the end of Autumn

Well people Autumn has come and gone it seems. I have to say that for the short time it was here is was interesting and beautiful. Coming from good ol'Oz I never really got to experience the changing of the leaves and I must say it is pretty. All the more because of the short lived nature of it all. I first got to see large tracts of trees changing colour in Japan and was really impressed. Coming to Indy I got that chance again. As you drive about you see here and there fine specimens of bright red, orange and yellow trees that almost glow they are that brilliant with colour. That's the upside. The downside is dry weather and the knowledge that it's only going to get colder.

Autumn is the time of year for a couple of holidays, very American holidays I haven't really experienced before. I had my first Halloween and I must say I quite enjoyed it. I had a few pre-conceived notions from It's a great pumpkin Charlie Brown and was delighted to see a lot of them come true. Most of them came true except for the great pumpkin rising out of the pumpkin patch. You can rightly assume from that last sentence that I did go to a pumpkin patch. Ana, her parents and myself drove just out of town to a farm and along with a number of people wandered out into the patch and chose our pumpkins to carve. Don't worry we paid for the privilege, in fact the farmer must turn a pretty profit for growing an extra large variety of inedible pumpkin. After buying our pumpkins we went back to Ana's mums place and carved them. I'll post pictures on my photo-site.

After carving your pumpkin, which can take a little time, you stick a candle in it and leave it on the porch to rot; hoping no one will smash it. As you probably well know another tradition of Halloween is Trick or Treating. Now I unfortunately was unable to be at home for Trick or Treat so I missed the ten year old that came to our door and when asked what he was dressed as replied "A pimp!" Our neighbourhood has a lot of dumb. There are dumb shits, dumb arses, dumb bums...you get the idea.

I think one of the reasons I liked Halloween was that it's unlike most holidays. It's commercial but you don't buy expensive toys, you buy cheap, nasty chocolate to give to kids. It's not religious so you don't have all the happy clappers out there trying to make you feel guilty for some dead guys birthday, or the day he laid an egg or something. And it's not taken that seriously so there's no real obligations to anyone or anything.

Now the next holiday coming up is Thanksgiving. This is the day Americans celebrate what they are thankful for. I'm assuming they're thankful that the Native Americans had no resistance to smallpox, had no potent weapons of any kind and were somewhat trusting of new comers.

Sorry if this is coming over a little cynical but I been reading what would be best described as hippy, new age, vegan propaganda. Now I have to admit to having hugged a few trees in my time but I'm no fanatic. the thing is I have been reading a book that has pissed me off and scared me a little. Go to Ana's blog she has explained it a little and is of the same opinion as me. Have fun and I'll tell you all about Thanksgiving next week. Remember hold your head above water and hold your water in public. PEE FREE, PEE FREE.