RadishJack RoundHead

All day yesterday I was looking forward to carving a pumpkin for Tristan while he watched. It's been awhile since I've made a Jack-O-Lantern. I came home and laid out newspapers on the table, set the pumpkin down and with Tristan by my side, I went to work on a hoped for masterpiece. The TV was on and while I'm carving away Tristan's paying more attention to SpongeBob SquarePants. After about a half hour I put a candle in to test it out and call for Charlene to come see it. I turn out the lights. Charlene says it's eyes are too close together and it looked to her like a special needs pumpkin. Tristan doesn't seem much impressed either. Tristan goes in the kitchen with Charlene and she lets him help make the Halloween cup cakes. Tristan really gets into it. I'm left feeling sorry for myself and sat down on the couch to watch another episode of SpongeBob SquarePants while they have their jollies in the kitchen.

I was curious about the origins of the term Jack-O-Lantern, so I looked it up on Wikipedia:

"An old Irish folk tale says that says that a lazy farmer named Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also stole in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while Jack dies, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favourite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-Lantern."

You gotta love those folk tales.

Breathe Me

I can't decide which I like better, the music video, or the music. This is "Breathe Me" by the Australian singer, Sia.

The Wickerham Wedding

Louisville's Own

There a born and bred Louisville musician who's gaining in popularity nationally. His name is Ben Sollee. This is "It's Not Impossible". He made the music video at Louisville's Extreme Skate Park which many Louisville orthopedists have coined "Broken Bone Central".

Oops

We're going to a wedding tomorrow. Thankfully, the ceremony isn't being held next to a swimming pool.

Subterranean Homesick Blues

The forerunner of the music video, Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". Dylan's working the cue cards while the Beat poet, Allen Ginsberg talks in the background. It was filmed in an alley next the the Savoy Hotel in London, England around 1965.

Scanning

We purchased a new printer/copier/scanner a couple of months ago and I've never played with the scanner part. Tonight was the night. First I scanned a picture of my niece, Tricia, and a friend of hers. I'm guessing Tricia is about seven years old in this pic. Tricia...please comment and tell who your play mate is and how old you think you are. They're both cuter'n hail.












Next is a rare picture of my maternal grandfather, Gilbert Jones. He wouldn't look natural without the ever present cigarette in his hand and a pack of Kent filters in his pocket. He was a farmer and his main money maker was tobacco. Back then every man, woman, and child in the state of Kentucky smoked cigarettes, maybe even a few babies.












My late big sis Janet McClain Johnson (Tricia's mother).















The McClain family circa 1963. The goofiest looking one is moi. Left to right: Joyce with Amy in her lap, Janet, Clueless, Bradley, and Bobby B McClain. The actual physical picture looks rather ordinary but when scanned and viewed in it's digital format it's rather unsettling to look at on a computer, at least to me it is. At the time this picture was taken, IBM had developed the first main frame computer which was almost as big as a small home and had far less computing power as the one I'm typing on now.

An Upstairs Golf Course

Well, it’s that time of year again. It’s time to move Abby and Tristan to yet another abode. Ever since Abby’s worthless husband left her in June of ’06, Abby and Company have moved every fall. In the fall of ‘06 they moved to Dorsey Lane. In the fall of ‘07 they moved to The Paddock Apartments. This time they’re moving to a home on Ledges Drive in Middletown. Tristan is turning out to be quite the well travelled little guy. A couple of weeks ago we went to the future home to do some general cleaning up. Tristan has a backyard to play in again and for whatever reason, he called his future bedroom a golf course. He told me that the other spare bedroom could be my golf course. What goes through a little child’s mind is a mystery. Abby got off work today and we traded vehicles so she could start moving the smaller stuff with my truck. I hope she doesn’t forget Tristan’s toy golf club and ball.

I remember the first move from their first home in Shelbyville. It was a very sad affair after all the work we had all put into it. When they first bought it we painted, built new closet space, refinished the hard wood floors, tore out paneling in the basement, put in new ceiling fans, base moldings…etc, etc, etc.

