In October I'll be host
To witches, goblins and a ghost
I'll serve them chicken soup on toast
Whoopy once, whoopy twice
Whoopy chicken soup with rice
              from Chicken Soup With Rice: a Book of Months
                        written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak 
                                                 Harper & Row, 1962 
    Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, even when I was a kid. I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up, but even at the tender age of six, I knew that was pretty impossible. First, I was the wrong shape, too round. Next, I didn’t have enough poise or grace. It took a long time and a lot of effort to even figure out how to balance on a two-wheeler. And, the truth is, yes, you can forget how. Finally, I don’t have a high aptitude for knowing exactly where I am in space. So, it’s just as well, now.
    But if I pretended, especially with a little bit of dress up, I COULD be anything, even a round, clumsy ballerina. 
    So, back to Halloween. We’re always telling our kids they can do and be anything they can dream of. So maybe the point of Halloween is to help kids identify their dreams and walk around as someone else for a time, just to try it out.
    Astronaut? (a jump into the future)
    Archeologist? (a blast back to explore the past) 
    Mad Scientist? (even the "Mad" ones discover stuff!)
    Ghoul? Witch? Vampire? (feel powerful for a little while, especially when you’re very small)
    So, even the scary stuff can be useful. I understand, but I still don’t have to like it.
    A while ago on our way to Florida, my husband and I passed a billboard that informed us Halloween is a 6,000 year old holiday. I made a note to look it up later, when we stopped for the night.
    Everything I found confirmed Halloween had probably evolved from the Celtic harvest holiday, Samhain. The Gaelic word is usually translated as Summer’s End. The holiday, celebrated about 2,000 years ago, was a period of mystical intensity, described in myths as a time when the boundary between the physical and the spiritual world became fluid. Spirits, faeries, and elves walked among mortals. People hollowed out gourds, and carried them, lit, throughout the streets and left gifts along the way to appease the spirits.
    The word “hallow” (not hollow) means to set apart as holy, or to consecrate. For the English, trying to reconcile their beliefs with those of the Celts, November 1, became “Feasts of All Saints and Souls,” and the day before became “All Hallow’s Eve.” Similarities between the old Celtic celebration and the “modern” included honoring the dead with food and using candle-lit gourds, carved to allow the light to escape.
    The foods of choice for these early Brits were “soul cakes,” small, pastries baked with expensive ingredients and precious spices. Soul cakes were distributed to beggars who promised to pray for the departed souls of loved ones in exchange for food.
    During the height of their civilization, the Aztecs (c. 1345-1521) celebrated Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead. Delicious food was part of what amounted to a wonderful family reunion with relatives who had passed into the spirit world, a joyful time for people to celebrate the memories of their ancestors. Candle-lit displays honored the ancestors and allowed them to find their families. 
    When the Spanish arrived in Mexico in the 1500s, they combined elements of Day of the Dead with their own All Souls Day. Dia de los Muertos is still celebrated in many Hispanic communities in Central America and the United States with elaborate displays and delicious food.
    It’s not such a great leap from then to now. We still celebrate with food. We still light pumpkins. We still give sweets to the folks (usually small children) who beg at our door. 
    In 1950s America, when the Great Depression was becoming a foggy memory and WWII was finally over, a new prosperity spilled into growing suburbs. People were looking for ways to meet their neighbors and entertain their children. Popcorn balls, caramel apples, and seasonal nuts were distributed to kids who joined their neighbors in an evening of fun.
    When I was growing up, we made our own costumes. Store-bought characters like Superheroes and Disney princesses were not even a twinkle in the eyes of entrepreneurs and merchandizers. Ghosts and skeletons were about as scary as anyone dared to be. Blood and gore were not part of the repertoire, yet. Cats, babies, and storybook characters were popular.
    Candy companies already had Easter and Christmas. Valentine’s Day was also a big money-making holiday. But how about something in the Fall? Of course, Halloween. Candy is big business. “Brach’s churns out roughly 30 million pounds of candy corn for the fall season each year, enough to circle Planet Earth five times.” (Youngstown Vindicator, 10/29/23, C1)        
    Halloween has become the nation’s second-largest commercial holiday. A report in usa.com projects Americans will spend an average of over $108. per person this year, a lot less than the $826. per person spent on Christmas gifts, food, and decorations in 2022, but still.    
    Tonight, even some of the littlest kids will dress up in really scary and sometimes bloody-looking costumes. Yuck! And I still don’t get the whole idea of asking for candy from strangers. Because who even knows their neighbors anymore? 
    But I’m not Scrooge. I give the kids who come to my house quarters instead of candy. No one has complained yet, and I like the leftovers!

