘date’ with this lady. We 3 would go out on patrol on Devil’s Night, looking for happenings. Armed with flashlights, we were both sight-seeing and on patrol. Mrs. C found it all fascinating, like Margaret Mead observing tribal behaviors of the Bantus.
A few times the police would stop us – kids were not supposed to be out on this night. Whatever she said ‘worked’, as we were never told to go home or worse, arrested.
I think Devil’s night has calmed down now, a fad of the past. I don’t know what happened to Mrs. C. But it would be fun to call her this day, to wish her a Happy Devil’s Night.
Reading blogs is becoming overwhelming.
I like reading blogs. I like to check in daily on everyone on my blog roll. As the blog roll increases, and free time decreases, this pleasant past time is becoming more time consuming and less fun. I find myself skimming blogs way too quickly, rather than “reading” them. And I catch myself feeling relief when someone has not posted anything new.
So this is not good. Hobbies should be fun, not another ‘should’ chore.
I suppose if I had more time, a faster computer, and less blogs I want to read, it would not feel so much. But there it is.
I have only so many hours of free time. So I apologize for not being more regular in dropping by the blogs. I think I should split up the blog roll and visit people every 2-3 days. I am going to give that a try.
I will try to leave a comment to let you know I stopped by.
Do you have any other suggestions to keep reading fun and sane?
1. Taken a picture completely naked? Does this mean Itook the picture naked - or there are naked photos of me? either way - no.
2. Made out with a friend on your MySpace/Facebook page? No
3. Danced in front of your mirror naked? Sure, some time ago though.
4. Told a lie? Yes but i hope not in a long while.
5. Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back? Yes
6. Been arrested? No
7. Made out with someone of the same sex? Sure lots of times; jolly good fun
8. Seen someone die? Yes, particularly when on call as an intern
9. Slept in until 5pm? I may have done such from jet lag; not too sure.
10. Had sex at work? no
11. Fallen asleep at work/school? all interns/residents have done this
12. Held a snake? yes
13. Ran a red light? yes
14. Been suspended from school? No
15. Totalled your car in an accident? Yes when i was a teenager
16. Pole danced? No.
17. Smoked? no - no tobacco, MJ or herbals
18. Been fired from a job? Ye
19. Sang karaoke? no
20. Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? sure, lots of times
21. Laughed until a drink came out your nose? Yes
22. Caught a snowflake on your tongue? of course; sad to think of people who have not done so
23. Kissed in the rain? Yes
24. Sang in the shower? lots of times
25. Given your private parts a nickname? only in mixed company
26. Ever gone out without underwear? ah youth!
27. Sat on a roof top? the house in which i grew up was ideal for that
28. Played chicken? you mean with a car? no. with people? yes
29. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? no
30. Broken a bone? yes, my R Wrist.
31. Mooned/flashed someone? no
32. Shaved your head? Yes; Spo fans have seen the photo last 10/31/06
33. Slept naked? most nights
34. Played a prank on someone? yse
35. Had a gym membership? yes
36. Cried over someone you were in love with? yes
37. Taken more than 10 shots of alcohol? no; i am a panty-waist and can only do a few before falling asleep
38. Had sex today? No
39. Played strip poker? No.
40. Donated Blood? i was over the 2 litre mark when the ‘no gays’ rule started
41. Video taped yourself having sex? no
42. Eaten alligator meat? no, nor to i wish to do so
43. Ever jump out of an airplane? same as #42
44. Have you been to more than 10 countries? no
45. Ever wanted to have sex with a platonic friend? Yes
This is Halloween
My cousin, Ann, worked on the team that created this movie. She is proud of it. This opening scene is jolly good fun. It captures the ’spirit’ of the season……..
Samuel Johnson wrote about ghosts.‘All evidence is against it but all belief is towards it’. I suspect most people – including ones who declare themselves quite rational – believe in ghosts. Perhaps we are ‘wired’ to believe in spirits.
If ghosts exist, my house in Chicago by all accounts should have been haunted. It had an owner a few owners back who was crazy/paranoid and eventually fell down the basement stairs and died. However I encountered no evidence of a haunting – except one incident.
Soon after I moved in, one night I woke up to a very loud crash. It was coming from the kitchen.It sounded like someone had smashed in the windows. Or a large breakable item had been thrown against the floor or wall. I was instantly awake. I suppose part of me thought it was somebody breaking and entering. Another part of me thought it was the cat breaking something. Another part of me thought ‘I have a ghost!” These blurry thoughts came too quickly for analysis. I jumped up, ran down stairs into the kitchen.
