Black Cats: Good Luck, Bad Luck

 

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

BLACK CATS: GOOD LUCK—BAD LUCK

     Joe is an argument for keeping cats indoors—at least, at this spooky time of year that is filled with superstitions.

     He is a gorgeous animal. His soft, shiny black fur coat is as pleasant as his personality.

      He is my daughter’s cat.

Joe

     Black, it seems to me, is a schizophrenic color.

     On the one hand, if I want to appear elegant, powerful, mysterious, or formal—or all three—I can slip into a little black dress or suit to attain that appearance.

     On the other hand, if I want to appear evil, grieving, fearful, the use of black will send that message.

     Black, in either circumstance, presents a strong front.

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     Actually, black is not

I, Cochran Cockroach, Am Worth a Million Dollars!

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

I, COCHRAN COCKROACH, AM WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS!

     Hey, did you read the October 31, 2007, newspaper item? My creator Carolyn did, and she showed me the amazing article. It gave me a whole new view of myself. I, Cochran Cornell the Cantankerous Cockroach, am worth a million dollars!

     It helped that the news came out on Halloween. Carolyn was recruiting two other persons for her Halloween parade escapade—you know, the one where two cockroaches (one being me) run down the road through the parade participants and crowd, being chased by a human carrying a

Parkfront Diner & Bakery in Gallipolis, Ohio

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

PARKFRONT DINER & BAKERY

IN GALLIPOLIS, OHIO

     Silvery, black, and pink accents. Photographs of Marilyn Monroe scattered about on the walls. Records—45 r.p.m.s, created a border where the wall met the ceiling.

     Although we were in Gallipolis, Ohio, researching the 1790 French 500 settlement of the second European community in Ohio we found ourselves folded into the 1950s era at the Parkfront Diner & Bakery, a local diner where we stopped to eat breakfast.

     Musical notes from speakers enhanced the mood. Words of the songs I was familiar with, Tell Laura I Love Her, floated through the air.

Laura and Tommy were lovers
He wanted to give her everything
Flowers, presents,
But most of all, a

Good Samaritanism in China and in Calumet, Pa.

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

GOOD SAMARITANISM

IN CHINA

AND

IN CALUMET, PENNSYLVANIA

     What can a fifty-seven year old trash collector in China and a forty-two year old woman in Calumet, Pennsylvania have in common?

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    On October 16, 2011, More than a dozen pedestrians and motorists passed by as (two-year old) Wang Yue lay writing in pain…after she was hit by a van at a wholesale market  in the southern city of Foshan in Guangdong province (China)…As Yue lay in the street, another van ran over her…More bystanders walked by…

     A 57-year old trash collector eventually moved Yue to safety. The trash collector pleaded with passers-by to no avail until the girl’s mother arrived and called an ambulance.*

Two-year old girl watching trains

Yue died early Friday, October 21, 2011.***

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     On the evening of June 1, 2010, Stacey Feiling was driving through Calumet, Pennsylvania (not far from my community), when her car was flagged down by a stranger, Janet Piper. When she stopped to help, Janet’s husband, Raymond Piper, opened Stacey’s car door and

Lions and Tigers in Ohio????

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

LIONS AND TIGERS IN OHIO???

A climate wholesome and delightful, frost even in winter almost entirely unknown, and a river called by way of eminence ‘The Beautiful,’ and abounding in excellent fish of a vast size; noble forests, consisting of trees that spontaneously produce sugar and a plant that yields ready-made candles ; venison in plenty, the pursuit of which is uninterrupted by wolves, foxes, lions, or tigers. A couple of swine will multiply themselves a hundred fold in two or three years without taking any care of them. No taxes to pay, no military services to be performed.*

      A perfect place. A Utopia. A land of milk and honey. And no lions or tigers…

     Someplace you and I might like to live. Right?

     So where is this place that had land for sale that was advertised in a seductive prospectus circulated around Paris by the Compagnie du Scioto, prior to and during the French Revolution in the late 1780s and 1790s.

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     Hundreds of French persons bit, including many of Noble class. Shiploads of emigrants sailed from Le Havre, France, beginning in February 1790. They landed in Alexandria, Virginia, before trekking out to their promised land, their land of milk and honey.

     And when they arrived at their Utopia they discovered they were in a primitive land with

The Rufus Putnam House in Marietta, Ohio

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

THE RUFUS PUTNAM HOUSE IN MARIETTA, OHIO

     We stopped at the Campus Martius Museum, Marietta, Ohio, on October 13, 2011. They did something quite unique, but quite reasonable: they designed the museum around a 1788 home.