In one of my book clubs we decided to each choose a banned book to read. I chose John Green’s Looking for Alaska (Penguin Young Readers Group, 2005). It’s Green’s (The Fault in Our Stars) debut novel and an ALA Michael L. Printz Award winner. From the publisher, “Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another.” It’s a coming-of-age story with all the teenage angst one would expect. The friendship story is laced with lust, alcohol, and possible suicide, all reasons for censors to be up in arms, but the characters are well imagined and their situations, problems, and antics feel real. If you like YA, put this one on your list.
                                        -—Be curious! (and celebrate)

    “You really want me to eat my peas, don’t you?” said Daisy.
    “Yes, said Mum.
    “I’ll eat my peas if you eat your Brussels,” said Daisy.
   Mum looked down at her own plate and her bottom lip began to wobble.
    “But I don’t like Brussels,” said Mum.
                                               from Eat Your Peas
                                               written by Ken Gray
                                       illustrated by Nick Sharratt
                                            Henry N. Abrams, 2006
    Even though my grandson’s favorite color in the whole wide world is green, when he was young he did not like green food. One day when he was five or six, he stared at the small broccoli crown sitting, perfectly cooked, at the center of his dinner plate. No amount of cajoling could convince him to eat that fabulous floret. 
    Then I caught the twinkle in his bright eyes. 
    “I’ll eat a bite of broccoli if you eat a bite of banana.” He was not teasing. He knew how much I dislike those smelly, squashy, sickening, things, even though my favorite color is yellow. It’s a contradiction we shared. 
    I looked at him, a little incredulous. “OK.” I was sure I could pull this off. After all, he was just a little kid. 
    He ate his microscopic bite of broccoli and smiled. He waited. He walked over to the fruit bowl and peeled a banana. He handed it to me. 
    I brought it up to my lips, the stubby nub teasing me. 
    Yuck! I couldn’t do it. I got it as close as I could, but just couldn’t go all the way. 
    “That’s okay, Baugie.” He used his name for me. “I’ll finish it.” 
    “Great! I’ll finish your broccoli!” 
    These days we are encouraged to eat a wide variety of food. Grocery shelves, refrigerated cases, and the frozen food aisles are filled with more choices than could be imagined even a few years ago. 
    When I was a young mom, the cost of a strawberry in February was prohibitive. Who even heard of Brussels sprouts in summer? or melons in March. Produce was seasonal. I depended on packaged frozen veggies when fresh wasn’t available. Same with fruit. 
    Ever since my second grade teacher told me what conservation meant, I was intrigued. “It’s not saving,” she told our 8-year-old selves. “It’s using what we have wisely.” 
    So maybe I’ve always been a little more aware of my immediate environment than some. Using something, but not using it up made sense. It still does. Now I know that idea is called “coming from a place of abundance.” But that’s something to explore another time. 