No broken glass; no broken object. There were no signs anything was amiss. I went through the house but located no broken or misplaced object. Even the cat seemed ok. He did not have that tension cats have when they know they are being accused something bad.
So that was my ghost. If it was a ghost. I suspect it was fleeing the house, as it never came back.
Have you ever encountered a ghost?
Hallowe’en has a lot of good memories for me. My best friend growing up was my brother, Brother #2. He and I would plan Hallowe’en starting in August. When Brother #3 arrived we got him excited for it too.
Back then we lived on a dead end street, shaped like a large needle. To the south in parallel was a similar street. The heads of the needles were linked by a small municipal park. Both streets were lined with large elm trees, which formed a sort of gothic cathedral arch on both streets. I am certain the streets were not long or large but when we were little they seemed enormous. And everyone knew everybody. Trick or treats were generous and there was always some pause for conversation with the neighbors.
The darkness and the park were ideal settings for Hallowe’en. Going through the park to get to the other street meant going into the woodsy dark; one year some older kids jumped out from trees to scare us. Every year we looked for them to do a repeat performance but it never happened. I think in some way we were disappointed.
Father would accompany us. He called trick-or-treating ‘going begging’. The night was ‘Beggers’ Night”. He wore a mask while we wore homemade costumes. (Being the fag in the family, I was in charge of design and production of everyone’s costumes).
One house always had out a manikin out with a bowl of goodies; there was a sign that said ‘sweets and candies for the needy, but take just one, and don’t be greedy!” We were good boys, so we always took just one item. I think we imagined a goblin would follow us home if we misbehaved.
I still have the plastic pumpkin that held my trick-or-treats.
So this is why Hallowe’en has always been a pleasant time for me. it reminds me of good memories with my brothers and father. Halloween was magical and delightful. It helped celebrate the passing of time and season.
Carving pumpkins was a big event when we were growing up.
The family would have a weekend drive in early October to see the fall colours and eat doughnuts at a cider mill. The last step in this ritual was finding some pumpkins. Where the pumpkins were was called ‘Pumpkin Alley’. Eventually Pumpkin Alley settled into one place but when growing up wherever the latest cider mill was, there was Pumpkin Alley.
In the beginning we got only one pumpkin. Father called it Peter Pumpkin. Peter had to be found amongst all the others. It had the emotions of finding the right puppy. We would pull out possibilities ‘is this Peter Pumpkin?” he would shake his head no, that wasn’t he.Then, he would say ‘that is Peter Pumpkin!” and we would take him home.Later, we got one pumpkin per child and a pumpkin for the dog. Peter Pumpkin and friends.
Usually a night or two before Hallowe’en we carved them. Newspapers were put on the basement floor. Father always cut open the tops. He would hold out the top towards us and ask if it was ‘fresh’. We would take a whiff and declare it so. To this day the aroma of freshly cut pumpkin is one of the most pleasant smells I know.I insisted on a scary face. After all, pumpkins were to scare of bad things on Hallowe’en, no? I tried to make the most frightening face imaginable.
We used long taper candles. Getting the candles to stand up was a task; they would continually fall over. It made me cross.
Father is a photographer. The end products of our industry were lined up on a counter and photographed. I am sure if I go through 25 years of slides I would find every year’s pumpkins.
After Hallowe’en the pumpkins were left to rot in the backyard. My mother did not like this, but we thought it was good for the garden soil. Chipmunks would nibble on them. Sometimes in a snow we would see the contrast of orange to the white.
In spring time we would find the stems, Peter Pumpkin now gone – back into the earth from whence he came, only to reappear later that autumn in his next incarnation.
As it is the season to do so, I am reading ghost stories. I just finished rereading “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. As a consequence, my sleep is spoiled. I am waking at 2AM and the house feels creepy. I am easily startled by shadows and noises. A certain lamp in the hallway moves around in the night time, no doubt creeping up on me while I sleep.I suppose I deserve it; reading scary stories at night time.
Oh well, ‘tis the season hohoho.
The sun is setting early now. It is the time of year to wake up in the dark. I only see the sun rise when I get to work. The winter months are arriving. Apparently I am wired differently from others. Just as folks are developing winter seasonal affective disorder and getting out their light boxes, I am cheering up. It took a longer while to get over this year, but past weeks of gloom and insomnia seem to be dissipating.
