Spooky ookie

Halloween - and the special GHOST HUNTERS show!

Brace yourself this Halloween when TAPS takes you on the ultimate ghost hunt. The team returns to the Fort Delaware scene of this season's most jolting and revealing episode.
Commonly referred to as the "Black Hole," Fort Delaware was used during the Civil War as a POW camp that housed over 33,000 Confederate soldiers. Ravaged by epidemics and torture nearly 2,400 failed to escape and died on the island. The restless spirits have never left.
Join the exclusive seven-hour hunt from home with access to thermal imaging camera feeds and live Q&A with TAPS team members and host Josh Gates. Watch carefully for anything out of the ordinary — you'll be able to send instant alerts of any sightings you make straight to the Ghost Hunters!

I must admit I am totally addicted to this show - last year I stayed up ALL NIGHT to watch their live episode. This year it's a Friday - even better!

Ghost Hunters Website

R.I.P. Tony Hillerman

"Everything is connected. The wing of the corn beetle effects the direction of the wind, the way the sand drifts, the way the light reflects into the eye of man beholding his reality. All is part of totality, and in this totality man finds his horzo, his way of walking in harmony, with beauty all around him." Hillerman

Wise Words.

I have not read any of Hillerman's works, but have recently heard much about him and am intrigued. Sounds like a simple, good man with a healthy dose of reality. I'll have to check out his work!

CLAMS!

Actually, the Essex clam festival celebrated clam chowder, not the fried variety - but this picture is from a NYTimes article by yesterday's judge. I have not yet heard the results.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/dining/29clam.html

We also ate CLAM ICE CREAM. which was only mildly disturbing. Maille loved it!

techno brains....

Born digital : understanding the first generation of digital natives / John Palfrey and Urs Gasser.
by Palfrey, John


iBrain : surviving the technological alteration of the modern mind / Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan.
by Small, Gary W.


Commentary to follow - but both great reads I wanted to list. My, how the world has changed - and so has teaching!

Last Night at the Lobster

by Stewart O'Nan

There are only four shopping days left until Christmas when Manny DeLeon pulls his beat-up Buick Regal into the parking lot at the Red Lobster—his Red Lobster—at least for one more day. He’s been the general manager of the New Britain location for years and has come to feel a justified pride in its smooth performance. So the news that Darden Restaurants, Inc., plans to close the branch, demote him to assistant manager at a nearby Olive Garden, and fire thirty-nine of the forty-four employees he supervises was a shock that Manny wasn’t happy to face. (from Penguin reading guides)

A simple, great read. A Red Lobster's last night, a glimpse into the lives of the hourly-wagers. Reminded me of layaway at Ames, nights at the theater, being trapped in the photo booth....

Autumn

I love the fall. After I have gotten over the return-to-school stress, things have settled into a routine, and life is filled with fun fairs and events. Especially fun with a toddler - lots of Halloween crafts!

Today we shall venture to the Essex Clam Festival for a chowder face-off. And perhaps also to the Woodsom farm festival. I have a fundraiser to be at in Scituate, or else there'd be even more to do!

Barbie

My child wants a Barbie doll. It has been her only answer for 2 weeks to the question "What would you like for your birthday?" (age 3).

I have been warned of the rival "Bratz" dolls. I just had her look at the picture above. And she still likes Barbie. She said the other girl looks mean, and you shouldn't sit on people's heads. I agree.

I guess Mattel has had their hands full with the popular Bratz dolls, but so far Barbie is winning in our household!

More here in The Telegraph

The Book Round-up part one

I have been reading, just not blogging....

I have found lately that I can barely keep up with my library requests, they are coming in fast and furious. Not sure if others are reading less?

Anyways.... my recommendations of the week:

I Am Filled with Heavenly Treasures (CD) - The Enfield Shaker Singers
Simple Gifts: (CD) The Boston Camerata

both very good recordings, the stomping and singing sounded a little scarily powerful. I just visited the Shaker Village of Canterbury, NH last week - and I could picture these songs being sung and danced to. Catchy! =)

Simple Gifts: Lessons in Living From a Shaker Village - June Spriggs
A Great tale of life with the Canterbury Shakers - June lived in the village for the few years before they dissolved. Again, even better if you have visited there and seen the buildings for yourself!

Life: Selected Quotations - Paul Coehlo
I'm on a Coelho kick right now - a good book of basic quotations form his works. More relevant after I read his longer works, I think!

I'm in for a few cold days of reading on the couch while Maille uses the playdoh. Winter is here!

almost over....

I've had ENOUGH of politics. And those of you who know me know that's saying a lot! I fel like I am watching a train wreck, and the American people don't seem to notice. In NH this week, there were McCain signs everywhere. I truly think the future of our conuntry rests, in part, on this election. Hope!

perky oatmeal?

Link to a SLATE article about caffeinated products.

