Here's a way to finish off the Halloween month.
One medium sized pumpkin
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 teasoon salt
1/4teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
2Tablespoons brown sugar
1 4 oz can mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cooked rice
Black olives
Steamed carrot
Whole cloves
Fresh parsley
Cut lid from pumpkin and scoop out seeds. In a large skillet, combine ground beef, chopped pepper, celery, and onion and cook over medium heat. Add next seven ingredients to skillet. Mix well and place mixture into pumpkin cavity. Place lid on pumpkin. Place pumpkin on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 1 and 1/2 hours.
Just before serving, embellish pumpkin by placing black olives (using toothpicks), to make eyes, a steamed carrot to make a nose, and whole cloves to make a mouth. Use fresh parsley leaves to make hair.
Or, just draw on a face with a marker. To serve, scoop out part of the baked pumpkin, along with the meat mixture, onto each plate.
Many of our Halloween customs came here from Ireland and the British Isles. Samhain was a Celtic holiday celebrated on October 31. People believed that the spirits of the dead were out and about because the veil between the worlds was thinnest at this time. People dressed up to fool the spirits that might be about. By the middle ages, there was a lot more merry making with people going from house to house playing tricks and entertaining each other both at All Hallow's Eve and other holidays. The mid nineteenth century was the time of the potato famine in Ireland. Over a million and a half men, women, and children traveled to the United States, bringing their folklore and stories. Halloween or Beggar's Night activities continued here, with tricks and parties. Pranks were often the highlight of the evening.
It wasn't until the 1930's that the activities became known as trick-or-treating. People would give out treats to keep their homes and property from being damaged. It's been called trick-or-treating since then.
In the area where I live, it is customary for the children to have a joke, or a trick to tell before they are given a treat. I have heard that it isn't that way in most of the United States. All they need to do is dress in costume, and knock at the door, expecting a treat. Happily, the vandalism isn't a common result anymore.
Here are some examples of the jokes we hear in Iowa:
Today was a good day for John. It has been four weeks since his surgery, and he was able to stop wearing the very bulky and cumbersome sling. It has been his almost constant companion for the last month. He was supposed to remove it only for his exercise time, and he was really pretty good about it.
The first week after the surgery was pretty rough. He says that he wouldn't choose to do this again. I had an idea that it wouldn't be an easy recovery, but he really expected to be back to normal in three or four days. It's taken a bit longer than that, but it has been sooner than originally expected. At first, we thought he would have the sling until mid November. He started physical therapy last week. He'll be going three times a week for a while, but I think it is a real help. A lot of the exercises he has to do remind me of my Pilates classes. There's a lot of stretching, and working with range of motion. Both help to correct muscle balance, improve posture, balance, coordination, strength, and flexibility.
Tonight we went for a drive. I didn't have to be the driver. That was wonderful for both of us. John loves to drive, and that was one of the hardest parts of recovery. And the pain, because there has been a lot of pain.
He's very independent, and has been a good patient. This is fortunate for me, since my nursing skills are pretty limited!
Today I gave a program for a PT0 group. I used to do this fairly often, but it's been a while. I was a little nervous, but I think it went well. The subject was Fortune Telling and my collection of Gypsy memorabilia. I have been collecting items since my early teens. I have lots of books,and smaller amounts of postcards, fortune telling cards, tin boxes, hand made clothes pegs, pictures, and caravans. Since it is nearly Halloween, it was fun to dress the part. Unfortunately, the components of my Bohemian wardrobe, was in various boxes in many various places. So I had to improvise. Luckily, this time I will put it all in one large labeled tote!
This was one of my first postcards
Going back in time. Here I was at Living History Farms, reading dominos quite a few years ago. If you pick three, I can tell your past, present, and future.
And what a long time ago! I think it was sometime in the 1970's. Almost every Halloween party I went to, I dressed like this.
DEFINITION OF A GYPSY SOUL
A person in need of a change or adventure who seeks the next best thing in any situation. A gypsy soul is passionate and inspired by different ideas, attitudes and experiences. May we all be gypsy souls.
There was a time when I automatically thought of orange when I thought of a pumpkin. Now they come in all colors. And a lot of colors have meanings. They signify different physical conditions. There are four that are seen most often for health conditions.
A blue pumpkin shows autism awareness. A teal pumpkin is for allergies. If on the porch, it shows that allergy free treats are available. A child carrying a blue pumpkin bucket lets you know that he has food allergies. Purple is another clue. Purple is for epilepsy, letting people know that the householders are familiar with it. It has only been the past few years that the color hints have been used. Personally, I think if there are any such issues, then the adults shouldn't rely too much on the pumpkins.
Many people go with the colors as part of their decorating schemes. I've seen many pumpkins created from sweaters and shirts. It's very easy to make one by using a sleeve, Just cut the shape you want, gather the bottom, stuff, put in a stem and gather the top. Easy Peasy. Circles can be cut to cover an artificial form, or stuffed. These can be made with hand sewing and glue. No sewing machine necessary.
