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capri0mniOne: The cats are now in a mood to snuggle in my lap, rather than just sit in my general vicinity (and I'm now wearing long sleeves, so Beatrice [Trixie] can do kneading-paws without performing acupuncture).
Two: "Honey Crisp" apples are in season, and in my grocery store (they are sweet, and crisp -- and juicy enough you can almost slurp them like a peach).
Three: Barley is also in my grocery store ("Pearled" -- aka refined -- barley; still, refined barley has as much fiber as brown rice). So I could get some without resorting to buying it off the Internet.
Four: The sun rises later, so it better matches my practically-vampiric sleep schedule.
Five: Halloween's coming. I have no idea why this makes me cheerful; I haven't actually celebrated it in many, many years. And I deliberately avoid participating in giving out candy to trick-or-treaters (because the logistics of hurrying to the door every time the bell rings is a nightmare of stress, especially when you have no backup). But today, while having my breakfast coffee, I discovered I was talking aloud to myself about "How to think up Halloween costumes that work with crutches and wheelchairs." So there must be something about Halloween that makes me happy. Oh, wait. Maybe it's because it's the one and only holiday where it's socially acceptable to celebrate growling and UN-cutesy things.
Two: "Honey Crisp" apples are in season, and in my grocery store (they are sweet, and crisp -- and juicy enough you can almost slurp them like a peach).
Three: Barley is also in my grocery store ("Pearled" -- aka refined -- barley; still, refined barley has as much fiber as brown rice). So I could get some without resorting to buying it off the Internet.
Four: The sun rises later, so it better matches my practically-vampiric sleep schedule.
Five: Halloween's coming. I have no idea why this makes me cheerful; I haven't actually celebrated it in many, many years. And I deliberately avoid participating in giving out candy to trick-or-treaters (because the logistics of hurrying to the door every time the bell rings is a nightmare of stress, especially when you have no backup). But today, while having my breakfast coffee, I discovered I was talking aloud to myself about "How to think up Halloween costumes that work with crutches and wheelchairs." So there must be something about Halloween that makes me happy. Oh, wait. Maybe it's because it's the one and only holiday where it's socially acceptable to celebrate growling and UN-cutesy things.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-06 02:57 am (UTC)Two: They are good. I'm also fond of Harrelsons but they had a bad year.
Three: You have my sincere condolences. I'm happy I can get four kinds of GF grains at all the nearby supermarkets: quinoa, amaranth, kasha, and garbanzo/fava bean flour.
Four: I hope your mattress is better than a coffin.
Five: the holiday for the inner monster who's nestled in your lizard brain?
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Date: 2011-10-06 03:35 am (UTC)That. Yes. And also, I've always loved spiders, even when I was small enough to crawl under the kitchen chairs and study the webs up close. And this is the one holiday when decorating with spider designs is smiled on.
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:16 pm (UTC)Although I was terrified of spiders when I was little, learning that they caught mosquitoes effected a complete change in my attitude. It's a loss they're not welcome in the interior design: their creations are so beautiful as well as functional.
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Date: 2011-10-06 06:32 pm (UTC)I have no idea why I was never terrified of spiders, really; my glib answer is that I, too, grew up spending most of my time crawling on the floor, so I identified with them as allies in the "Watch out for Stompy Feet!" realm. ;-)
There's a beautiful folktale from the Ukraine called the "Christmas Spider" about a woman thrust into poverty because her husband is sent off to war, and she was depressed, because she couldn't afford decorations for the family Christmas tree. The resident house spider heard her crying, and spent the whole night decorating the tree for her -- covering it, Charlette's Web-like, with designs. In the morning, the children woke to find the webs covered with dew, and the dew shining in the sunlight. Later that day, the father returned home from safe from the war -- peace had broken out.
Ever since then, Ukrainians have made sure that the first ornament they hang on the tree, each year, for good luck, is a little spider ornament.
There's a similar motif in German folklore, where the spiders of the house sneak back into the family room, after the family's asleep and climb all over the tree, admiring the pretty decorations. When the Christ Child comes at midnight, he is touched by their devotion, and to keep them from getting in trouble with the cleaning maids, touches the webs, and turns them into silver and gold -- and that's the origin of Christmas Tinsel.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-06 08:38 am (UTC)Over here it's not the best season for apples any more. Braeburns, Gala, Pacific Rose -- all looking battered and soft in the fruit bins. Granny Smith is our best bet at this time of year, they're still crisp with a good sharp flavour. But when one fruit is out, another comes in: I ate my first tomato of the year for dinner tonight. Not warm enough to have started growing them yet, but the ones in shops have reached an acceptable level as the flavour starts to improve and the price comes down.
Is barley considered a seasonal product in your grocery store? I don't think I've ever had trouble buying it at any time of year (although I do buy more of it in winter!).
no subject
Date: 2011-10-06 06:52 pm (UTC)Yeah, early-mid spring, and early autumn are sad times for fresh fruit -- one set of crops is out of season, and the next is not yet ready. September is such a time for us here -- the peaches, plums and raspberries are gone, but the apples have yet to arrive. Now the Apples have arrived. Around the end of November -- February will be citrus time. Then, it will be fallow again, until the early strawberries arrive.
"Honeycrisp" are a relatively new hybrid apple. According to Wikipedia, here: Honeycrisp apple, it was developed at the University of Minnesota, and only came on the market in the United States ten years ago, and its production is just starting to expand in Canada. It may be a few more years before it gains recognition in the wider world.
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Date: 2011-10-07 02:06 am (UTC)I've been clicking around Wikipedia's apple articles, and a lot of the varieties have a southern hemisphere origin, all the ones I mentioned in fact, which explains why they're grown here. One northern-hemisphere variety I used to see a lot of, Fuji (from Japan), is apparently a very popular apple worldwide, but they vanished from our shops years ago and I assumed they just weren't disease-resistant and productive enough to compete. When I planted my apple tree a few years back I chose Fuji just so I could eat them again! Funny that the rest of the world still gets them.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 05:47 am (UTC)Politics makes strange bedfellows, so does, apparently, Produce and Capitalism.