Happy Hallowe'en

From seven pumpkins growing in my garden, come seven Jack-o-lanterns. Laura and I carved up the pumpkins last night and this morning. It was so much fun. It's funny to think that these all came from one pumpkin a year ago which didn't get gutted.

Susan's Exciting News

Susan has some exciting news that I would like to share with you: she got a new job and after twenty years, is no longer in the food service industry.

A few months ago Susan decided that managing in coffee shops was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life and started thinking about going back to school. She did some research, tossing around ideas such as social work and counselling, choosing to go into the Indigenous Family Support Worker program for which there is a great demand for workers. She was a little late to get into the program in September, so will have to wait until next year.

Last week her sister Diana, who works at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, told her about a job posting there for a Career, Employment, & Education Resources (CEER) Assistant. We got her resume and cover letter drawn up, submitting it on the last day of the posting. She was short listed, interviewed and yesterday she got the call that the job was hers and can start on Monday.

Susan is so excited! It is in the field she is going back to school for and she couldn't have asked for a better transition job. It's a Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 4:30. No more 5:00 am starts, no more closing shifts, no calls to cover shifts; she works when the office is open and when she doesn't, it's closed. She'll be able to get her nails and hair done, wear the clothes she wants (no more black dress code), she can wear jewellery (she misses her dragonflies), perfume instead of smelling like coffee. What a joy!

I am so happy for her and glad that she's found a direction to focus outside of the food industry. She will shine in her new position and eventually her career. It's never too late to change one's path.

Oops, My Mistake

I'm going to review a very basic lesson which I'm sure you've all heard before: "Don't believe everything you read on the internet". This is good advise, especially if you are inclined to use sites such as Wikipedia, which should always be taken with a grain of salt. I write this for a reason, which I'll explain.

At the time I started writing my blog, I was also of the habit of perusing websites which listed famous quotes. I love reading inspirational words of modern and historical figures. I try to get an idea of how they succeeded in life through their words and thoughts. As you may have noticed, there are a few quotes at the top of my blog, reminders to me of the frame of mind I like to keep, or ideas which inspire me. One of these quotes is: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought". I copied and pasted it straight from a quote website, including who said it, which was Sartre.

The other day I was browsing the Project Gutenberg website as I often do, searching for something good to read. (If you have never been to Project Gutenberg, I highly recommend it. All of the books are in the public domain and free to download and read. You will doubtless find something there of interest.) I ended up opening the Dhammapada, which is one of the sacred texts of Buddha. As I started reading I was shocked to find the first line: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought".

I was horrified with my discovery. I had misrepresented a quote which was on my blog header. If anyone familiar with the Dhammapada had looked at my blog, they would see my ignorance immediately, and my lack of research. Better late than never, I thought.

My research began with looking up Sartre, who was an Existentialist. I discovered that this quote is the very basis for his philosophy. Man is responsible for where he is, there is no excuse or blame put on anything else such as God, parenting, environment, etc. Man is free to probably stay as he is, but with limitless possibilities to reach great heights. (Understand this is a very elementary explanation and there is so much more to his philosophical views, but I'm not writing a philosophy paper here.)

With research concluded, I come to the understanding of how this could be considered a quote of Sartre, but let us recognize that Buddha said it first.

Black Jack Davy

I enjoy researching because I learn things of interest to me that I would not have normally discovered. Sometimes my research takes me to places that I never would have imagined and leads me into new subjects of interest. In effect, my research never ends.

Not too long ago I heard a song for the first time, or at least the first time that I remember. The song is called Black Jack Davey by the White Stripes. It has a catchy tune and tells a story of a gypsy who swoons a girl to run off with him, leaving her home, her husband and baby. The husband comes home to find his wife gone and goes after her only to be rejected because she's in love with the gypsy.

The more I listened to the song, the more curious I became about the story. I decided to do some research. I found out that the song has been covered by many different groups and singers including Bob Dylan and a version I like by Steeleye Span.

I dug a little deeper and found out that it was originally a ballad dating back to 1720 and can be found in Francis James Child's collection of ballads which was published in the late 1800's. In the Child collection, it is number 200 and titled The Gypsy Laddie. There are twelve variations listed in the collection and the following is one of them:

THE gypsies came to our good lord’s gate,
And wow but they sang sweetly!
They sang sae sweet and sae very compleat
That down came the fair lady.

