jerrysummers.com

Vamping for Chocolate . . .

See the related story on “Count Choculitis” at csummers.org

Maybe it is time for a new Christmas song–at least this new one tells me so. Dennis Lamar wrote it, sings it, on his new album, “Legacy.” You can hear “All I Want for Christmas” and “Waiting for You” online (see the link on the right sidebar) I wouldn’t make so big a deal out of it if a young couple near and dear to me and mine weren’t part of his company. I still would enjoy what he has done! Bonus: He’s part of that “Good Old Baylor Line” too. Part of the Legacy. Sic ‘em, Dennis!

www.dennislamar.com

On the way to Thanksgiving, one’s thoughts turn to . . . turkey! And other good things to eat, of course, and the importance of learning to see the glass as–not half full–but full to overflowing! My cup runneth over . . . .

Now, a bit of questionable inspiration–a limerick:

A variegated bird is the peacock, / His lineage is in no way commonstock. / But guess my amazement, / When I heard the appraisement / That peacock tastes just like turkey-hock!

That, many years ago, was the discovery of Christian workers in India who sought a suitable substitute for the Thanksgiving bird.

One does well to honor the martyrs, though for remembering it helps to be Catholic or to belong to congregation that knows and practices the liturgical calendar. Others may know only that it’s time for candy and trick-or-treaters. Or for the great autumnal brouhaha so Mardis Gras-like when to taunt, or at least to wink at, death, costumed folk looking-not-at-all-like-themselves (for that is the point!) play the ghoul or ghost or goblin. Paint the face, pouf the hair, take the promenade with others of like purpose and posture!
So! Maybe we’re neither Catholic nor necessarily religious, but All Hallows’ Eve catches everyone, if only for a moment. My church does “Trunk-a-Treat” as an alternative to door-to-door trick-or-treatin’ and kids and families love it. Visiting last weekend in West Hollywood Cal-i-for-ni-a, I found the gay folk prepping energetically for the “drag” races. My university campus hosts local kids for a haunted dorm candy-fest that has been a community favorite for many years. And what about the church and community haunted houses? Alert: watch for excess candy appearing spontaneously around the office.
Soon it will be past, and retailers’ Halloween themes will turn in a day to Thanksgiving and Christmas themes, so we know that the “Holiday” Season (there we go again! Should I say “Holy-Day”?) approaches.

I need, we need, to remember the martyrs, dead or alive, whose numbers increase daily worldwide. I do not question the perfection or imperfections of their understanding or their conduct, but feel obligated to honor their confessions and their cross-bearing. November 1 is All Saints Day, November 3 is All Souls Day.

So I’m up now, but not fully squared away! Thanks to some relative technical help, though, and this and another subdomain site will be more than I can handle, but I’m going to try.

Going by the first day of a season, summer is the second season in the year. If duration counts, then winter is the first, spring the second, and summer the third. How do most people list the seasons — spring, summer, fall, winter, or do they start with winter?

Tiger Mountain - maybe it’s just a hill - actually the Martians have called it Van Zandt Hill since the 1840s. Sometime around 1795 the Spanish ambassador charted it in the line of hills dividing the king’s lands from Mexico. Soon Napoleon had the king’s lands, and not long after that, President Jefferson cut a sharp deal and informed Congress by announcing the unexpected debt. Stunned at first, they came around to his position once they checked the map, though its deficiencies and their thirst for facts about the Louisiana Territory prompted Jefferson to commission the Lewis and Clark expedition of discovery. Already the old Spanish boundary had shifted eastward, and the Texans later agreed on a new boundary line with the United States. That’s long past now and infrequently remembered on Tiger Mountain. The Tigers concern themselves more with student life - the full range of it - and though captivated by what is for them now they are drawn by things to come. The past can wait - there’s too much of “A World of Opportunity in a Community of Faith,” and all it promises, to think of much else, whether they actually pause to think about it or not. www.etbu.edu