Tonight I am taking a little break from Halloween. This blog post may be all over the place since it doesn't have a theme, but I am hoping something comes from my disconnected thoughts. Writing isn't always easy. Sometimes the words just flow, and that's when I feel compelled to write. For all the times I've written on my blog, I have almost always waited until I had something I wanted to say. And that is why I haven't written very often. (Also the photos. I never have photos available!!!) Usually I write about once a month, although at times I have gone much longer than that. By entering this challenge to write every day in October, I have learned that I can post something without waiting for my Muse to gently kick me in the backside. I have really enjoyed it, and I like to see what I come up with. I've said before that I feel like I am writing to myself, because it's really hard to know how many people actually see this. I have been pleasantly surprised at some of the "Likes" I've received. And I've wondered why it doesn't seem to reach many people.
I've spent an excessive amount of time this month on the internet. I am researching, which I have always loved to do, but it does lead me down the rabbit hole. I am also trying to educate myelf about Facebook, and Blogger, and Instagram. I find it very complicated most of the time, but I am learning some new things. Just trying to put my words together takes a lot longer than the five minutes people give me by reading them.And I really appreciate that you do take that five minutes. I probably won't keep writing every day after the month ends, but I am wanting to make myself do this at least once or twice a week. A good friend told me recently that she doesn't read my blog as much now because I write too often, and that she doesn't have the time. So, I guess less must be better.
I am working on a book of essays. I don't have really grand plans for it, but I want to have something for my friends and family. I think I must write because I like to see my words. I guess that's as good a reason as any other.
A Witches' Tea
will be served at three
You're invited to prepare the pot
And drink it while it's piping hot
We'll have some treats upon a tray
And nibble til it's time to play
We'll practice all our games and spells
Until we all can do them well
And afterwards a fond goodbye
As on our brooms to home we'll fly.
There are some amazing ideas for Witches Teas on the web. I really didn't know it was a popular party idea. Here are some sites you might want to peruse.
Enjoy Your Tea!
Tonight Miss Witch is taking her broom and leaving the party early. I'll be back tomorrow with more words and fewer pictures.
When I worked as an historical interpreter in a Victorian mansion, I spent a lot of my free time researching decorating, needlework and housekeeping books and magazines published in the 1870's. I still have many old books in my personal collection. Colorful fall leaves were often used to make Christmas decorations in the nineteenth century. In the fall we gathered leaves and twigs and acorns, and copied some of the arrangements from the past. We dipped colorful leaves in wax and arranged them on the fireplace mantels and tabletops. We stuck them on picture frames and mirrors, and made garlands to hang across the windows. Long branches and leaves filled our cut glass vases, and pottery pitchers. And, yes, it was the best job ever.
"Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go." That is a wonderful and profound quote. And appropriate to so much in our lives. So many times when we have to let things go, we aren't able to see the beauty that can follow. It can be books, a job, extra weight, a closet filled with clothes that no longer fit, our youth, furniture, houses, dear friendships, and even the special people in our lives. The bareness of late October trees serves to remind us that spring always comes back into our lives. No matter what happens.
Many years ago, I first learned this prayer. Maybe some would call it a poem.
"From ghoulies and ghosties,
And long leggity beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us"
I have read that it originated in Scotland, or in Wales, or maybe in Cornwall, England. It's been around for a very long time, since the eighteenth century, or 1800, or 1905, or in 1912. It's anonymous, or it was written by Mr. Chaplin and appeared in a book called "The Beggar's Wallet. Obviously, there are many opinions about it.
A series of three postcards was drawn by Stan Chaplin in 1905. They were called "A Cornish Litany" and all contained this poem at the bottom. Each was a different scene, but all included scary monsters.
The poem was expanded into a song in the Broadway play "Meet me in St. Louis" in 1989. It was sung by the children and the Irish maid in a Halloween scene. It wasn't included in the Judy Garland movie produced in 1944. Too bad. It's pretty cute. It can be found on YouTube.
I actually made a cross stitch sampler of this prayer and put it into my children's bedroom when they were young. I can't find the exact one, but it was something like this, except it had some long leggity beasties in it.
Whenever I've gone to England, I've always noticed buntings hung all around, making celebrations even when there isn't one. Buntings, banners, and pennants were originally used as early as the seventeenth century to brighten events and add an air of celebration. Here in the U.S. they were often available for patriotic occasions. I remember them when I was very young, but usually they were the plastic flags on a string used at furniture stores and used car lots. (I can say that. My dad sold used cars.)
I have a passion for buntings. I especially like to make them from vintage images glued to paper and chipboard shapes. I arrange them on leaf or floral garlands and then start adding fabric strips, tulle, muslin, vintage trims, buttons, doilies, ribbon, lace, and whatever else I have. Some of them had tiny pumpkins.
I've used the same plan to make one with birds and flowers for our bedroom window. I made another one for the kitchen , and also several for Christmas, Valentine's Day, all the seasons, and St Patrick's Day. I have started to sell them, and have put a few in my Etsy shop, Victorian Gypsy. I also have a booth at an antique mall and sell them.