    The other day, I heard a story about Blue Zones, geographic areas where people live longer than anywhere else and have low rates of chronic disease. The name was coined by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and Fellow and journalist. In 2004, he discovered many people in Okinawa, Japan, lived very long and happy lives. He explored the world looking for other areas with great longevity, vitality, and happiness. He circled those places he found on a map in blue ink. According to their website: Blue Zones(R) is now dedicated to creating healthy communities across the United States.”
    Even though people who live in Blue Zones live in very different parts of the world, they share nine life-style priorities. 
    Move naturally
    Have a sense of purpose
    Incorporate a routine to shed stress
    Stop eating when they’re 80% full
    Eat a plant-based diet
    Drink moderately (no more than 2 drinks/day, preferably wine)
    Belong to a faith-based community
    Family comes first
    Choose to be around happy people
You can find this list, each item with an explanatory paragraph, here. 
    Seventh-day Adventists living in Loma Linda, California, make up the only Blue Zone community in the United States. Their Blue Zone Secrets  of longevity include 
    Find a sanctuary in time.
    Maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI)
    Get regular, moderate exercise
    Spend time with like-minded friends.
    Snack on nuts.
    Give something back, volunteer.
    Eat in moderation.
    Eat an early, light dinner.
    Put more plants in your diet.
    Drink plenty of water (5-6 glasses).
which, when you think about it is just a simpler version of the same list. 
    I was vacationing in Naples, Florida, when I first noticed Blue Zones. The city is proud of its distinction of being on top of the list for people who eat well. That’s all I knew about Blue Zones, the eating, until I started looking deeper. 
    Maybe eating well, if you are lucky enough not to live in a food desert and have enough resources to buy nutritious food and have the ability to prepare it in healthy ways, is easy to talk about. Moving, (exercise) too. 
    But having a sense of purpose, surrounding yourself with upbeat, encouraging, loving people, finding your spiritual path, not so easy.
    Blue Zones(R) is ready to help. They offer a certification course for organizations on their website. It includes a cooking course, a speaker’s bureau, and a meal planner. 
    Individuals can shop for healthy products right on their site (and buy some merch), too. Find lots (and lots) of recipes that follow their guidelines for healthy eating. Read articles by experts and thought leaders who share their insights about longevity, well-being, and better health by design.
    So it’s about more than broccoli (or Brussels sprouts, or bananas). 
    Blue Zones are kinda like living a well-balanced life. 
    Everything old is new again!
No book this week. I’m reading a manuscript for a friend. More about that when it’s published!
                           -—Be curious! (and take good care of
                                        yourself, and each other.)

