BOO !!! (did I scare you??)

Hmm .... Halloween is upon us and all the little ghouls and goblins will be out "trick or treating", looking to fill their sacks with all kinds of candy for the coming month or two. Talk about sugar rushes - sure wouldn't want to have to deal with a classroom of little ones after they have had a load of candy during recess or lunch. Candy and kiddies aside, I wonder how many people actually know of the origins and some of the customs of Halloween? I present here, for your edification, a short version of the story of Halloween.

The Story of Halloween

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins going back thousands of years. The holiday we know as Halloween has had many influences from many cultures over the centuries. From the Roman's Pomona Day, to the Celtic festival of Samhain, to the Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days. Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the Celts. The Celts worshipped nature and had many gods, with the sun god as their favorite. It was "he" who commanded their work and their rest times, and who made the earth beautiful and the crops grow. The Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st. It was celebrated every year with a festival and marked the end of the "season of the sun" and the beginning of "the season of darkness and cold." On October 31st after the crops were all harvested and stored for the long winter the cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished. The Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet in the hilltop in the dark oak forest (oak trees were considered sacred). The Druids would light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals. As they danced around the the fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of darkness would begin.
When the morning arrived the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take them home to start new cooking fires. These fires would keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits.

The November 1st festival was called Samhain (pronounced "sow-en"). The festival would last for 3 days. Many people would parade in costumes made from the skins and heads of their animals. This festival would become the first Halloween. During the first century the Romans invaded Britain. They brought with them many of their festivals and customs. One of these was the festival know as Pomona Day, named for their goddess of fruits and gardens. It was also celebrated around the 1st of November. After hundreds of years of Roman rule the customs of the Celtic's Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming 1 major fall holiday.

The next influence came with the spread of the new Christian religion throughout Europe and Britain. In the year 835 AD the Roman Catholic Church would make November 1st a church holiday to honor all the saints. This day was called All Saint's Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows. Years later the Church would make November 2nd a holy day. It was called All Souls Day and was to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big bonfires, parades, and people dressing up as saints, angels and devils. But the spread of Christianity did not make people forget their early customs. On the eve of All Hallows, Oct. 31, people continued to celebrate the festivals of Samhain and Pomona Day. Over the years the customs from all these holidays mixed. October 31st became known as All Hallow Even, eventually All Hallow's Eve, Hallowe'en, and then - Halloween.

The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day's apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Samhain's black cats, magic, evil spirits and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day.

Bet you didn't know all that, did you? Neither did I. Another part of Halloween traditions and superstitions that I particularly like is about witches and black cats. Again, for your edification and amusement, I present the following:

The Witches' Caldron

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog"
"Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing"
"For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and babble"
"Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn, and caldron bubble"

William Shakespeare

Witches and Warlocks have had a long history with Halloween. Legends tell of witches gathering twice a year when the seasons changed,

on April 30 - the eve of May Day and the other was on the eve of October 31 - All Hallow's Eve. The witches would gather on these nights, arriving on broomsticks, to celebrate a party hosted by the devil. Superstitions told of witches casting spells on unsuspecting people, transforming themselves into different forms and causing other magical mischief.

It was said that to meet a witch you had to put your clothes on wrong side out and you had to walk backwards on Halloween night. Then at midnight you would see a witch. When the early settlers came to America, they brought along their belief in witches. In American the legends of witches spread and mixed with the beliefs of others, the Native Americans - who also believed in witches, and then later with the black magic beliefs of the African slaves.

The black cat has long been associated with witches. Many superstitions have evolved about cats. It was believed that witches could change into cats. Some people also believed that cats were the spirits of the dead. One of the best known superstitions is that of the black cat. If a black cat was to cross your path you would have to turn around and go back because many people believe if you continued bad luck would strike you.

So, there you have it folks - a very brief history on Halloween and some of it's traditions and superstitions. Now get ready for all the little kiddies to be ringing your doorbell on Halloween night, yelling "Trick or Treat". Enjoy the evening.

Grandpa out .......

Winter Already?

Well, here it is October 21st and we got our first snowfall. WHAT THE HECK IS WITH THAT ??? Dang - not even November yet and it is snowing - have about 2 inches of the crap already and it looks like it isn't gonna give up anytime soon! Sure hope that this isn't a harbinger of things to come. I will be mighty pissed if this is all I have to look forward to from now until April 2009! And the worst part is that they are calling for minus 10 degrees celsius overnight - that is like only 14 degrees fahrenheit! Cold enough for anyone lol. Ah well, what can you do?
The only saving grace is that I was over to the trailer park today to take a few things back and they were starting to winterize the trailers. I was talking to the manager's son and he said my trailer should be completed this afternoon. All I would need is for the water to freeze in the pipes and have a flood in the spring when I open it up. Yuck.

