Pumpkin, A Favored Fruit

Since I have nothing much to write about today I thought I would ramble on about one of my favorite seasonal fruits, the pumpkin. If you take the pumpkin away there would be no Halloween, sort of like removing your pancreas. It is necessary to have it.  But so many people (most haven't given tasting pumpkin enough of a chance) say they don't like the flavor of pumpkin. I consider those to be like the ones who refuse to run under a hose and play because "adults don't do that". Someone should force feed them a pumpkin muffin to introduce the delight of eating pumpkin.

In addition to decorating and carving them at Halloween, pumpkins are eaten all around the world in various forms (The pumpkin is type of squash). Antarctica is the only place they don't grow. To show there versatility, try sampling pumpkin when you travel abroad. The variety from far away is likely to not look or taste like the one you know best from home. Pumpkins are native to the western hemisphere but were completely unknown in Europe when Christopher Columbus landed in America. Scientists say that pumpkins have been grown in America for more than 5000 years.

The Halloween variety, that big orange blob with the green handle is a great substitute for what the Irish first carved at Halloween, They used to carve white turnips. The pumpkin is more shapely, colorful and comes with accessory parts. Take the tendrils, for example.  Sometimes attached to the stem are thin, hair like "tendrils"  During the growing season, tendrils on the vine are green. They twist around objects on the ground to help anchor the vine and protect it from the wind. After harvesting, there are sometimes dried, brown tendrils on the stem.  Too bad they aren't left on pumpkins when they are sold at Halloween.

One year in New Orleans, I planted some old pumpkin seeds in my garden and a pumpkin bush grew, and bore several pumpkins (all of which I removed early-on so the remaining healthy one would get all the nourishment on the vine). It is easy to grow pumpkin but hard to keep rot and pests from eating the final products. Fortunately, I read that a board should be placed underneath then early finished pumpkin to prevent it from rotting. I did that and saved my pumpkin's life.

If you want to murder your grown pumpkin there are plenty of easy ways to cook it. Here is a good site with some nice recipes using pumpkin. http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook.htm#recipe

But I leave you with one of my own favorite  recipes for a very nutritious drink, the pumpkin shake.
Pumpkin Protein Shake
4 oz plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1/3 cup canned pumpkin or fresh pumpkin puree
2-3  teaspoons  raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. cloves, 1/8 tsp. ginger)
1/2 cup ice
1 cup milk
Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
Enjoy pumpkin today!

Old Fasioned People

I have become what I used to call my parents when I was a kid, "old fashioned". In those days being old fashioned was not a good thing. It meant a person was out of touch with changes that everyone else wanted in their lives.  It seems the younger a person is them more they need to change in order to feel secure. No wonder the young struggle so much.  My childhood perception of my mom and dad was they were missing something by being old fashioned. Little did I know then that when one is old fashioned they may miss on the new, but they also happily embrace the old.

I wonder how many people who live their lives to a full age never become old fashioned. There must be a few, but they are rarely noticed and when they do show themselves people don't exclaim that "He's a man of fashion and style". Instead. they say things like, "He's just and old fool". No wonder that as we get older and older we feel more comfortable being old fashioned.

I can list a lot of ways I am old fashioned, but here are a few that prove it.
1) I have never used nor ever will use an ATM machine.
2) The only phones I acknowledge as useful are land line phones.
3) I get upset when I see other people behaving rudely or inappropriately in public, and it is important to me to always act ethically.
4) I think people today are more selfish and dishonest than in earlier generations.
5) I would rather die than have a tattoo, piercing or wear a baseball cap backwards.
6) When I either give or receive a promise I expect it to be honored.
7)  Being respectful to even those I dislike is important. if not, I taint my own character.
8)  I think that too many people today want a handout, not a job.
9) When something bad happens to me I accept it as part of life and say to myself, "I will overcome this setback". Yet today I think  too many in the world see their misfortune as someone else's fault and that someone else should "fix it".
10) I think special effects and other technological advances have ruined movies that are made today.

You get the idea. For me being old fashioned is no longer an undesirable trait. It means I have planted roots in life and that those the roots feel good. Yep! Just call me an Old Fashioned Man.

Demanding Prisoners

Did you hear about the eleven inmates in the Westchester County jail in New York? They filed a federal civil rights lawsuit saying that they are losing their teeth and suffering pain because they aren't allowed dental floss. Haha Thugs in prison demanding dental floss as a "constitutional right". They are asking for $500 million dollars of damages because even though they brush three times a day, tongue and gums included, they still get cavities and suffer bleeding gums, constant dental work for temporary fillings, and mental anguish. The suit says that when cavities develop, inmates are given only temporary fillings, which eventually fall out and lead to tooth loss or chronic pain. Inmates are denied crowns and root canals, it says.

