Booooo! Are you frightened?

This is Halloween weekend in Iowa. Every state seems to have different dates, seems to me. I have always loved Halloween. There's a weird part of me that enjoys being frightened... somewhat. I like reading scarey stories or about weird or frightening occurrences. Here are a few about...

Strange Deaths!
The “King Who Ate Himself to Death” died in 1771 at the age of 61 from a digestive problem after eating a giant meal consisting of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, cabbage soup, smoked herring, champagne and 14 servings of his favorite dessert: semla, a bun filled with marzipan and milk. 14???


Homer and Langley Collyer were compulsive hoarders. The two brothers had a fear of throwing anything away and obsessively collected newspapers and other junk in their house. They even set up booby-traps in corridors and doorways to protect against intruders. In 1947, an anonymous tip called that there was a dead body in the Collyer house, and after much initial difficulty getting in, the police found Homer Collyer dead and Langley no where to be found. About two weeks later, after removing nearly 100 tons of garbage from the house, workers found Langley Collyer’s partialy decomposed (and rat-chewed) body just 10 feet away from where they had found his brother. Apparently, Langley had been crawling through tunnels of newspapers to bring food to his paralyzed brother when he set off one of his own booby-traps. Homer died several days later from starvation.

In America there was a mass murder. Policemen went to investigate. Trying not to tread on the bodies, they took pictures of each one. One policemen saw something on the opposite wall but he couldn't
read it. He walks over to it and sees the numbers "7734" in calculator form, written in blood. When taking pictures of this, he turned his camera upside-down and told an approaching police officer. When he pointed with the hand that the camera was in, he accidentally took a picture of the upside-down numbers. He was about to delete the picture when he realized something. The numbers were now a word. The word was "hELL."

Meanwhile ...

I'm expecting a few children of friends for trick or treating. Am making some cookies and popcorn balls but have some store-bought candy for those fearful of home cooked food. After they leave, may re-watch 'Red-rum' or some other frightening movie and have some tea.

Hope you enjoy the weekend and

Glorious Autumn

It is a glorious day in Iowa, in the low 70's at 3 p.m., a mild breeze, a fall-in-the-air kind of feeling when my face wants to look up and seek the sky and my clothing feels just right on my body, not too loose, not too tight, when everything seems so well with my soul. If you can't tell, fall is my favorite time of the year. I look forward to no humidity, no sweltering days. I think of pumpkin pie, Halloween coming up when my little-children friends visit and then on to Thanksgiving. Winter is supposed to be worse this year in Iowa than last, if that is possible, but right now I have autumn to enjoy. :)

I also think of some close friends in autumn, friends who have died and left me behind for now. I wrote this poem a few years ago (copyright 2010) and it has been my most 'popular' poem so far and I also like it best myself. It is in free verse (not rhyming, etc.) Hope you enjoy it.

Always Autumn


It's always autumn when I think of you most,
hunched over in the tan sweater I knitted
with leather patching on the elbows,
reaching almost to your knees.
I never could follow a pattern well.

You would throw out our blanket for our feast,
your knees crunching leaves as you knelt majestically
and patted it into place before anchoring it with a pumpkin
or two and a plate for the cheeses and bread.
You always set a fine looking table.

After all was placed in proper order, you opened the wine.
We touched our glasses and thanked God for another year.
We sat looking at goldenrod sway as gentle winds puffed.
Fields were gold and green as far as we could see.
Your father's beautiful land was always like heaven.

We talked of small things and touched finger tips,
sang old folk songs that made us recall those days
not long past when we met and finally knew we belonged,
that we were not outsiders after all. What joy we had.
Our Father had a plan for us all along in His pattern of things.

I think of you often when the sun shines, when the rains pour,
when the storms howl and when it blows feathery snow.
I think of you when I'm in a crowd, when I'm lonely.
When I'm misunderstood, I crave to hear your voice.
But always, I think of you in autumn.

© Copyright 2010 iva*mae (UN: crankee at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

While I sometimes think of the past and remember loved ones (so many of mine have died, many dying too young), I do not dwell on the past. I live very much in the present. I do not try to look that far ahead. My plate is full as it is, but I do not dread the future either. Good things happen all the time and I am always excited by news, politics, movies, new finds in archeology, new insights into the Bible, etc. I am never bored -- really, never bored.

I do not dwell on days now gone,

"I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future." --Jeffrey R. Holland, "The Best Is Yet to Be"

When I do look ahead, some things are scary. Like Rick Perry :) Did you see the last debate? His hair, craggy face and cowboy swagger didn't help him much. He started 'losing' the debate when he said the following (conservatives are all for 'immigration reform.':

“But if you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than that they have been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart.”

Some commentator said: "Now here is what I know about Republicans and conservatives. They hate being told that they have no heart. They don’t have hearts, but they don’t like being told that they don’t, and I know this to be true because as a liberal progressive I have told them that many times. They don’t like being told that by liberals, but I am willing to bet that they would absolutely hate being told that by one of their own."

I suspect Perry voted for educating immigrant children because so many former immigrants vote but who knows? He doesn't have a heart for prisoners on death row, even those where the slimmest of evidence convicted them. He has allowed so many to die without a hint of remorse, by his own statements. He doesn't have a heart for the millions of people on Social Security (I receive Civil Service retirement but I do have Medicare Part B for a hefty premium) who have no other income.

Well, enough politics today. If we have to have a Republican president, I hope it's Mitt Romney. I do think he is a decent man even if his religious life is skewed. Most of us don't stray from what we are taught as children. If you ever want a good discussion on Mormonism, email me. I've studied it most of my life. The man who tried to destroy my life was a Mormon but I found out his evilness had nothing to do with being Mormon.

I'll leave you this beautiful Sunday with this song. It makes me tremble.

Revelation

As always,