Winter nights and feeling comfortable with them is about a sense of security. I was able to translate dark long nights as cozy and safe. Perhaps I am more ‘bear’ than I realize – I sleep longer but it feels good. Oh the weather out side is frightful but inside it is delightful – fireplace, hot drinks, books, and warm covers. No where to go; and a blizzard made it even more cozy to stay at home and sleep. Never wake me up again.
Alas, the present house was designed with high ceilings and open areas, so there is no small room in which to crawl into a ball. I sleep better in small spaces. And there are no blizzards anymore. But I still sleep better in the winter time.
So I gladly wave the sun good bye for several months. I am looking forward to the pending hibernation.
I have the usual symptoms of a bad cold. No fun in this.
I will return after I feel better. I hope soon.
Everyone do better this weekend than I !
Note: Sometime this weekend Spo-Reflections will see 30,000 visits!
I continue to be honored that people stop by; even more so when they return.
Thank you all for being part of my life.
Hallowe’en candy at our house has a strata. If you come to our house, you are evaluated for what sort of treat you will be receiving.
First level; the “A” candy
This goes to children who are excited and their costume is clever. Manners are a vital component for receiving the “A” candy. No manners eliminates any possibility of getting the “A” candy.
In the last few years the “A” candy has been Halloween PEZ dispensers. As one youngster put it ‘This house rules!”
Second level; the “B” candy
This is the bulk of the hand outs; they go to children either polite, or with a decent costume or showing some excitement – but nothing out of the ordinary.
“B” candy is often some bulk candy that is decent but not extraordinary. “Fun size” chocolate bars are a good example.
And the lowest level is the dreaded “C” candy
This is given to the snot nose kids with no costume or lousy manners or with bored or greedy interactions. The signal to Someone a C candidate is approaching is the exclamation ‘Oh, look and C what is here!” Often teenagers fall into this category – they seldom are in costume; they are out looking for as much as they can grab. No smile; no ‘trick or treat’ and no “thank you!”
Last year’s “C” candy was Smarties – one Smarty per nasty child.
This year’s “C” candy will be the leftover Smarties from last year.
Won’t that be some trick!
Throughout history, people have attempted to cure syphilis using a variety of materials.
In the 17th century, a cock – of the chicken variety – was boiled with spices and herbs, along with three ounces of worms that was collected from a horse’s dunghill and cleansed with white wine. The resulting broth was to be mixed with crushed snails from a vineyard. This poultry concoction was applied as a poultice.
Another cock cure; the physician Nicholas Culpepper suggested men with the clap soothe their members in the warm innards of a freshly killed fowl.
For those not into chicken, there was always mercury - .this was the standard treatment up until the 20th century. Mercury often caused sweats, excessive salivation, sores, loss of teeth, and a bad smell, all very good for preventing the spread of a social disease.
The US Medical Annual of 1913 states;
“In those who have been exposed to infection the entire penis is scrubbed with liquid soap and water for several minutes, and then washed with mercuric percholirde lotion 1:2000. The abrasions are sprayed with hydrogen peroxide. Two urethral injections of 10% argyrols are then given and retained for five minutes. The whole penis is then rubbed with 33% calomel ointment, which is kept on for several hours.”
Penicillin came around in 1943.
In England there was something called “Common Law”. This is when some custom evolves into an unwritten law. An example: perhaps some serfs gave the lord of the manor a pig at Christmas time, done as a friendly gesture. Over time this gift became expected, then required. There would be penalties if the pig was not given. Everyone would know about the pig-at-Christmas law, but no one remembers that it started as merely a custom.
If you are still with me, a lot of my annual holiday rituals probably started in a similar way. I thought of doing “X” at a holiday, and the next year I remembered that “X” was pleasant so I did it again. 40 years later, I suspect I am doing a lot of “X” but I don’t remember how or when they started.
This is true for grilling flank steak at Hallowe’en. I suspect my mother made it one Hallowe’en and we kids asked for it again the next year. So it became ‘the official dinner’ for Hallowe’en.
I am not a big meat eater, let alone a beef eater; so this once a year dish certainly makes me think of All Hallow’s Eve.The Celts considered this time of year the end of the year. They gathered up the flocks for winter housing. What they could not house, they slaughtered, and it was cool enough to keep the meat that way. So eating some meat is apropos for the holiday.