Hmmmm Instead of knocking other people's teeth out while committing their crimes, the prisoners want to keep all teeth in mouths. But the prison says it can't give them floss because the floss can be used as a weapon, but they may try to find an alternative to floss that is safe. I wonder if floss is really so crucial as they claim. In some prisons the inmates have used dental floss and abrasives (including tooth powders) for cutting up prison bars to make 'shank' weapons out of metal bed frames. Maybe they could feed them a liquid diet as an alternative. Haha

If this suit is a successful maybe the inmates could sue for a few more things that are part of their "constitutional " rights. How about?

1) guns to shoot the mice (and anyone else) that they see in their cells
2) steak and lobster for dinner so they won't be protein deficient
3) cigarettes and lighters to help them relax their mental state
4) personal TV's in each cell in order see the latest porno channels to educate the inmate about safe sex
5) maids to clean the cells so that dust won't clog the inmate's lungs
6) personal masseuses to tone the muscles of the inmate so he will be crime ready when released
7) weekend passes into town, particularly to banks, so the inmates can better integrate into society on release

Uh, I think that if the floss and these other demands are met I will apply for a room at that Westchester prison...

Thank Goodness For Autumn

While at a grocery store today I saw the first bins of Halloween pumpkins teeming with round orange delights, a sign that one of my favorite times of the year is lurking. In recent days I have seen other signs that autumn too. The rumble of school buses in the morning and afternoon and the look of the trees, ironically, looking more alive in red, orange and yellow than when in green. The early morning cold settled in a couple of weeks ago, just as it does every mid September here. No matter how warm the day may be now, each morning starts with some shivers as I retrieve my daily newspaper from the dark lawn outside my front door.

I think I love the fall so much because of the rituals I practice each time it comes to me. Buying that pumpkin today, for example, alerts me that it will soon be time to make or buy pumpkin desserts to nourish the newly born autumn days. My mother was a practitioner of holiday/season worship. The decor of her home always fit the season, and I have learned to enjoy the same ritual of decorating today, even the crazy part that includes placing candy corn in a dish to provide fall nourishment to anyone who passes by. Though with Jane gone now I have less excuse to dress the house with autumn decorations, I still do it for myself and for the warm memories it will provoke in me of my childhood autumn days.

I already bought some Halloween candy and treats for the kids who will demand them while trick-or-treating on Halloween night. The Halloween decorations, costumes, and foods all about in stores now make it hard not to do so. And even those garish commercial establishments like Starbucks give a fall nudge to me. Every September or October, while in a seemingly hypnotic state, I indulge in a Starbuck's Pumpkin latte to remind me of the glories of the season. And I have to find a good pumpkin muffin at a bakery too. Can't brew my pumpkin coffee without one of those.

Kids are even more aglow than usual at autumn. I am not sure why because they also have the dreaded look of "do I have to go to school today" on their faces? I do remember the fall activities of my own youth and they verify what an author once wrote. He said that as long as we have memories we never get old. I feel sad for any adult who doesn't get excited by a holiday or doesn't have warm childhood memories of those days. Don't they realize that we adults have permission to be children again at Halloween time? We can run through a corn maze, crave a pumpkin, eat a candy apple, wear a silly costume and even upstage the children while doing it.

I wish you a happy autumn, and hope you allow yourself the joy of being a child again this fall.

First Names

Someone I met for the first time yesterday asked me if I wanted to be called 'James' or 'Jim'. English language first names are quite adaptive, probably because we Americans are an informal people. Though my formal name is James, my most commonly used adult name is Jim and my childhood name was 'Jimmy'. Well, actually, some people still call me Jimmy, and others prefer either James or Jim. It matters not to me what they call me, but I think it would be helpful to stick to one of those (and 'Jim' is most often used, so I'll go for that). When they start calling me all three I know it must be be proof that I am schizophrenic.

A problem with finding and sticking to one English language first name is that some people don't fit either the formal or informal versions of their first name.  No one, for instance. would call the late author Ernest Hemingway, "Ernie".  It doesn't fit because it doesn't sound intellectual enough.  But comic Chris Rock probably would not seem so funny if we called him 'Christopher' Rock. It sounds like the name of a scientist or surgeon.  Just think if Donald Trump were known as 'Donnie' Trump. It would make him seem more like a pro boxer rather than a....err...whatever that guy is. And who would want to go to 'Walter' Disney World'. It wouldn't be the same place.

Then there are people who need a middle name or initials to go with their first name in order for their image to be complete. T.S. Eliot, H.G. Wells, Martin Luther King,  Ralph Waldo Emerson, for example, would be unrecognizable if  they were known as Thomas Eliot, Herbert Wells,  Martin King or Ralph Emerson. Others create an image by dropping their given first name altogether and substituting something singular. 'Whoppi Goldberg', 'Snoop Dog',  and 'Lady Gaga' come to mind.