The oatmeal:

"Even if the taste were bearable, oatmeal requires more prep work than most snack foods—you need a bowl, a spoon, and hot water. As for its efficacy, Morning Spark did give me a boost, but it also left me feeling woozy and nearly spoiled my appetite for dinner. In the reading test, I got through five pages, then skimmed a few more before a headache set in. The reasonable price tag can't save it: This is definitely the worst product of the bunch"

When i worked at the store and did the overnights, i used to make the coffee with caffeinated water. It was a bad scene. But in the oatmeal??? I hope I will not ever go that far!

(I love my plain oatmeal every morning just the way it is - like Bert does.)

Wait - she's coming to SALEM NH!

"Delahanty said the only event that compares to what's expected for Palin's appearance is when the high school marching band hosts 20 regional bands, an event that typically draws about 4,500 people."

Even more attendees than the marching band competition?

If it wasn't for the traffic and my toddler, I would go and carry a sign. Perhaps I will try to go anyways...

grrr

This whole Sara Palin thing has got me very angry. I rarely get stuck in a "feminist" response (I think "humanist" is a better term for treating everybody well if they deserve it) but I am so angry that she's the "answer" for Hillary not being on the dems ticket

.

Flirting her way to victory
This article in the Guardian speaks to my distress.

"At least three times last night, Sarah Palin, the adorable, preposterous vice-presidential candidate, winked at the audience. Had a male candidate with a similar reputation for attractive vapidity made such a brazen attempt to flirt his way into the good graces of the voting public, it would have universally noted, discussed and mocked. Palin, however, has single-handedly so lowered the standards both for female candidates and American political discourse that, with her newfound ability to speak in more-or-less full sentences, she is now deemed to have performed acceptably last night......"

And this guy in the Newburyport Current thinks she could be our daughter, and we should be nicer to her?????????

but at least we can juggle feeding the PETS??..... (excerpted below)

"Now we look at them and see what they have become and think, "Wow!" Little seems to get the best of them, and if it does, they know how to find solutions. They juggle a schedule that includes a husband, kids, employment and pets and still have enough left to be pleasant to be around."

Enough left to run the country even though she is an IDIOT?

It was comforting to me to read the comment section from the Current. My daughter, indeed!

arrrrghhhh.

Hafiz

As usual, my ponderings resulted in an interesting coincidence. I've been thinking a lot about how so often cultures/peoples stake their claim on their religion being the "true" one. Someone at meeting quoted this beautiful poem of Hafiz to me yesterday:

Would You Think It Odd? (Hafiz)

Would you think it odd if Hafiz said,

"I am in love with every church
And mosque
And temple
And any kind of shrine

Because I know it is there
That the people say the different names
Of the One God"

Would you tell your friends
I was a bit strange if I admitted

I am indeed in love with every mind
And heart and body.

O I am sincerely
Plumb crazy
About your every thought and yearning
And limb

Because, my dear,
I know
That it is through these

That you search for him.

Religulous

by Bill Maher - now in theaters

My mixed review: I suppose we all bring ourselves into the theater, and my current self has been thinking a lot about the role of organized religion in our society, along with organized politics, education.....

Bill Maher in my opinion just goes too far, as I expected he might. He is right to cite the similarities between early religions and Christianity, and of course, many things have been done very wrong for the better "Christian" good.

I of course reflected upon it all in the light of my little knowledge of Quaker perspective. I left the film more convinced that we'd better all get our act together and start taking care of each other and our planet, regardless of our religions.

Maher is very concerned about finding the "unchristian" tendencies of others religions, and i guess he doesn't concern himself about being "unchristian" since he is not one. But the last sections of the film are him on his pulpit, urging others to give up religion and its messes to start saving the planet and ourselves. He seems to care about the future of others. Remarkably Christian, even? Or just marketing?

I'm inspired to read a little more faith and practice today, and ponder all this.

Billy Collins

Why i just need to read more poetry:

Adage by Billy Collins

When it’s late at night and branches
are banging against the windows,
you might think that love is just a matter
.
of leaping out of the frying pan of yourself
into the fire of someone else,
but it’s a little more complicated than that.
.
It’s more like trading the two birds
who might be hiding in that bush
for the one you are not holding in your hand.
.
A wise man once said that love
was like forcing a horse to drink
but then everyone stopping thinking of him as wise.
.
Let us be clear about something.
Love is not as simple as getting up
on the wrong side of the bed wearing the emperor’s clothes.
.
No, it’s more like the way the pen
feels after it has defeated the sword.
It’s a little like the penny saved or the nine dropped
stitches.
.
You look at me through the halo of the last candle
and tell me love is an ill wind
that has no turning, a road that blows no good,
.
but I am here to remind you,
as our shadows tremble on the walls,
that love is the early bird who is better late than never.

Back again, again

No blogging for quite awhile. I've had lots of stress going on - juts trying to do the right thing, for me. and certainly trying to follow the world falling apart, and election coverage has been a challenge!