    Stink put on his bike helmet, water wings, and his knee pads. He made himself an aluminum foil cape. Asteroid Boy!
                                 .    .    .
    Stink peered up at the sky with his asteroid-proof X-ray vision goggles. 
                         from Stink Moody in Master of Disaster  
                                         written by Megan McDonald 
                                          illustrated by Erwin Madrid 
                                              Candlewick Press, 2015

    As I discovered when I wrote about the Perseid shower on August 15, 2023, most asteroids are chunks of rock that orbit the sun in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Occasionally one of these chunks is thrown out of its orbit and heads toward Earth, but most burn up as they reach our atmosphere.
    In 1999, scientists used electro-optical telescopes operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program to discover the asteroid originally known as 1999 RQ36.
    Staff scientists at MIT sorted through photos. They wanted to explore an asteroid not too close, not too far away, with a slow enough rotation, and carbonaceous. They deduced 1999 RQ36 was made of carbon and probably water. Just what they were looking for!
    By 2013, the OSIRIS-REx, (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) team deemed the little, rocky chunk worthy of owning its own name. Michael Puzio, a 3rd grader from North Carolina won their naming contest. Bennu is the name of an Egyptian god associated with Osiris, the Egyptian god of immortality.  
    Aimed toward Bennu, NASA launched OSIRIS-REx on September 8, 2016, for its 200-million mile journey. It is the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. Besides the qualities the MIT team was looking for, NASA chose Bennu for several reasons. 
    Its rocks offer insight into our own history during the time when Earth was forming, about 4.5 billion years ago.
    There is evidence that asteroids like Bennu delivered their rich, organic compounds (that make up all known life) to Earth when they smashed into our planet billions of years ago, just as the conditions for life were starting to emerge.
    Using the material from Bennu, scientists can study how planets formed and how life began. 
    Bennu’s material can help scientists understand the consequences of asteroids that impact Earth.
    Unlike most asteroids found in the asteroid belt, Bennu crosses Earth’s orbit, about every six years, making a spacecraft’s round trip from Earth easier and quicker, if you’re a NASA scientist.  
    When OSIRIS-REx arrived and lightly touched Bennu to collect its material, scientists discovered that the surface was held together not by cohesion, but by micro-gravity. If the thrusters were not on, the craft would have sunk into the surface of dust, pebbles, rocks and boulders. The NASA team wonders what other surprises Bennu will reveal.
    On Sept. 24, 2023, OSIRIS-REx's round-trip to Bennu was complete, seven years after its launch. It traveled back to Earth at 27,650 mph and, with the aid of two parachutes, made a soft landing at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City.             
    Because scientists will look for organic material, every care had to be taken to protect the sample from possible earthly contaminates like water vapor, microscopic organic particles, and dust. The sample from Bennu cannot contaminate Earth with living organisms. The harsh radiation environment in space took care of that.
    OSIRIS-REx’s ground team was dispatched quickly, and in just outside of an hour the module was transported to a clean room where it was wrapped up for safe transport, still unopened, to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
    When the module is opened, OSIRIS-REx is expected to have delivered about 1/2 a pound of material. It will fit into a 1-cup measure. One fourth of Bennu’s material will be studied by 233 scientists from 38 global institutions who make up the OSIRIS-REx team. About 70% of the material will be preserved at the Johnson Space Center for study by scientists not affiliated with NASA and for educational displays for the public. The little bit that’s left will be given to scientists in Canada and Japan for their own studies.
    About 20 minutes after the module was unloaded, the spacecraft was renamed OSIRIS-APEX, (OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer). Its engines were fired up, and it left Earth for its new destination, asteroid Apophis. It will begin exploring this new asteroid when it arrives in 2029.
    Bennu is small, only about 1/3 of a mile (500 meters) wide through its equator. If Bennu struck Earth, it could do some damage, but the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was 6 miles in diameter.
    Bennu is old, four and a half billion years old. When its tiny gifts of dust, pebbles, rocks, and boulders are uncovered, it may be able to tell scientists how the solar system formed. It might give some evidence of the origin of life. 
    It might even be able to show us how the planets learned to dance around the sun. 


I finished reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Viking, 2020). The author explores what could happen if we are allowed to erase our regrets, one at a time, and see what each life would look like if we made different choices. SPOILER: The ending reminded me of The Wizard of Oz without Dorothy needing to click her ruby slippers.
    
                                 -—Be curious! (and keep looking up)

    It took a while because there was no fast forward option, but eventually the sun sank below the horizon. 
                                                  from Couch Potato
                                                written by Jory John
                                           illustrated by Pete Oswald
                                       HarperCollinsPublishers, 2020
                                         (viewed on YouTube 10/9/23)