A while after Abby’s first move to Dorsey Lane, I went to the Shelbyville house to bury a tiny statue of St Joseph in the back yard in our hopes that it would help sell the house as well as to pick up a few leftover stray items. I walked through the empty house which was no longer a home and almost cried. How could he, how dare he leave Abby and one year old Tristan like that. Didn’t he know what he had? He left for another woman, married only five years and he left. He dropped the bomb on his family and left.

This weekend we’ll all but finish moving Abby and Tristan into their new home, a home where Tristan will have his golf course bedroom, start grade school from, start high school from, play high school football or basketball, and have his first crush on a pretty little girl. We all have high hopes that this will be the last move for a long time for the sake of stability and consistency in Tristan’s life.

Scary Times

From time to time, especially in the last few weeks, I think of the future and the things we have that aren’t paid for yet. We aren’t heavily in debt by any means compared to the national averages for per capita debt I see, but it still puts a knot in your stomach. The corporation I work for went through a period of serious doubt at the end of the summer regarding whether we were going to get the capital needed to make student loans, and stay in business without layoffs. We had our own mini-bailout, when the US Department of Education made available the funds to keep us in business. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but the capital will last only another year or so. The stock market slide doesn’t bode well for the future and you wonder when the shock waves are going to spread and hit your neck of the woods.

I watched the final debate last night and was thinking what other people were probably thinking….Are the huge problems facing America too big for our future president and the present congress to handle? Is it economic fate that no one can do anything about and the time has come to pay the economic piper for our past easy credit sins? I tend to think the answer to both is yes.

Barney Fife

The Verve

Brand new CD out from The Verve. This is "Love Is Noise". They played it on WFPK the other day. It was love at first listen.

The Blackberry Affair

On the way home a couple of days ago my blackberry slipped out of my holster on the van and when I got home I noticed it was gone. The next day I drove myself to work and emailed Robert and asked him if he had noticed an abandoned blackberry on the seat of the van. He replied yes and I told him I would pick it up in the morning. When I arrived home that day Charlene, having forgotten that I had told her it was missing, said she had called me and a female voice answered. Charlene asked for me and the female voice said “who is this?” Charlene almost obediently replied, but then her native assertiveness kicked in, and she said “who is this?” Then Charlene remembered my missing blackberry.

On the van this morning Richard handed my blackberry back and I sat down next to Kevin (female). She told me that she was the one who answered my blackberry yesterday and when she got Charlene’s strident reply, she realized it was my wife and then back-pedaled and told Charlene she rode on the van pool with me and so on and so forth. Almost everyone on the van had a different scenario in the way Kevin could have answered the phone.

(In a smoky sexy voice) “Hellooo, who is this? Barry’s married? He never told me that!”

(In a man’s effeminate voice) “Hi, who’s this…Barry’s married? (squeals) He never told me that!

“Herro….I sorry, you have rong numba”

(In a threatening gangster voice) “Hey lady, put 10,000 dollars in unmarked bills in a brown paper sack and place it beside the light post in parking section Matthew at Southeast Christian Church or your husband sleeps wit da fishes.”

“Pizza Hut, home of the stuffed crust pizza. May I help you?”

It went on and on and put some big laughs in our Friday morning van ride to work and was a welcome relief from the usual talk about the endless electioneering and the dreary economy.

Midnight Cowboy

Remember this? It was all over the radio in 1969. It's the "Theme to Midnight Cowboy". Takes you back in time, doesn't it?

Joni Mitchell

This is one of my favorites from Joni Mitchell. The title cut from the "Hejira" CD.

The Miller's Autumn Party

Yesterday evening Marc and Amber Miller had their annual October party at their home in Simpsonville. The party was also their son Gage's first birthday party. There was a horse to ride for the kids, Corn Hole games, and a hayride after the sun went down. My favorite part of the evening was listening to the kids laugh and carry on during the hayride. A very good time was had by all.

Iron And Wine

I've been hearing this song on WFPK and I like it alot. I looked it up and the band is Iron And Wine and the song is "Boy With A Coin".

Miss Teen South Carolina vs Sarah Palin