It gets marinated for at least a day in –
¼ cup Soy sauce
¾ cup Olive oil
2 T. Red wine vinegar (or Balsamic)
Chopped green onions
3 T.Honey
2 t, Ginger
3 t. Garlic
Then it is grilled and served with autumn vegetables, like pumpkin or squash.
This flank steak is very good as a cold dish; so the traditional All Saints Day menu consists of cold flank steak, pumpkin seeds, and Hallowe’en candy for dessert.
I don’t seem to have any zeal for Hallowe’en this year.
This may be a symptom of the lingering autumnal seasonal affective disorder, but I think it is more. It is hard to get into the feeling of a holiday without the usual cues. I have no fall colour, no signs of autumn. Even the night remains too hot for sleeping. It is hard to celebrate ‘the passing of the year’ when every month more or less feels the same.
But I think the main reason for the lack of excitement is I am growing old. As a boy, Hallowe’en used to be wonderful, magical, and exciting. Every year I try to revive some of this thrill through nostalgia; I play familiar music, I get out vintage decorations etc. Alas, there is nothing there anymore; all the ‘juice’ has been squeezed out of the orange. At this point the notion of getting out the boxes seems too tiring.
In contrast, my brother has Hallowe’en excitement as he has children; my two nephews are squealing with delight in anticipation of costume parties and trick-or-treating. I think you need children to feel excited about a holiday.
Otherwise holidays are a drudge. When you can’t have tradition, you should have an adventure. Perhaps I should stop trying to make it ‘what it was’ and do something new and adventuresome.
We’ll see what the next few weeks bring.
Anyone with some new ideas to try?
DougT of Gossemer Tapestry requests today we write an entry about the environment. If you would care to do so yourself please join in!
My entry is about water.
Bottled water continues to surge in popularity. It stems from the suspicion that bottled water is healthier and safer than tap water. The irony is people in the USA have the some of the cleanest, safest water in the world - and in history - but we don’t trust it.
So we buy bottled water believing it is better for us.I can find no reliable medical evidence that bottled water is safer than tap water. It certainly is more expensive. Per gallon, it can be over 250x more expensive than tap water. But no one complains of the price of bottled water. 40% of bottled water comes from tap water to start. Tap water is far more stringently controlled than the quality of bottled water.
The plastic bottle is an another issue. Only 11% get recycled; the rest end up in landfill – According to an ad in Vegetarian Times, 100 million plastic water bottles end up in land fill every day! I read it will take 1,000 years for the bottles to degrade – and then we have all the plastic in the environment.
In contrast, a fifth of the world lacks reliable access to water. 80% of all illnesses in the world are due to waterborne diseases. There are 4 billion cases of diarrhea per year, resulting in nearly 2 million deaths, 90% of them children under five.
I suspect we will see a lot of political and international friction about water: who controls it and gets it. As demand surges and the world warms, there will be less available – and perhaps it will be less safe. Witness Atlanta. I see water fights here in the western states that bicker over who gets how much of the Colorado River. My friends and relations back in the Midwest blame the low levels of the Great Lakes on suspected shipments to the west. They are dead set against shipping any Great Lakes water west, even for economic gain.
So on this day, please consider drinking less bottled water, and please recycle the plastic bottle. Be mindful of water consumption.And be grateful you are one of the fortunate ones of the planet to have water.
I wanted to end with a quotation from one of my favorite books ‘The Dispossessed”
The speaker is the Terran ambassador, to another, on a planet far away in the far distant future -
“My world, my Earth, is a ruin. A planet spoiled by the human species. We multiplied and gobbled and fought until there was nothing left, and then we died. We controlled neither appetite nor violence; we did not adapt. We destroyed ourselves. But we destroyed the world first. There are no forests left on my Earth. The air is grey, the sky is grey, it is always hot. It is habitable, but not as this world is. This is a living world, a harmony. Mine is a discord. You Odonians chose a desert; we Terran made a desert…there are nearly half a billion of us now. Once there were nine billion. We failed as a species, as a social species….Well, we had saved what could be saved, and made a kind of life in the ruins, on Terra, in the only way it could be done: total centralization. Total control over the use of every acre of land, every scarp of metal, every once of fuel. Total rationing, birth control, euthanasia, universal conscription into the labor force. The absolute regimentation of each life toward the goal of racial survival.”
