Debra LaValley's Blog

Thanksgiving is in two days and the turkey is not the only one who will be stuffed. I love the food and the time spent around the table with friends and family. Did I say, I love food? I especially love PIE! I also love squash . . . mashed potatoes . . . hot rolls with butter . . . and more PIE! Since, I don’t eat meat – there is more room for PIE! However, I am not talking turkey when I say that I am going for a Christmas miracle and loose 5 pounds by Christmas. This will be a jump start on my 2012 resolution to eat better and increase my exercise. So – will I have PIE for Thanksgiving? YES, I will – but smaller pieces and incorporate a walk or two during the day. I have a trip to Bermuda scheduled in April, and my goal is to lose 20 pounds by then. With all this pie talk – I am getting hungry. I think I will go and grab a diet fudgicle and pretend it is pie 🙂

Om

Healing the Planet

Some of us in my weekly yoga group are participating in a year long meditation to heal the planet. This special meditation began on 11/11/11 and is being done all over the world, I believe. We have made a commitment to recite the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra which is a healing and nourishing mantra for five minutes a day for an entire year.

Healing Mantra on YouTube

The YouTube video with the mantra being sung – really helped me learn it. I hear it in my head through out the day. If I ever get a number of how many people are taking part – I will let you know.

Namaste

. . . now if I could only commit to eating in moderation and exercising more . . . I think I can do it!

Heading for Sanctuary

Last Saturday on the way grocery shopping – I saw these turkeys in the Blossom Hill Cemetery near the Perkins Chapel. I thought it was very amusing for a group of turkeys to be in front of a chapel. They must have sensed Thanksgiving will be here soon (and it is hunting season). The cemetery is most likely the safest place for them to be this time of year 🙂

Speaking of Thanksgiving. Below is THE BEST Pumpkin Pie recipe. It was my Grammy La Valley’s and is the recipe my mom uses. It is simply delicious!

Grammy La Valley’s Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 3/4 c pumpkin
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 T flour
1 2/3 cup evaporated milk

Mix in order given. Bake 15 minutes at 425. Then 45 minutes at 350.

Halloween Trick

Last night, we had a nor’easter! We beat all the October storm records in New Hampshire. In Boscawen, I woke up to at least 13 inches of snow. Some areas had 2 feet! It is the very sticky heavy snow too. Many areas are without power. Luckily (knock on wood) – I still have power. Tonight is Gate Night in Boscawen. The night kids go out trick or treating. I am hoping we are plowed out by then and the paths shoveled. I shoveled the steps and a little path between the porches – but I “don’t do heavy snow.” (I took the photo of my jack-o’-lantern in the snow – last night around 11:00 pm.)

It certainly looks pretty out there! It shouldn’t last too many days because mild weather is headed out way.

“Witches, pumpkin heads, and black cats
Scary spooks and black bats!
Oh, it’s Halloween!”

“Halloween Night” – the song that I have been singing practically every October since the late 1960s when I learned it in the 5th grade. I remember the small music room at Charles Street school where I believe, Miss Pelletier, taught us the song. All these years, I could still picture the cover of the music book and the song’s page and the witch and bat graphics. For years, I have searched for the song without any success. This summer, I searched once again on the internet and found it via a blog! I was beside myself with glee (who says “glee” any more – Rudolph…LOL)! I was surprised to read that I was not the only one who remembered this song and was looking for it. Below is the link to the blog – check it out for more details.

http://dpfluent.blogspot.com/2009/10/witches-pumpkin-heads-and-black-cats.html

It was very interesting that the son of Daniel Hooley who wrote the words and music of Halloween Night posted on the blog. His dad had died young – at the age of 38, and he was glad that folks were still enjoying his dad’s music.

A Doug Sewell posted a mp3 file of the music! (Click link below.) It was great to listen to the music again!

http://dmshome.s3.amazonaws.com/Halloween_Night_Song.mp3

When I found the name of the book (ABC Music Series Book 5 Music For Young Americans) – I went to Amazon.com. They REALLY do have EVERYTHING. I found a used copy of the book – in great shape and reasonably priced ($7.99 plus s/h) and ordered it. It has been like Christmas finding not only the song but the book too! Moral of the story – never stop looking! I have been looking for decades and finally hit pay dirt!

So check out the song – listen to the music and perhaps …SING along!

“Halloween Night is the time when
fearful things are seen. Look out”
Look out! It’s Halloween.”

So – check it out and perhaps even sing it a few times! It is a great song and perfect for Halloween!

Hot Hole Pond

It is mid-October already! The leaves are falling off the trees pretty quickly. This year’s foliage was not its usual splendor. The weather has been too warm and many of the leaves appear to have some sort of blight. The leaves start to turn – then get black spots or look burned and fall off the tree.

A little over a week ago – I went up north with my parents and McKenzie the dog. It was beautiful – though not very colorful. We saw more color in Concord at Hot Hole Pond.

I will be enjoying whatever color comes our way. November is right around the corner and that is usually such a colorless-gray month. It makes you (or at least makes me) wish for snow – to put some color (even white is an improvement) out there.