    Popular culture is not my best thing. I’m not up on the latest slang, or hip-hop. Football? nope! Movie stars are usually not on my radar. Saturday Night Live is on too late for me. I can’t identify any Kardashian in a line-up. I don’t know the names of most current TV shows. And although I’ve heard of the Simpsons, until last weekend, I never saw a complete episode.
    In 1989, the first full-length show aired on Fox. A provision in its contract with the network prevented Fox from interfering with the show’s content.  
    Among its many honors and awards, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000. The show has won 35 Primetime Emmy Awards presented to recognize excellence in primetime television programming, 34 Annie Awards to recognize its excellence in animation, and 2 Peabody Awards named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody to honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and online media.
    When it began 34 years ago, the Simpsons were a typical middle-class American family living in a typical American suburb. Homer, the, father is a safety inspector for a local nuclear plant. Stereotypical Marge is, well, stereotypical. Their three kids do what kids do everywhere. They get into and out of trouble, make very dumb and very wise comments about life, go to school, play with their friends, and get on each others’ nerves. Baby Maggie is, cute. 
    Six voice actors are responsible for the show’s main characters and most of the occasional cast.
    Homer's exclamatory catchphrase “D’oh!” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001. I’ve even said it a few times myself (appropriately, too)!
    A TV show that has been continuously running for 34 seasons, and the announcement of the 35th and 36th seasons on 10/1/23, ensure the show will air through the 2024–25 television season made me ask myself why. 
    The Simpson Family is iconic and the show has become part of American Culture. But is it still an accurate portrayal of the American middle-class?
    Homer is living the American Dream. He’s the sole breadwinner supporting an intact family of five living in a nice house in the suburbs of Anytown, USA, represented by Springfield, Anystate. Even though the characters don’t age, the magic of animation and, as an audience, we can suspend our disbelief, the timeframe for the show is Now. 
    Bart wants to grow up just like his dad with a good job and a nice house in the suburbs and a few kids and a dog. His bubble is burst in the finale of season 33 (May, 2022). A singing janitor, played by Hugh Jackman, explained modern economics. Someone in Homer’s job today would need a college education and would sport the huge debt that an education costs. And Lisa puts in her two cents, so to speak, and tells Bart what he’d be missing. Pretty much everything Homer has. 
    In typical Simpson fashion, the show’s executive producer Al Jean stated in a June 3, 2022 Planet Money interview on NPR, “…I remember growing up and…thought… we're in the luckiest country in the world and things will always get better. And I don't believe the majority of the public thinks the second thing anymore.” 
    But even though the real reality is that the Simpsons, by 2023 standards, are no longer living a middle-class life, Al Jean says the 35th season will not acknowledge that. People want to believe in the American Dream. We don’t want our comedies to take a tragic turn. 
    Homer’s answer to his friend Fred Grimes’s question, “how in the world can you afford to live in a house like this, Simpson?” is typical Homer. “I don't know. Don't ask me how the economy works.”
    And so, even with the many ideas Homer and the rest of his family don’t know about or don’t acknowledge aside, The Simpsons are a middle-class “us.”
This is true in our 2023 world of now:
    The job market is strong.
    Entrepreneurial spirit is alive. 
    American Dreamers are still dreaming. 
    And while Jory John’s Couch Potato (see quote above) admires the beautiful sunset in the real world, it is still possible to suspend our disbelief for a little while and move in next-door to Homer and Marge.

I just read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (Bantam/Turner Books, 1992). It’s a spiritual adventure exploring an out-of-the-box interpretation of Western thought. Re-imagining the beginning of humankind and re-examining the ancient stories of both Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, I’ll be chewing on this one for a long time. It’s a book that needs discussion. Highly recommend!
                                 Be curious! (and live your dreams)   

    Get to Sri Lanka any way you can. You can’t miss it. Sri Lanka is a pear-shaped island in the Indian Ocean. The best cinnamon in the world is make there from the bark of the native kurundu tree so go directly to the rain forest. Find a kurundu tree and peel off some bark. If a leopard is napping beneath the tree, be very quiet.
           from How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
                    written and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
                                                          Knopf, 1994