As I sit at my desk, I look out onto the back yard. Backyards in Phoenix are all surrounded by brick walls. There is a small drainage opening in the lower corner, to let out the monsoon waters in summer time.
A moment ago a large rabbit squeezed its way through the grate and into my yard.
Goodness knows what the hell it is going to do in my yard. There is no grass, and there are no vegetables to eat. What plants I have are potted. I doubt he is interested in the hot pepper plants; I see no evidence of nibbling.
So the rabbit is here to annoy me and drive me go stark raving mad.
Back in the Midwest, when I had gardens, doing battle with rabbits was a major ongoing process. Most people see rabbits as something cute and sweet. I saw them as the Satan’s little minions. Having a few cats around and sprinkling pepper on the growing plants kept some of the bastard bunnies away, but not all.
I was crestfallen to discover rabbits exist in Phoenix. And they are legion. You see them everywhere at sundown. What the hell are they doing here and what do they live on? Between the heat and the coyotes/hawks you would think this would be a ‘no rabbit’ zone.
So now I have rabbits without the gardens; the worst of both worlds.
Excuse me as I need to go outside and chase a bunny……
On my father’s side of the family tree is a branch with the last name of Chapoton. The Chapotons originally came from Languedoc, France and settled in Montreal in the late 1600s.
My great x 6! grandfather John Baptiste Chapoten was a physician. He went to the Detroit area in 1718. He was the physician at Fort Ponchatrain. He was there for 40 years. He died in 1760. The Capotens have been in Detroit area for nearly 300 years.
I went to medical school in Detroit; so his spirit may have been nearby for me.
So much of history gets lost when people die. I have some facts on the Chapotons but no details or motives to his life and his decisions.
Why did he emigrate from France to Montreal? How and why did he take a post in the Detroit area? Going from Montreal to Detroit must have been a journey in itself; why risk it? What was like to practice medicine then? Was he happy in all these decisions? Did Dr. Chapoten have one or many factors that made him decide to immigrate to North America? If he had been ‘somewhere else’ that fateful day back in late 1600s, would he have stayed put in France?
I read he was in the Army; perhaps he was merely assigned to Montreal and then to Detroit.
It supports the habit of keeping a journal or diary. So later on your descendents can know who you were and why you did some things.
Over the decades I have had many people cut my hair. The tonsorial parlors and their ambiences have varied a great deal. They seem to fall in two categories; the yin and the yang approach to haircutting.
In high school, on the advice of my mother, I went to a salon. This place had the ‘yin’ or the ‘female atmosphere’. All the stylists were women and they talked to each other and to their clients. And their clients were expected to talk back. I was not to be an exception. Rosalie told me everything about herself (whether I wanted to hear or not) and I was supposed to reciprocate with my own personal matters. Sometimes I heard more than I was comfortable; women talk about everything with each other and my presence did not damper this.
The salon was a pleasant, social place. It was also noisy; what with blowing hair dryers and lots of talk and laughter. It was almost a social club. My mother still goes there once a week, and people still ask her about me.
At present I am going to a place with the opposite culture; I go to a barber shop with a definite yang or ‘male atmosphere’. It is in a small room without decoration. The barber has never asked about me, including my name. I think he recognizes me as a regular customer. Other than the initiation to set up what I want him to do, we don’t say a word until it is done and he asks for his fee. I sit in silence, and I sense I am not supposed to talk. The room is small enough that the other waiting customers (all men) would be obliged to listen to me. As they sit, they don’t talk to each other but watch the TV.
It is a quiet place. The only sounds are the electric shavers and the sports events coming from the TV. I sometimes nod off in the chair while he works. I don’t think one is better than the other; my desire for one or the other vacillates over time.
Who cuts your hair, and what sort of place is it?
Do you like the yin or the yang approach?
The Kransky Sisters - Sweet Dreams
Thanks to Andrew, at The Other Andrew, I have found a new set of Goddesses.
Added to the Muses, the Fates, the Graces, the Furies, and the Norns are the Kransky Sisters. They are a sort of cross between Morticia Addams and Edvard Munch.
I did a year of neurology while I was in residency in shrink school; I am board certified in both neurology and psychiatry. So you would think I would have a full understanding on the central nervous system and brain functions.
But there are still some mysteries.
I never learned where in the brain was –
A – The urge to press an already lit elevator button.
B – Why people must pull out in front of you in traffic when there is plenty of space to do so after you pass.
