Have a Blessed Samhain == AKA Happy Halloween!!!

Today is the one day of the year when the young and not-so-young get to let their true faces show during the only time it’s acceptable to be seen in costume and masks. Once again, it’s Halloween, or more accurately, Samhain (pronounced SOW-IN), which means summer’s end and is celebrated at the end of fall and beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It was a final celebration of the harvest before the earth slumbered through winter. The day also marked the Celts’ version of the New Year and the time when they believed the dead came back to walk the earth once more. The holiday has been with us for centuries in various forms.

The day was a time to honor ancestors, but also ward off evil spirits by wearing costumes to confuse them. Turnips were carved with faces and placed in the windows to scare off the dead. People would go “a-souling.” They would pray for the household’s dead relatives in exchange for food and drink. In Scotland, the dead were impersonated by men who would wear all white and cover their faces with a veil.

Halloween as we know it today can be traced back to the early Christians. In the 800s, the Catholic Church wanted to wipe out pagan holidays and convert the heathens, so they would create a holy day to coincide with an established pagan festival. The Roman festivals of Feralia and Pomona’s Day were merged with Samhain and the new holiday replaced all three. Pomona’s day was a harvest festival in honor of the Roman Goddess of fruits and trees. This could explain where the tradition of bobbing for apples came from. Feralia was a day of mourning and remembering the dead.

Early Christians began celebrating All Saints Day on Nov. 1. They began their observance at sunset the night before. Some of the ways they celebrated were to dress in costumes of Christian saints to scare away the evil spirits and then they would go door-to-door, begging for food. Eventually, All Souls’ Day, which commemorated the dead who were not saints was added on Nov. 2. Soul cakes (currant buns) were given out when those celebrating went from house to house, offering to pray for their dead, similar to the a-souling.

Less than a century later, those two early Christian holidays merged into Hallow Time (Oct. 31-Nov. 2). Most of the celebrations took place the night before All Hallows Day on All Hallows Eve. Halloween quickly became the name.

Today, the holiday has grown so popular, it is second only to Christmas in the amount of money spent on decorations. Many Christian churches discourage their members from celebrating, saying it is evil; however, simply reading up on the history tells a different story.

More health woes

As everyone who regularly reads here or knows me personally knows I'm quite ill & need a large variety of medicines every month just to keep me alive.

Our former pharmacy ~ Rite~Aide ~ made life miserable because they rarely had my medicine, even though I got the same things every month. This month, I dropped off the prescriptions a day early to give plenty of time to have them ready. My son stopped on his way to college because I was in too much pain to stand up, let alone drive there. He was given one medicine & one paper script back that had find a new pharmacy on it & he wasn't told when or if the other 5 would be available. What? I'm out of meds, they knew at least one day early, but didn't care enough to call. My doctor's office was dumb~founded how they treat me. They called around & found a new pharmacy who agreed to take over my large order.

Randy & I went down to the new pharmacy with a large bag filled with all my meds & the pharmacist spent at least a half hour going over what I need & assured me there would never be a problem. I guess Rite Aid is just too busy to need or care about its long~term customers. <

One of the worst things Rite Aid did to me is made me the butt of jokes. I was being treated at the Cleveland Clinic & they needed to call there for a refill. The technician had several of my other scripts in a basket & my name was clearly visible. The store was packed. She loudly said, "We'll need to get approval from the Secret Service next." That's when she saw me there. No apology, no nothing. I complained to the pharmacist & he didn't understand why I was upset.

Yesterday when I told them we are changing pharmacies & asked for the district manager's phone number. The same pharmacist refused to do that.

I ask you, my friends, was I out of line in any of this nightmare? I'm just able to walk now, but need a pain shot soon before bed. Why would any business in today's economy throw away good customers? Has anyone else had trouble with Rite Aid? I would never recommend that place to anyone. =~{

Virginia vacation

We're beck from our week in VA & took my son's girlfriend/fianceeto the airport yesterday to fly beck to CA. She lives with her aunt & is in college there. We all love her & approve of his choice as long as they wait til they both finish college & have jobs before they get married & start a family.

He spent Easter in Mexico getting to know her family & getting their approval. They all love him, so they are all set. He gave her a promise ring when we flew out to AZ in November to celebrate his 18th birthday & visit the college he wants to attend.

While we were at Busch Gardens, a hurricane hit & the park was closed Friday. We drove around & found a Coach Outlet store. I was in Nirvona! Found a nice backpackers, Arielle got an Umbrella & I got Ana a wristlet. She cried because she said it was too much. Nothing is too much for the ones I love.The rain was flooding the area. We needed a break from all the walking, so a free day was nice. We went to a Greek festival, then to see the new Star Trek. It wasn't as good as the first. I didn't like the actor chosen to play Kahn.

Saturday, we rented a motorized wheelchair for me. I wasn't able to stand up for very long, let alone walk 10+ miles. I felt like a total failure. I'm afraid I'll end up in one permanently because my health is failing fast & I'm getting worse then before. :-(

When we had to leave her at the airport yesterday, it felt like I was sending one of my kids away. I already think of her as a daughter. She's sweet, polite, kind & easy to love. We're not sure when they'll get to see each other again. For sure, shes coming here for New Years. Shes never skied before, so we promised to take her. I don't think she's ever seen snow. Cant wait to see her reaction to several feet of snoe! When she arrived here 2 weeks ago, her first words were, "It's so green!." When they went canoeing, it was the first time she ever saw a river before. She wanted water & couldn't get over the fact we don't have boil water here, it's perfect the way it is. Seeing the stars was new because it never gets dark enough where she lives. We were blown away to learn she had never seen a deer!

