A Jack-O-Lantern Interview

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

A  JACK-O-LANTERN INTERVIEW

During our October Beanery Writers Group meeting a Halloween prompt was given out: You are the star reporter for Halloween Headline, and you’ve just landed an interview with Casper the Friendly Ghost. Write out 20 questions to ask during the interview. Responses from members of the group are posted at:

I decided to change the character being interviewed from Casper the Friendly Ghost to a Jack-O-Lantern. Below is my list of interview questions.

Now I need to locate a Jack-O-Lantern who is willing to be interviewed. If you are a willing Jack-O-Lantern, please contact me with your information in the comment box at the end of this post.

Where were you planted and harvested? Was it in

Ghostly white pumpkins of the Lunar variety

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

GHOSTLY WHITE PUMPKINS OF THE LUNAR VARIETY

Pumpkins have become the Christmas trees of fall festivals, the Easter bunnies of Halloween. From jack-o’-lanterns to the formal centerpiece, pumpkins are a focal point of autumn.*

     The discerning autumn bride doesn’t decorate her reception table with just any pumpkin. She places intermixes floral arrangements with traditional orange pumpkins and the Lunar pumpkin, which delight and intrigue her wedding guests.

     If you’ve never seen the Lunar pumpkin you will probably

Grandparents, homemade cookies, & licking cream off milkcaps

GRANDPARENTS, HOMEMADE COOKIES, & LICKING CREAM OFF MILKCAPS      Ahhh…the scents of days past…of grandmothers who actually baked the cookies they served their grandchildren…and grandchildren who licked the cream off the cap of the milk their grandmother poured.      Times change.      As a child I licked the cream off the cardboard caps that sealed glass milk bottles while eating the breakfast my grandmother cooked. Today, I

Should your cat be kept indoors or outdoors?

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

SHOULD YOUR CAT BE KEPT INDOORS OR OUTDOORS?

      A Humane Society I researched estimated that feral cats have a life expectancy of five years, while indoor, cared for, cats live as long as seventeen years.

     How long does a cared-for house cat with outside privileges live?

     In August, our about-sixteen year old cat Honey died (to read her story, click on: Honey’s Coming Home! Our cat must recuperate & Honey went home—She’s romping in animal heaven). She lived her life happily as an outdoor cat, as did many or our cats which lived long lives, fifteen years and more.

     Virtually all cat shelters have a non-flexible clause in their cat adoption papers that requires

Nicole

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

NICOLE

NANCY BRISKAY CORNELL LIPSIUS

This poem was written about a grandchild that lived only an hour.

You lived

One hour, sixty minutes, 3600 seconds,

An infinitesimal eternity.

You were your mother reborn,

A minute reflection of

We’re Adopting a Baby! Part 4

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

WE’RE ADOPTING A BABY! Part 4

Conclusion

 Part 4 will conclude the post series, We’re Adopting a Baby! To read Part 1, Part 2 and/or Part 3 of this post, click on: We’re Adopting a Baby! Part 1 & We’re Adopting a Baby! Part 2 & We’re Adopting a Baby! Part 3

     Our own adoption home-study had proven a difficult experience for me. My caseworker didn’t like me very much. I believe she felt threatened by the fact that I was doing adoption home-studies myself, in spite of the fact that she had forty years of experience to my being a newbie. The only saving grace was that she adored Monte. He could, and did, say things that might be prejudicial against our acceptance, with

Living with OCD

LIVING WITH OCD

As told to Carolyn C. Holland by Dmitri Beljan

     I was initially going to talk to you at a local café. However when you invited me to sit down, the place I was seated was not cleaned up from the previous guest. Although tolerable to sit there, I found myself uncomfortable and distracted by concerns about the dirty table. It took away from giving you my full attention.

     Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to worry about germs. For example, how many times have you ordered a baked potato at a particular fast food place and the waitress  who handled your money then squished the potatoes with her fingers and handed it to you? I found myself several times reminding food service personnel that you don’t handle food and money both. I don’t think that’s so bad.

     However if this behavior is carried to an extreme—e. g., asking her to clean the table twice—it could be considered a symptom of OCD.

     Thus began my interview with Dmitri.

     October 12-18, 2009, is National OCD Awareness Week. Dmitri is willing to share his story of living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, commonly called OCD. Below he tells of live with OCD.

     My genetic makeup predisposed me to OCD. This condition was aggravated by my very religious family and the paranoia of the 1950s Cold War.

     When I was a little boy the thoughts that are now called obsessive thoughts were not recognized by me as such, and with the influence of religion, I interpreted it to be that I was possessed by demons.

     This scared the hell out of me. I became more concerned about (to continue reading this story, click on: Living with OCD or  http://beanerywriters.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/living-with-ocd/

Website for the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation: http://www.ocfoundation.org/ocdawarenessweek.php

 ADDITIONAL READING:

Online Sites for Caretakers & Families of Brain Injury Victims

!¡Anger¡!

BROKEN CIRCLE

Can You Write Your Memoir in Six Words?

Her Gift

I BELIEVE GOD INVENTED DANCING

We’re Adopting a Baby! Part 3

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

WE’RE ADOPTING A BABY! Part 3

To read Part 1 and/or Part 2 of this post, click on: We’re Adopting a Baby! Part 1 & We’re Adopting a Baby! Part 2

      Before I accepted my job as home-study caseworker for adoptive families while I myself was in the adoption process, I stipulated two things to my boss, Naomi.

     First, I gave my notice. Unlike giving biological birth, adoptive parents have no set

BIG CHICKEN STOLEN IN LIGONIER TOWNSHIP (PA): The “Big Chicken” Hunt

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

BIG CHICKEN STOLEN IN LIGONIER TOWNSHIP (PA)

The “Big Chicken” Hunt

    The picture of a “big chicken,” in the May 28, 2009, issue of the Ligonier Echo was eye-catching. The chicken was missing from the Dave Tetkoski’s yard on 956 Route 259 on May 25. Tetkoski was preparing to have the fowl statue restored and display it in the 2009 Ligonier Days Parade when the foul play of theft occurred. Tetkoski estimates that the “one-of-a-kind” fiberglass statue is at least 50 years old.

Staycation Day Trip: Somerset County, PA

CAROLYN’S CREATIONS

STAYCATION DAY TRIP:

SOMERSET COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Every time we travel to New England in the fall, we are asked if we are going to “leaf-peep.”

“Why?” I ask. “Why would I travel to New England to leaf-peep, when all we have to do is walk out our front door to see gorgeous leaves. (We happen to live in a park setting.)”

We didn’t travel to New England this fall. But we did drive around and “leaf-peep.” In Pennsylvania this year are coming in spectacular colors.

I had suggested to my husband, Monte, that we take a day a week for six weeks to travel to different communities. I admit I had an agenda. Each place I chose had a purpose.

The first jaunt, to Somerset County (PA), was chosen because I needed oat bran and Monte needed flour—he makes homemade bread, and we liked to purchase these items at the Mennonite store on Rt. 30 near Jennerstown (PA). In addition, I wanted to revisit the Flight 93 Crash site, the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel, and the Quecreek Mine memorial site.

We woke up to a cold fall morning. If the sun hadn’t been shining I might have backed out. As it was, it was one of the nicest autumn days to date. A perfect day for photography, and Somerset was a daytrip to use my camera.

As we left Laurel Mountain Borough’s Rt. 30 exit, turning east on the Lincoln Highway, the sprouting golds, bronzes and reds