Then there are people who hate their names so much they call themselves by one entirely different and new name. 'Cher' and 'Madonna', and 'Bono' are a few we all know well. But then, some celebrities are so proud of their given first names they use it exclusively. We would have a hard time recalling the last names of those single named people. 'Beyonce' , 'Kobe' 'Prince' and 'Shaq' are a few of those.

I like to give people nicknames, and most of them like it too. Sometimes we get a nickname and it sticks to us for life. Nicknames give us a special position in the world, make us distinct. Even when the nicknames are less than flattering, they eventually become endearing. How about 'Magic' Johnson, 'Meatloaf' (Marvin Aday), 'Mr. T' (Lawrence Tero), 'Queen Latifa' and 'Sting' (Gordon Sumner)?  Uh, if you have any nicknames for me I request that you make it civil. No vulgarity, please.

Hateful Muslim Protests

It's interesting to see those crazy Muslim factions rioting and carrying out tantrums again against the U.S. Israel and some other western nations that dare to practice freedom of expressions...err..freedom of anything. Many clerics in their mosque sermons in the Mideast are urging their congregations to "defend their faith", by denouncing the obscure movie that an American citizen posted on  line, 'Innocence of Muslims'  that denigrated the Islamic image of Muhammad. What a crock it all is.

It's the same perverted Islamic mentality that calls Americans "devils", that shouts "death to America" and that promotes and practices violence against non Muslims simply because they are "infidels" rather than Muslims. In fact, that film has nothing to do with the alleged outrage of extremists. It's simply an excuse and a vehicle that allows extremist, fundamentalist and terrorist Muslim organizations to more easily take over the governments in those recently liberated dictatorial Arab nations. Fact is, there is a vacuum in the governments in many of the 20 or more countries with angry, illiterate, unemployed, desperate Muslims who are rioting against weak their newly weakened Muslim states. By using that movie as an excuse,  it is helping the crazy factions move closer to taking control of the legal governments in some those nations.

What's different about these riots than some of the more recent ones is that there is not now a dictator head of state or string government in the countries. In the past such riots were stifled by the legitimate government organizations, who put them down quickly and often violently. Now, in their weakened and with the military undecided about what to do, there may be an end to the democratic movements of last spring in some of the Arab states and replacement of them with Iranian style theocratic dictatorships. Al-Qaida has already called for more attacks on U.S. embassies  to "set the fires blazing". Further, it said that, "What has happened is a great event, and these efforts should come together in one goal, which is to expel the embassies of America from the lands of the Muslims."

Perhaps the west should explain to Muslim nations in clear terms, accompanied by a new policy of no more western money for any Arab state that violates the rights of a foreign embassy on Muslim territory, that Muslims must respect the rights of non Muslims. If I were the President of the U.S. I would, for instance, immediately issue a formal and public statement to Egypt that there would be no more foreign aid from the U.S. (Egypt receives more than $2 billion dollars each year from the U.S., the highest amount given to any nation) until the perpetrators of the Embassy attack were arrested and tried, and until guarantees were made that Egyptian police would not simply stand and watch the "protesters' act out, but instead would protect the American Embassy per the agreements all nations make with each other to do so.

To the crazy Arabs in the region I would state clearly that, "The American democratic system embraces freedom of expression. This includes criticizing your religious head or any other. As a sovereign and free nation we do not censor our citizens to mollify your desires, nor do we suspend constitutional rights when your feelings are hurt by our free expression." Allah Akbar to that.

Cursing The Neighbors

Everybody is destined to have a bad neighbor or two. If you live long enough that loud, inconsiderate, rude neighbor will show up in your driveway or on your lawn. I suspect there is little one can do to change that kind of lout. But one woman in Rhode Island had a unique way of getting back at the kind of neighbor who drives his truck over your flower bed or changes the oil in his truck on your sidewalk. She is accused of training her cockatoo to cuss at her neighbors, thus violating an animal noise ordinance that covers human vulgarity but says nothing about birds cursing out obnoxious neighbors.

Lynne Taylor is accused of training the bird, Willy, to utter expletives at the hated next door neighbors, who just happen to be Lynne's ex-husband and his girlfriend. The neighbors, Kathleen Melker and Craig Fontaine, say they have been subjected to repeated curses from the bird, at one point for 15 minutes at a time. Katherine says cockatoo Willy calls her a "whore". Hmmm How does Kathleen know the bird is talking to her? I mean, if she weren't a whore she wouldn't.... never mind. But given that Kathleen is the lady who stole away Lynn's husband Craig, that bird Willy may be smarter than most humans.

And now the local court will have to determine if the bird's mouth is an extension of Lynn's. Until it does, the judge has issued a restraining order to keep the bird and Lynn separate from the neighbors she hates, which makes me wonder if the cursing bird also hurls profanity at it's teacher (Lynn). I wonder if that judge will make the bird testify at the trial. If so, it could be a dirty day in court for everyone.