We enjoyed Busch Gardens & drove through Washington DC to let her see the White H ouse. She's never been on this Coast before.

I'll post photos when I get on my laptop.

Erie, PA

My daughter & I just got back from a quick, overnight trip to Erie, PA. She had a few things to take care of, so we went a day early rather than leave the house at 6 am. We always stay at the Bayside Sheraton there & I'm a priority club member. They have an entire floor set aside that can only be accessed with the club keycard. Evening snacks & morning breakfast are just two of the msny perks. We have early & late check~in times, too. The rooms face the bay, so you are greeted to gorgeous sunsets & sun rises over the water. The beds are like sleeping on clouds. There are so many things to see & do in Erie, I can't write it all in one post. We had to go to the mall for Hot Topic & Macys. I'm a Coach bag addict & picked up a gorgeous coral Coach bag as a late Mothers' Day gift to myself & found the perfect dress to wear to my son's high school graduation on the 31st. We took my Precious ~ a Mustang GT named Betty Lou ~ for the trip. It was perfect driving weather, warm & sunny We leave June 1 for a week in VA at Busch Gardens. My son's girlfriend is flying in from CA for his graduation & the trip. It's part graduation gift & part 21st birthday gift for my daughter. Looking forward to that! Will post photos when I get the card downloaded tonight. Hope everyone is getting some much needed travel time! G

Post~op Post

I'm slowly healing from the oral surgery yesterday. Solid food is out for a few days, but maybe I can lose a couple pounds this way?? My face is swollen on the left side where the two molars were dug out. They were both badly infected, so the hope is that clearing up those infections will help relieve some of the non~stop Migraines. Also have a swollen right hand that's black & purple where the nurse collapsed a vein trying to start an IV. The surgery went well. Once the Doctor walked in & said hello, it seemed like I closed my eyes & I was in recovery. Randy was so great. Never left my side. When we got home (a 40-minute drive), he helped me into pj's & bed. He stayed with me, even though I was totally unconscious for 4 or 5 hours. He played the X~Box 360 on silent just to keep an eye on me. I need to cover the PA Wilds 6th annual spring banquet meeting tomorrow night, so I hope to look at least semi~human for that. Thanks to being a teenage girl in the 1980's, I have lots of make~up in my purse! Arielle will drive there. She's been learning how to help me do the job and spent this afternoon chasing around paperwork at the local Courthouse. She's also learning that reporters don't get a lot of money, so meals are what we get as benefits. :) Hope all my friends are well out there in cyberspace! G

The Evil Dead remake -- Does contain spoilers

We went to see the remake of the Evil Dead last weekend and really enjoyed it. It's not the original, that's for sure. I think that's why we enjoyed it so much. There's no way I could have sat through it if they tried to remake Bruce Campbell. He is why the series was so successful as a light-hearted horror comedy. He's one of a kind. There were many nods to the original. Make sure you stay til all the credits have rolled to get a special treat from Bruce himself. It's "Groovy!"



The new version is true horror with oceans of blood. They don't say there's a death and pan away from it while it happens off camera, they show every brutal second of it. The movie almost seems to revel in how much blood and gore it can use and stay a Rated R movie. A chainsaw was good enough to take care of the dead before and it's still good enough now. I'm hoping this one is successful enough that the other two are also remade. Army of Darkness should be really something done as a pure horror flick.

I would like to take my son to see it now. He's 18 and has been watching horror movies practically since birth. I wouldn't suggest it for young kids, but older teens should have no trouble with it. They were raised on violent video games, so blood doesn't bother them.

Did anyone else see it? What do you think?

Finding Bigfoot in PA the Premiere Party

Animal Planet has a TV show called Finding Bigfoot. A group travels around the country looking for Bigfoot. Last night, the show was set in Pennsylvania. My newspaper sent me to the party to check it out and write about what I saw and heard. There were special Bigfoot drinks and burgers and other food. The drink was blue and tasted like candy. Very good! It even had a little gummy bear at the bottom as a treat to find. I tried the mini Bigfoot burger, but there was also a large Bigfoot burger. The mini was more than I could eat and had it for lunch today. So good! The Barrell is located in Lantz Corners and has very friendly waitresses. The people there were also very nice. Only one person refused to talk to me and wasn't very nice about it, but he was easy to ignore when so many others were nice. The article and photos will appear in tomorrow morning's newspaper. I would highly recommend any event held there and will have no problem going to any Bigfoot gathering. The people weren't scary freaks, but just normal folks. I would say the room was about evenly split between believers and skeptics, but even the skeptics were willing to listen and not one person laughed at others beliefs. Do I believe in Bigfoot? I'm open minded. I'm not arrogant enough to say I know everything. Just remember, it wasn't that long ago when everybody KNEW that the earth was flat, that giant squid didn't exist and there were no silver back gorillas.