    Seems like everywhere and everyone is surrounding us with pumpkin spice. From Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks to Wendy’s new Pumpkin Spice Frosty, we can move from our breakfast jolt of caffeine to a scrumptious dessert after dinner. (Or a midnight snack, anyone?)
    I have a wonderful recipe for pumpkin muffins that I adapted from a friend’s pumpkin cake recipe. I like to pull it out this time of year, especially for the cream cheese frosting. I bet my muffins would have won a blue ribbon at our county Fair, but I didn’t read the entry guidelines carefully. The judges don’t accept anything that needs refrigeration. Well, d'oh! BTW, The Simpsons is entering its 35 season. More on that next week.
    So, pumpkin muffins. The recipe, like most of what I own, is old. I got it from my friend 50-ish!! years ago, and I’m sure it wasn’t new then. Delicious, and the only spice is cinnamon! Cinnamon goes especially well in dessert recipes. It blends well with other spices, too. But spicing up our coffee and dessert is only cinnamon’s recent cup of tea, so to speak. 
    Cinnamon has an interesting history. It is derived from the interior bark of a cinnamon tree also called kurundu tree, a native of Sri Lanka. Until 1972, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. British rule ended in 1948, but the name Ceylon remained until Queen Elizabeth II was no longer  its political head. The prefix Sri translates to the English word resplendent. The word Lanka is as old as the ancient story of a kidnapped princess, Sita and her rescue. Lanka simply means Island. 
    As early as 2000 BCE, merchants traveled the Spice Routes to acquire and exchange cinnamon from Sri Lanka. The primary reason for embarking on these treacherous journeys was the economic advantages of trade. Cinnamon was once more valuable than gold. By the sixteenth century, it was the most profitable spice the Dutch East India Company traded (TimesNowNews). 
    Other spices were traded, but none could compare economically with cinnamon. Other goods, and knowledge of the world were traded, too. Traveling and stopping at ports along the Spice Routes, also known as the Silk Road, encouraged trade of ideas, languages, and artistic and scientific skills.
    Besides its interesting history and economic value, cinnamon has many medical uses, both ancient and modern. Ancient Egyptians used cinnamon oil in their mummification process. Cinnamic acid is an antibacterial. 
    It is important to do your own research and consult with your medical professionals, but according to the National Institutes of Health, (NIH), “[c]innamon is one of the most important spices used daily by people all over the world.” The NIH continues, “[i]n addition to being an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancer, lipid-lowering, and cardiovascular-disease-lowering compound, cinnamon has also been reported to have activities against neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.”
    Cinnamon can interact with prescription medicine, so be cautious. More than one teaspoon can be harmful, but a dash on a bowl of oatmeal, a cup of Celestial Seasoning’s “Bengal Spice Tea,” or a pumpkin muffin (or two) might be just the thing on a brisk Fall day.
    Pumpkin Spice is also called Pumpkin Pie Spice. You might already have a jar in your cupboard, but here’s an easy recipe from allrecipes.com that only takes 5 minutes.
    
    HOME MADE PUMPKIN SPICE
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
    1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
    Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl.
    Store in a small, airtight container in a cool, dark place. Properly stored, pumpkin spice will last up to three years.
    
    In case you want to try those delicious pumpkin muffins, here’s that recipe, too.
SHARI’S PUMPKIN MUFFINS (adapted from Kathy’s family Pumpkin Cake Recipe)
4 eggs
1/2 Cup salad oil 
1/2 Cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 Cups sugar
2 Cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 16-ounce can solid pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix or filling)
1 Cup chopped pecans
    Mix all ingredients then beat with mixer until well blended. Ladle evenly into 24 muffin cups. Bake at 350º F for 40-45 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean)
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING 
1 stick butter
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup chopped pecans
1 lb confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
    Mix well.
    NOTE: 1/2 recipe frosts 2 dozen muffins.
    NOTE: Muffins and frosting freeze well.
I just finished a slim volume: Terrorist’s Son: A Story of Choice by Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles (Simon and Schuster/TED, 2014). Zak Ebrahim was only seven years old when his father, El-Sayyid Nosair, shot and killed Meyer Kahane, leader of the Jewish Defense League. Then while Nossair was still in prison, he helped plan the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. This important memoir tells how a young child raised with hate learned to turn away from that hate and took those he loved with him. Here's a link to the author’s TED talk. 
           -—Be curious! (and use common scents-like cinnamon)​