More Pumpkins

Queen Kong and upside down Face 

IRIS

Spending a Saturday afternoon listening to Modern Times and painting Iris. 

Haiku

Beer in my glass like
Amber tones of Autumn Leaves
that fall too quickly.............
kb

Beer for the Season
For all that Ails you, an Ale
bottoms up my friends.....
br

Farmers fields turn Gold
End of Summer Harvest Time
Sunshine Wheat is near.......
kb

Costumes and Full Moons
Apple cider just wont' do
Ales for me and you.....
br

If you're wondering what this is all about.....New Belgium will give you a free 22 ounce beer if you write and present a Haiku in the tasting room. 5 - 7 - 5

pumpkins to date

Hallowed Days of the Year

• Halloween
• All Saints Day
• Day of the Dead

Ancient Origins

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Ninja boy

All quiet on the front porch tonite.

The one exception?

Ninja boy glides effortlessly, silently passed on his kick scooter.

and then he was gone.

Carbon Leaf

We're checking for shows upcoming at the Aggie and see CarbonLeaf.....I'm thinking that we have to go!

So, we go.

What a bummer! (and I'm not using that exclamation mark lightly)

wait....we get there at 7:30 because the guy at the door tells me midweek that they expect a full house for CL and the what appeared to be the warm-up; Matt Nathanson.

Cool! Feel the energy. Should be a great show.

We arrive and there is hardly anyone there (well, a few, making a 5 minute wait to the ticket booth. The guy in front of us heard of us talking about YardDogs show at Tour de Fat and briefly talks to us. Says he works at New Belgium to which he didn't seem all that enthused about. (that's a different entry....because it would be dope to work at such an awesome place like New Belgium)

Inside, we order up a few beers and hang out for the 8:30 start.

8:30....nothing

8:45...nothing
8:50....

By now we're starving and discuss zippin' out to get a bite, missing the warm-up and getting back JUST in time for the show. That's our plan. And.....we go, down the block to eat a really incredible burger at the pub. (mostly it was a burger/beer/good company eating experience which is ALWAYS a good thing)

Garcon? check, please. We pay and head back over.

CARBON LEAF IS HALF WAY THRU THEIR GIG!!!! Nathason was the headliner!!!

Further, it sounded TERRIBLE. I'm thinking that they HAD to do a sound check. Why does it sound so bad? WAY tooo much boomy bottom end. Pure distortion in the middle. Vocals were almost drowned out by overdub. Couldn't even hear the accodian or the acoustic guitar. I mean terrible! The alluring aspects to the band are the musical skills, the nuances and the vocals. All were lost.

But we stay for the duration (and a hey stick around to sign CD's they were selling. Of course, being big fans we indulge. While we're waiting, Boo walks up and fixes the lead singers shirt tag. He was completely confused by that and I think ma femme was a little confused by his confusion. Weird.

But we get the autographs. The drummer and rhythm guitar guys seem really cool. And though, I think the singer has some brilliant song writing writing skills, he seemed out of it. And that was same on stage. He was disconnected and never really engaged the audience at all. That was a bummer, too.

One last beer, a few songs from Matt Nathanson and we were out of there. 2 out of 5.