Just had a look out the window and the snow is sticking to the roadways!! ENOUGH ALREADY ! I'm not ready for winter yet! Well, can't think of much else to say right now, so think I will go and bury my head under the bedcovers for the rest of the day - that way, don't have to look at the white stuff lol. Until later,

Grandpa out ...........

Managed to close up the trailer without any problems - actually had great weather to do it in, not like years past when I have had to close it up in the rain and cold. This past weekend was super! Had average 17 - 22 (c) degree temperatures all weekend. Actually got most of it done on the Friday - the beauty of being retired after all lol - but have to go over again later to take the gazebo cover and final laundry back and pack it away. I get the park to winterize the trailer - that way I don't have to worry about the cost of getting an air compressor, anti-freeze, etc., plus don't have to worry about screwing it up, although it appears straightforward enough. By letting the park do it, if anything goes wrong they have to fix it. After the great weather, still hard to believe that the season is over. Oh well, with any luck, the new season will be upon us before we know it and we will be back over enjoying our time there.

Well, Thanksgiving is past and so are the elections. Hope all my Canadian friends and family had a great Thanksgiving - sure our American friends are looking forward to theirs. Ours was great - went to a close friend's for dinner Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The great part is that we get to do it all over again today, as we will do our own turkey as well. That way, get to have leftovers - yum. Turkey dinner, turkey sandwich for lunch and leftover turkey for dinner again the next night, lol. You would think that I would be sick of it by then, but no, I do like turkey.

Hmmm .... minority Conservative government, albeit a slightly stronger one. Liberals lost a few seats - no wonder, when the leader can't even give a simple answer to a simple question. Sure hope the various parties in Ottawa can learn to get along with each other and govern the country accordingly. We certainly don't need any more bickering between them, throwing the population into confusion and turmoil. And I certainly don't want to go through this exercise again in 18 months to two years. There are times when I seriously think that we would be better off without these idiots and have something like the US does, but then look what has happened to them over the last 8 years - no thanks. For all of our faults, still think that we probably have one of the better systems going.

Anyways, thought I would just jot a note or two down - gotta go get the turkey on now so take care all - - -

Grandpa out ...........

Well, here we go again, trying to keep the old mind active and sharp (no comment girls!). Anyways, promised to start to bring you up to date so here goes, in a slightly different format:

January/08 - Yahoo! first full month of retirement - seemed a little strange not to have to get up and go into work, but soon got used to it lol. Unfortunately though, still had to get up early, not only because the internal time clock was still ticking away at the old hours, but also in order to drive my wife into work. Yes, that is right - she is working. I mean, after all, she has to keep me in the style I would like to become accustomed to (he he he - yah, right). Also, on a real good note, got my first work pension cheque the last day of the month - wow that was fast - I was told that it could be 6 - 8 weeks to get the first one, then everything would be deposited directly into the bank after that by the end of the month. Deposited the cheque in the bank and lo and behold, had my first CPP cheque in the account as well!!! Felt flush with money, but knew that I had to budget as the pensions would only come in once a month, instead of a paycheque every two weeks. Oh well, like the song says, "I will survive!".

Feb - April/08 - Snow, snow and more snow. And when it wasn't snowing, it was bloody cold! Was sure glad to see Spring arrive at last! Hmmm ...... wonder if I can afford to go south during the winter? I know, I know, Gail still has to get to work - that is what cabs are for, isn't it? I have a feeling that if I went south for the winter, I wouldn't have a place to come back to in the summer lol. Oh well, will have to tough it out I guess. We opened up the trailer the weekend of the 25th of April - looking forward to a nice summer of being there. With Gail being off during the week (temporary, as her shifts change every once in awhile), will be nice as won't have to put up with all the day-trippers over the weekend. Should be nice and quiet.

May - July/08 - Summer? What summer? We have had more rain so far this summer than I can remember, although one year it did rain every weekend - however, coming up from Toronto we put up with it, as it was almost a 2 hour drive back home and seemed a waste. Now we have the luxury that if the weather is crappy, we can be home in 15 minutes or so.

