Ya got yer Full Hunter’s Moon. (The last big full moon was the Harvest Moon, you know, like as in–hum along, now, “Shine on, Shine on Harvest Moon, up in the sky. I ain’t had no lovin’ since January, February, June or July. Snow time ain’t no time to sit around and spoon, so Shine on, shine on, Harvest Moon. For me and my gal.” Sorry, that Golden Oldie just popped up in my latest musical rant and I had to get it out there.) Ya got Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day, even Canadian Thanksgiving Day and National Farmers’ Day. Little brown bats start to hibernate now, a little before timber rattlesnakes, who head for winter dens in a couple of weeks, according to the Old Farmer. Won’t miss either of those critters, thank you very much. And then, there’s the finale to all of this October stuff–Halloween! Celebration for that one is creeping toward July Fourth, one of these days. I was wondering the other day, what is it about a holiday that originated with solemn observance tied to All Saints Day, November 1st, and has morphed into an all-out phantasmagoria of skeletons, spiders…and webs, tombstones, jack-o-lanterns, snakes, vampires (totally different folktales…and a real bad guy named Vlad the Impaler, because of his penchant for sticking spears through people who displeased him), etc., anything thought by anybody to be scary. (Personally, I think that some of our recent politicians are more frightening than any of those items, but that’s just me.) And the whole Jack-o-lantern thing originated with some poor Irishmen without enough money to afford a proper lantern to go about at night, so they carved out a turnip to put a candle in? In America, the Irish still didn’t have money for lanterns, nor for turnips, so they used pumpkins instead? Sounds pretty far out to me. Some of the decor around town is too. And it goes up as soon as the fair is over in some neighborhoods. Do the neighbors like listening to the motors for the inflatables?
Actually, some of the most inventive displays were out there on the Buckeye Block during the Chamber Fall Festival scarecrow contest. There certainly were all kinds. Quite a few, I’m guessing, were referencing pop culture stuff–movies, TV shows, sports, etc., that sort of thing–and so, I just did not “get” them. The “Headless Horseman”, on the other hand, drew upon a piece of literature (and a nifty adaptation by Disney)that I could understand. The headless figure on the horse, holding a gruesome head in its outstretched hand was a nice ( if you’re into gore) touch. Didn’t get to taste the chili…or get to the poetry reading (former student makes good) at the bookstore, because of some out-of-town errands calling my name, but I did get some fry pies and a Portage County Park District Foundation T-shirt–in color! This could become a regular thing. Pretty cool.
Just got a freeze warning for Garrettsville on my phone. The end (of Autumn)(and we just started it on September 22) is nigh!
Evidence of this is the fact that all around us the leaves are rapidly changing from green to various shades of yellow, red, orange, purple, brown (end of the line) and falling indiscriminately on lawns, whether the ones in which they have spent Spring and Summer growing, or lawns anywhere on the street. I tend to feel that raking up leaves is a waste of time and that they should just be mowed to a fare-thee-well into mulch and left there to nourish the lawn for another year. Back in the day, of course, they were often raked into piles and burned–what a great Fall smell!. But now, we’re all more environmentally responsible (Aren’t we?) and the leaves get raked up, bagged up, hauled to the curb and taken away. Do they get to be turned into mulch so they can do some good. They don’t smell as good at any rate.
Football season is winding down–two games to go, both home, but Garfield may have a run in the postseason, seeing as the team has had some outings wherein the JV squad got to play quite a respectable amount of time to finish up the varsity game. If we could just schedule in the convent team for the Little Sisters of the Poor, our season could last for quite awhile yet. The cold has not actually been much of a factor so far–only two cold ones, really, but when it turns on us, things could get ugly. What’s really ugly is watching me struggle into and out of all the various layers that I put on to avoid becoming a “fansicle”. The last regular season game is on October 21. Should be Senior Night. Could also be a preview of a run for the Big Time. Come see.