And she came tripping down the stair,
And a’ her maids before her;
As soon as they saw her well-far’d face,
They coost the glamer oer her.

‘Gae tak frae me this gay mantile,
And bring to me a plaidie;
For if kith and kin and a’ had sworn,
I’ll follow the gypsie laddie.

‘Yestreen I lay in a well-made bed,
And my good lord beside me;
This night I’ll ly in a tenant’s barn,
Whatever shall betide me.’

‘Come to your bed,’ says Johny Faa,
‘Oh come to your bed, my deary;
For I vow and I swear, by the hilt of my sword,
That your lord shall nae mair come near ye.’

‘I’ll go to bed to my Johny Faa,
I’ll go to bed to my deary;
For I vow and I swear, by what past yestreen,
That my lord shall nae mair come near me.

‘I’ll mak a hap to my Johnny Faa,
And I’ll mak a hap to my deary;
And he’s get a’ the coat gaes round,
And my lord shall nae mair come near me.’

And when our lord came hame at een,
And speir’d for his fair lady,
The tane she cry’d, and the other reply’d,
‘She’s away with the gypsie laddie.’

‘Gae saddle to me the black, black steed,
Gae saddle and make him ready;
Before that I either eat or sleep,
I’ll gae seek my fair lady.’

And we were fifteen well-made men,
Altho we were nae bonny;
And we were a’ put down for ane,
A fair young wanton lady.

Age

When I was young, probably around six or seven, I spent the night at the house of my parent's friend, George. I remember talking with him about age. George was thirty years old at the time and my parents were still in their twenties. I don't recall if I figured my parents were old at that point, but George certainly was because he was thirty.

My Dad told me a story the other day about a time when I was in my early teens. We were visiting another friend of my parents and he asked me how it felt to have such young parents. I replied in shock, "Do you know how old they are?!?".

I can remember turning thirty. I thought it was the end of the world. I can honestly say that it was the worst year of my life. I hadn't accomplished what I thought I should have and wasn't where I figured I should be. It was the end of the world and I was old! It was all going to be downhill from there. I don't take things so seriously anymore. Life is too short to worry about what I haven't done. I like to have fun now and am happy with where I am.

Tomorrow I turn forty years old. How the heck did that happen? I can also see from my notes that I have to learn how to spell forty, not fourty (thank goodness for spell check). I certainly don't feel forty, in fact I still feel like I'm in my twenties and usually act as if I'm in my teens. I often say: "I may be getting older but I refuse to grow up", which becomes more true every day.

Life to me is a wonderful journey and age doesn't mean anything, it's simply a number.

White Zombie

During the 90's, one of my favourite bands was called White Zombie and is still among my most listened to music. The lead singer, Rob Zombie does a lot of movies and directing now in the horror genre. He's most famous for his films, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. More recently he directed Halloween and Halloween II. All of his work has a very dark theme.

Some time ago I discovered that Rob Zombie got the name for his band from a 1932 movie starring Bela Lugosi called White Zombie. If you click on the link, it will take you to the movie which is posted on uTube. It is in the pubic domain, so there are no copyright concerns.

White Zombie set in Haiti and is the first movie dealing with zombies. It is also the movie which most zombie films are modelled after. If you like old horror films, especially zombie movies, this is a must see.

While I'm on the subject of old movies in the public domain, here is a link to a bunch of films on uTube called Public Domain Theater Films, which has hours of old movies for your viewing pleasure.

Harvest Time

Above is a picture of the harvest from my unintentional pumpkin patch. It has been a great adventure. I think back on the first vines which started to grow last Spring, trying to figure out what the heck I planted. They overtook my entire garden and I even had to cut the vines back a couple of times.

Below is a shot of my pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. The vines are pretty much all dead and the pumpkins are ripening nicely.

Finally, here is a picture of my patch the day before harvest. The pumpkins are all a very bright orange and the vines are all dry husks.

I am so proud of my pumpkins! I have them sitting on my balcony right now to catch a bit more sun before they are gutted and carved for Hallowe'en. The best thing is that we don't have to buy any pumpkins this year.

I will make sure that all of the seeds are out before we set the Jack-o-lanterns out, because next year I'm going to have a real garden, with flowers and plants -- not an out of control pumpkin patch.