August/08 - Gail took 9 days of vacation and we went to the trailer - overall, the weather wasn't too bad, thank goodness. Would have been real upset if it had rained all the time, as she works hard and looked so forward to the time off at the trailer, although she said at the time that she would have been happy just being off, never mind being at the trailer.

September/08 - AGAIN with the crappy weather! What is up with Mother Nature?? I am beginning to think she has it in for those with trailers or tents - saw some people camping in tents in our transient section and really felt sorry for them, as the entire area was just drenched and the water was sitting on the ground - not draining like normal as the ground was completely saturated. Even the canals were up a good foot from where they would have normally been at this time of year.

October 6/08 - well, went over to the park today and paid the deposit for next year's camping. Hard to believe the season is over already and next Monday is Thanksgiving (that is the time for closeup at the park, although we can still get in for a couple of weeks after that). Doesn't seem like we had much of a summer or time at the trailer at all this year. Sure hope Mother Nature cooperates a little more next year, but time will tell I guess.

There were other things we did or went to during the summer, but I chose to not mention them, rather than bore you all to death with the information. This more or less brings you up to date with the first 9 months of retirement. Prior to me leaving work, had great plans to do several things - funny how things can change - didn't accomplish as much as I anticipated I would. Oh well, that is the beauty of retirement - I have all this time to be able to do what I want, when I want, as long as it is okay with the wife lol. Just noticed the time - better get something to eat before I waste away to a shadow of my former self lol. Until next time,

Grandpa out .........

The Start of It All

Hmmm .... where to start? Guess I should start at the beginning. Many, many years ago I was born to - - oops - too far back, I guess. That would be boring to most if not all of you. Guess I should start maybe with my retirement.
I retired December 31 2007, after 32 + years of working for the Federal Government, not to mention all the other jobs I have held since I was 16 years of age. There wasn't any one thing that made up my mind to retire - in actuality, it was many cumulative things over several years. I had been more or less musing about retirement for a couple of years before, however didn't feel that the time was right. I got to seriously thinking of retirement around March of 2007, after hearing through the office grape-vine of a good friend and co-worker's death at age 53, due to a major heart attack caused by work stress. That got me thinking about my own mortality, as he was 6 years younger than me at the time of his passing. I realized that we don't live forever and I was determined that I was going to get some benefit from working all these years, no matter how much more time I had on this mortal coil we call earth!
I made the appropriate enquiries with our staffing section and after reviewing all of the information available to me, I made the decision to call it a day and subsequently put in my "official notice" of pending retirment.
After having given notice, it felt like a great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. However, that feeling was short-lived, as the next few months prior to retirement were extremely busy for me. I had to finalize actions on accounts that I was responsible for, arrange for their transfer to another officer or two, ensure that there were a couple of staff trained to take over some of the enforcement/search facilities that I handled, dissolve myself of other responsibilites I had and also to fill out paperwork for my pending retirement.
Paperwork! My God, there was paperwork! I swear that you complete more paperwork when you retire than you ever do anytime during your lifetime! Fill out this form in duplicate, that form in triplicate and those forms in quadruplicate! WOW! Anyways, with a bit of guidance from a wonderful Human Resources individual and a bit of luck, I actually managed to get through all the paperwork and sent it in.
At the end of November 2007, my friends and co-workers threw me a wonderful retirement party, for which I am eternally grateful and will remember for the rest of my days. There was a large turnout - I didn't think I had made that much impact with that number of people, but I was wrong (one of the few times in my life, ha ha). Anyways, it was a lovely party and everyone had a good time. Of course, there were the obligatory "potshots" at me by friends and management, but I took it in the spirit that it was given and thoroughly enjoyed it. During my rebuttal, I was going to go for a few zingers of my own, but changed my mind and just thanked everyone that came to the send-off (even though I was going to be around for another month), those that had faith in my abilities over the years and in particular my family, without whom I would never have reached this point in my life. I also, during my speech, provided all those in attendance with the following thought:

Happiness is a journey. We convince ourselves that life will be better after
we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we're frustrated that the kids
aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're
frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We'll certainly be happy
whenthey're out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete
when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able
to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time
to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Our lives will always be filled
with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy
anyway. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness.
Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment that you have and treasure it
more because you have shared it with someone special - special enough to spend
your time with, at work or at home ... and remember that time waits for no one.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money,
love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.

I officially retired on December 31, 2007 and haven't looked back since. In my next post, I will try to not be so long-winded and will bring you more up to date since my retirement. Until then,

Grandpa out ..........