     Rufus Putnam was one of two New Englanders who initiated the 1786 Ohio Company, which successfully contracted with the United States Congress to purchase a tract of the country’s newly acquired Northwest Territory. The company created the first European community in the territory:

Accu.Weather Makes Its 2011-2012 Winter Forecast

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

ACCU.WEATHER MAKES ITS

2011-2012 WINTER FORECAST

      On October 8, 2011, at the 15^th Annual Woolly Worm Festival held at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, the wooly worm used its magical powers to predict the upcoming Pennsylvania winter weather (read about this prediction at Wooly Worms Predict the 2011 PA. Winter Weather, and other prediction sources at Mother Nature’s Creatures Predict Winter Weather).

     On October 13 AccuWeather.com made its forecast of the winter weather in Western Pennsylvania.

     “We expect snowfall to be above normal,” said Jack Boston, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist. “The first could come as early as mid-November or Thanksgiving…An average winter in Western Pennsylvania brings about 41 inches of snow. This year, up to 60 inches could fall.

     It will be mostly Alberta clippers— quick-moving storms that originate in Alberta, Canada…that typically produce 6 inches of powdery snow—that will sail through Western Pennsylvania in December and January.

     In February, temperatures could rise to 50 degrees or higher occasionally — and that means rain, accounting for part of the month’s increased precipitation.

     I recall last winter when my husband and Monte and I measured the snowfall in our yard—while the snow was still falling: 

February 6, 2010

     The biggest problem I have with brutal weather is worry concerning the travel my daughter does to get to her job. She drives up (and returns driving down) Laurel Mountain, a steep hill with a brutal curve in the middle. Often that drive is done in the wee hours of the morning.

     My granddaughter rides a school bus over hilly roads, and my son-in-law drives miles in his job. While I can hibernate, my family members cannot.

     Although I don’t look forward to rugged winter weather in November and December, I do enjoy “stay-inside” conditions in January. I enjoy the

Setting Foot on Fly Soil

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

SETTING FOOT ON FLY SOIL

     Up until early afternoon on October 13, 2011, I could I’d never set foot on Fly soil.

     I can’t make that claim anymore.

     On a mid-October 2011 weekend my husband Monte and I took a mini-vacation/research trip  to Galllipolis, Ohio. We drove along Ohio Route 7, which follows the Ohio River downstream from its entrance into Ohio. The river is rooted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it is formed at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers merge.

     When it was time to take a rest stop we pulled off the road in a restaurant parking lot.  We’d been looking for a stop with a good photographic view of the river, and this spot proved perfect. We soon discovered that we were stopped at a ferry station.

     We also noticed that we had just entered the town of Fly, Ohio. The ferry took passengers, and their cars, across the Ohio River from Fly to Sistersville, West Virginia.

     While Monte parked the car I meandered down to the river’s edge. Numerous ducks were on the shoreline. As I moved closer to them they flew off, as their ilk is prone to do. Then I looked down river and the view, pieces of which we had seen as we drove along the road, was spectacular. I was able to capture photographs without a lot of

Mother Nature’s Creatures Predict Winter Weather

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

MOTHER NATURE’S CREATURES

PREDICT WINTER WEATHER

     A couple of weeks ago I spent a Sunday doing laundry. As I explained to my husband, if we are functioning according to Mother Nature’s dryer (the sun), and Mother Nature only provides that dryer on a Sunday, then, unfortunately, we end up doing laundry on the Lord’s Day.

     In today’s world meteorologists make use of complicated equipment, such as satellites, to forecast the weather.

     Even before this equipment was developed people had an interest in the weather. This included (and is) farmers, sailors and others, whose livelihood depended on it.

     Mother Nature provides signals used by many persons to predict upcoming weather. Today we celebrate some of these signals. Most notably, here in Pennsylvania, is Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog who predicts the weather for the final six weeks of the winter season.

     On the opposite end of the spectrum is the

Wooly Worms Predict the 2011 PA. Winter Weather

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

PREDICTING THE 2011 PENNSYLVANIA WINTER:

Wooly Worms

     I have yet to see one. Perhaps it’s because of the rainy, wet, beginning of the autumn season. Whatever, I’ve been looking for them. After all, it will be nice to know what snows and storms Mother Nature will deliver between December and April.

     What I’m looking for is the wooly worm, an autumnal predictor of the next season’s severity. The woolly bear is a fuzzy larva of the tiger moth found in the Midwest and Northeast.* It is the antithesis of Punxsutawney Phil, who predicts the final six weeks of winter. The wooly worm predicts the severity of the winter season:

•  The way to “read a caterpillar” is: the smaller the brownish-red bands are the harsher the winter will be. The black stripes indicate