Oct. 25, 2002 - 18:33 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

The Great Pumpkin

The nights are getting cooler, down to freezing now and then, the leaves have turned their pretty colors and many of them are rustling under foot. Around the end of the month Halloween will say, "Boo !" and push us closer to winter.

So come the questions from Friday Five

1. - What is your favorite scary movie ?

A. - Frankenstein, the first one I think - I was born in 1921 and had the bejesus scared out of me when I went there with an adult.

2. - What is your favorite Halloween treat ?

A - Candy corn - a close second being Holloway Milk Duds.

3. - Do you dress up for Halloween ?

A. - Years ago I used to be a pretty good hobo. Now I don't have to dress up. -- No makeup needed. Aa. Describe your best Halloween costume. A very old hat of Dads 1920's style. Beat and battered a bit and deliberately soiled. Bib overalls also holey and dirty. A raggedy and torn old shirt of mine out of Mom's ragbag, I applied the soil. I wore my school shoes which were out at the toes, scuffed and disreputable. A little burnt cork and I got with it. Voila, a home made hobo.

4. - Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events ?

A. - Never did go to a planned thing. There was one empty house that was supposed to be haunted according to the bigger kids and I spent some hours there. The planned stuff is sort of like the Survivor series on TV to me. Ah, but the haunted books, Poe and in today's world Stephen King, meat and potatoes to this guy.

5. - Will you dress up for Halloween this year ?

A. - Depends on what you call dressed up. I put my glasses slightly askew and answer the door in the "Lurch" mode saying, "You rang ?" as he used to. Scares a few off and the rest tease me by asking if I was born that way.

+++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This year I am thinking of getting a Shrub mask and going as the "Horseless Headman." Or some other really scary thing.

Ashleigh Brilliant in his Pot-Shots comes up with some good ones. Today's was, "Hope does not require fertile soil ~ it can flourish were nothing else will grow." Seems to me that there is truth to that.

Non Sequitur is another good panel. Today's shows a man sitting at a table with his paper spread out, a coffee cup close by. A woman with a basket of laundry under her arm is standing at the wall phone. She says, "I want to reort a bum who's been loitering around my house . . . . . . The box at the bottom says: "Irene's daily call to the police since Ned's retirement." I kept that out of Heather's view, I don't want her calling the police on me.

Heather and I went to our second exercise class today and weren't as bushed as we were on Wednesday. Afterward I sat observer on what they call Crank Up The Cardio. I would love to do that, and maybe sometime I will be fit enough to make it there too. Forty-five minutes of on your feet active exercise at a fast pace. Not for us right now but something to dream about.

Somewhere recently I read a quote of George Santayana, "Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim." We have in this world a lot of "Loose Cannons," like that, No ?

I did notice that although I was tuckered after the exercise today I still feel better, more relaxed and happy. Slept well, more or less from Wednesday on. Still am up and down during the night, making pit stops and due to the need for moving around and easing muscles. Helps the hurt.

Heather and I will get flu shots in the AM tomorrow and we intend to find out about the need for boosters on the Pneumovac shot for pneumonia, it has been over five years I think.

I haven't read today's paper yet, rather expect the same churned over stuff from the preceeding part of our lives. I am though, reading the comics.

I still wonder if Charlie Brown's Halloween thing will be with us on Halloween - or maybe I am - The Great Pumpkin . . . . . . . . . . .

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