C – The urge to complain.
D – What he sees in that tramp.
E – Why men blow their noses and pee in the shower.
F – Why we think shouting at people who don’t understand English will make them understand us.
G – Why men must stay away from each other as far as possible when standing at a row of urinals.
And
H – why sex and aggression are the primal urges in man, and not sugar and grease.
I have nothing scheduled or planned so far for the rest of the year. Usually I use some future event to help me get through the mundane parts of life. Having ‘something to look forward to’ is helpful for the gray times.
At the moment there isn’t much to which to look forward. I don’t seem to have any holiday spirit (yet) this year for Hallowe’en or Thanksgiving or Christmas.
The one exception is a cruise.
Less than a month from now, we are going with some of the members of Bears of the West on a cruise. It leaves San Diego and goes down the western side of the Baja peninsula. We have never been to Mexico. I don’t know how ‘genuinely Mexico” it will be.
My main goal is not to get sick. The February trip to Costa Rica was spoiled when I got some sort of nasty bug. I often get sick when I travel; perhaps from excitement; perhaps from sensitivity to unfamiliar waters and food. So I plan to be careful on this trip. It would be ironic to come back with weight loss from a cruise.
I haven’t ‘read up’ on where we are going. Perhaps I won’t. I have ruined many a trip by too much preparation and having too many expectations of what will happen and how things will be like. So perhaps I should ‘make it up as a go along’ without predetermined expectations. Sometimes the make-it-up-as-we-go-along trips turn out to be the best ones.
Have any Spo-fans been to Baja?
Do you like cruises, and are you going on one this winter?
I like to cook, and what I like to cook most is soup.
There is something hearty, soothing, and marvelous about soup.
Perhaps it reminds me of the Three Witches in MacBeth, putting together a concoction of exotic ingredients that together make something magical.
Autumn is my favorite time to make soup. I try to balance making old favorites and trying new soups.
And the variety! There are endless types to try and do.
So…
I want to ask Spo-fans - what is their favorite soup? And please! Tell me about a soup that you recommend that I try out.
If you give me the name of it, I can probably locate the recipe in my vast collection of recipe books.
Spo-fans - this is a rare entry - done on the fly and without massive editing and polish.
It is 1AM on Sunday morning and I can’t sleep.
I am going through a period of insomnia. Most people do from time to time. What they don’t realize is insomnia is often temporary. If you wait it out it will pass.
Mine is probably from a combination of bronchitis, work stress, neglect of my yoga, and reading too many scary books at night time.
The classic analytical explanation for insomnia is people not feeling ’safe’ enough to let themselves go to sleep.
Still, it is no fun to be wide awake at 1AM with no end in sight.
What to do when you have insomnia -
Step #1 - get out of bed. if you can’t fall asleep within 15 minutes of being in bed - get up and out, Otherwise you will turn your bed into a ‘battlefield’ of fighting to go to sleep. So get up, get out, and go do something mindless and not too strenous (and no ghost stories either).
Step #2 - when you are drowsy go back to bed.
Repeat Step #1 and #2 until you get into bed and actually stay there.
Here’s the key - no mater how badly you slept, no matter how many times you got up/went back to bed, get up at your usual time. and don’t take a nap for lost sleep.
If you keep this up, the body will train itself not only to get you up at the same time each day, but it will start to put you to sleep at a decent hour.
Melatonin 0.5mg taken 12 hours before you want to get up tells the body to do just that. Usually melatonin makes a lousy sleeping pill but it can reset inner-alarm clocks that are off. It signals the brain ‘oh i guess we have to wake up 12 hours hence’.
I usually take a tablet 6PM Sunday for waking 6AM Monday morning.
About sleeping pills - they are quite controversial to use in the long run. There is little if any data on the long time effects of regular sleeping pills, so they are officially not recommended. But a lot of people do take them regularly and over long periods of time, and swear they are ok, can’t sleep without them. They are the guinea pigs and will show the world in 10-20 years if this was wise or not.
There is actually some data long time use of sleeping pills will shorten your life, but i have not seen these astounding findings verified - a sleeping pill cover up?
I’ve been somewhat laid low from a touch of bronchitis, so my goal to post ‘nearly every day’ has lapsed. But what the heck, this is not “a treatment plan”; this is a hobby.
Still it is getting harder to find time to do things. In Phoenix, you have to drive everywhere. Between traffic and distance I spend a lot of time on the road. I’ve had a lot of new patients in the past 4 weeks; I spend a lot of evenings and weekends dictating charts.
Between these two time-consuming activities, there hasn’t been much time to do anything else. I am very tired in the evening, and when paperwork is complete I don’t feel like doing anything more.
And it is getting harder to keep abreast of my fellow bloggers’ newest entries. I miss things when I check in less frequently.
Last week I mentioned I have a new personal trainer. ‘Jim’ is quite well built. This inspires envy motivation to keep working out. I want to look like Jim. His workouts are ‘more butch’; he pushes me more than the last trainer did. So, while I ache all over, I think he can do me good. We’ll see.
Heather dear; a new shipment of cheese arrived today!
We turned off the AC for a while. It remains warm but ‘warm’ is a relative matter. Getting down into the mid 70s at night feels near chilly compared to Arizona summer temps of 110.
We went into the pool for the last time; the water is 70 degrees – it makes for a quick dip.
I got my choppers cleaned this week. I used to like going to the dentist. It isn’t fun anymore. Most of the time they seem to be hawking new and expensive things for me to do – procedures I didn’t even know I needed. Maggie dear – how can I spot a quack? And the hygienists keep changing, so I never see the same one. I don’t like a hygienist who talks to much, as I feel obliged to ‘talk back’. When I don’t, I sense I am a disappointment. I
I was quite saddened that Hanuman and Pisolotto pulled out from blogging. Dearies, if you are reading, please consider new blogs!
I recently got a call from the best friend wondering why he is hearing news only through mutual friends. Apparently I’ve been sending his emails to his mother. (well the do have the last name). I hope I haven’t shocked the old lady too much. On the other hand I sense she doesn’t read them.
I like ghost stories – proper ghost stories.
Since ghost stories have been told for thousands of years you would think there would be a lot of good ones. Alas, this is not the case. The majority of them are not very satisfying.
What I mean by this is; ghost stories should give the reader or listener the willies. Lots of ghost stories are obvious, or merely terrorizing; but they are straightforward – there is a ghost, it is real, and explained; no mystery and no sense of the uncanny.
The best ghost stories often have the ghost not actually seen or directly encountered. Rather, there is a creepy sensation of a ghost nearby, or the ghost is only realized in hindsight, and barely understood.
A good ghost story should give you the creeps; to read them makes you shiver.
Some of the best writers in history have attempted to write ghost stories, and most of them have fallen flat. It takes a special knack to write a good ghost story.
Curiously the majority of good ghost stories were written by women. I don’t know why this is so.
If you are interested, here is a list of my favorite ghost stories; all have bring on the creeps.
Give them a try some dark night!
The Upper Berth – Marion Crawford – my favorite!
Harry – L.P Hartley
Afterward – Edith Wharton
The Sweeper – A. M. Burrage
The Corner Shop – Cynthia Asquith
In the Tube – E.F. Benson
Dan of “Daniel Guy in the Desert” recently paid me a compliment that I was a voice of sanity in his otherwise wacky world.
Well, that needs fixing.
Not only is a little nonsense now and then cherished by the wisest men, it is down right vital.
Spo-Reflections has grown too serious again and needs a pie in the puss.
The newcomers to Spo-Reflections may not be aware that Eartha Kitt uses my brain as a conduit for encounters with aliens. She has been rather quiet this year, which may mean she has direct contact with outer space (and thus doesn’t need me), or the aliens are contacting her through somebody else.
When I first heard her sing, she would not get out of my mind for weeks. She has come and gone ever since. It is a bit of a nuisance to have Ms. Kitt in the brain, sometimes 24/7. I never hear what the aliens are saying. It must be far more interesting than the disco version of ‘I need a man’.
I am not familiar with the planet from which she originates, but I wish they would beam her up and begone. At least long enough for me to give the mind-motel a good cleaning.
Perhaps they are merely plotting and they are planning some outrage.
If the aliens have indeed ‘moved on’ to another person for their contact, then the mind boggles as whom they are presently using for their go-between. Based on odd or unusual activity, Ms. Spears seems a likely candidate.
Perhaps the aliens now use Mr. Cheney – it may explain why he is so cranky. However, I think Mr. Cheney is a Raver rather than a go-between for alien rendezvous.
(oh go read the works of Stephen Donaldson to know what is a Raver).
If anyone has any suggestions I am glad to hear them.