It will be interesting to see if we will get slammed with snow again this year – or have a mild year. I am guessing that we will have a milder winter with much less snow. We will see! 🙂

White Cat on a Cinnamon-Orange Porch

A “For Sale” sign stands anchored
in the still green grass
on the front lawn
of a cinnamon-orange house.
It is a strange color
for an ordinary house
on an ordinary road
in an ordinary town.
On the porch – a large white cat,
its legs tucked neatly under its chest,
sits attentively.
A still life in perfect balance.
Blazing maples frame the yard
spattering the black driveway with color –
a giant palette belonging to an artist,
invisible to all, but the cat
who watches every brush stroke
and the occasional fall of a golden
sable hair from the brush,
as the artist colors the day.
Bright oranges running into red –
jaded greens to shimmering yellows
turn the landscape into a tribute to Monet.

The house stands empty now –
the artist has moved to paint
on another canvas.
The white cat watches
from another vantage.
But, I still picture that white cat
on the cinnamon-orange porch
on an ordinary road,
in an ordinary town,
and I am still enchanted.

10/98

The above is a poem that I wrote 10/1998 to capture the photo I never took at the time. The house is on Mountain Road (maybe 72?) in Concord, NH. There really was a white cat that used to sit on the porch. I always wanted to stop and take a photo – but never did. The cat complemented the orange perfectly. The house was sold, and the cat went off with the owners. I always think of that cat when I drive past the house. A few weeks ago – I noticed part of the house was a whitish-gray. It made me sad that the house was not going to be orange any more. I drove by at lunch today and was pleasantly surprised to see that the whitish-gray was primer and the house is all cinnamon-orange again! On my way back to work – I stopped this time and snapped a photo. I sure wish there were a white cat sitting on the porch next to those pumpkins!

Three years ago, I adopted the little crazy bundle of fur – Miss Molly Malone 🙂 I can’t believe it has been so long. I picked her out from the many cats and kittens at the local SPCA because she was such a crazy kitty. She (Channing was her name then) was in the cage with her mother (Stockard). Her mother just sat there with the “please take this crazy kitten” away from me. Molly (aka Channing) was looking at me and frantically waving her paws out from the cage’s grates. She was a NUT! She appeared to have so much personality. My mother accompanied me to the SPCA, and she also thought this crazy little kitten was the one to take home. My previous kitty was my Blue Point Siamese, Suki, who “went to college” at the ripe old age of 20. I love Siamese cats – but Suki was my Siamese. I was happy to adopt a poor homeless kitty. There are so many abandoned and homeless kitties that it made me feel good to give one a home. Molly is one spoiled kitty. I love the little goober.

Cat ESP

If you have ever had a cat in your life (notice – I did not say own a cat – you can never own a cat) – you probably have noticed that they have ESP. They can tell when you are going to do something they may not like (examples: give them medicine, cut their claws, or bring them to the vets). It doesn’t matter how sneaky or nonchalant you are trying to be – they know and head for the hills.

This afternoon was Molly’s yearly physical. I left work early (which most likely hinted that something was up) so I would be certain to get her in her carrier in time for her appointment. I brought her carrier out and placed it in the living room. I proceeded to go about the apartment as if it were just a regular day. Molly did her usual and didn’t appear to notice that anything was up.

It was time to leave,and there was no Molly in sight. I checked a few of her hiding spots and called for her – no Molly. She had “disappeared” into the shadows. I looked under the couch – no Molly. I looked in the bathtub – No Molly. I looked over by the computer – No Molly! Then, I looked under the bed. Initially, I did not see her – sitting there under the bed in the corner. She didn’t even blink. I tried to use my “sweet” voice – but she was not moving.

Her appointment was in 10 minutes! Luckily, the vets is right down the road from me. I had to think fast. What would make her get out from under the bed and into the open so I could grab her? A lightbulb went off in my head – the vacuum cleaner! Molly HATES vacuum cleaners. She doesn’t even like it when it isn’t turned on. Instead of my big vacuum cleaner – I grabbed my new Shark handheld vacuum cleaner. I grabbed it and headed to the side of the bed where she was hiding and turned it on. She was out from under the bed, in a flash. I had just enough time to drop the vac and grab her as she looked for a place to hide from the vacuum cleaner. Let me tell you that getting a 15+ lb squirming bundle of wildcat into a cat carrier – is like getting a square peg in a round hole! It is quite amazing just how strong a house cat aka small puma can be! I had tipped the carrier up earlier so I could “drop” her inside. It was far from a drop. I had to shove Molly down into it head first and slam the door shut. She was NOT happy. She wanted out!

We made it to the appointment. The staff and doctor liked the “dust buster” strategy that I came up with. They hadn’t heard that one before. Molly curiously behaved herself even though she looked humiliated. (I am sure she was silently plotting how to maim and dismember us.)

PS: Molly is doing well and is very healthy. She had her saber-like claws cut, her examination, and her rabies vaccine. She even lost 5 ounces (good for a cat) on her diet. 🙂

Rabbit Rabbit

October is here! My favorite month. I love the fall! Did you know saying “Rabbit Rabbit” is supposed to be good luck if said first thing on the first day of the month. I was in the bathroom this morning when it dawned on me to say “Rabbit Rabbit.” I am sure that Molly thought me quite silly. There is also a “rabbit” that can be seen in the moon. I see a different and cuter rabbit that is described on the internet. See below for that interpretation:

Personally – I see this cuter bunny:

Either way – I love the moon. It seems especially beautiful in October since the night get cooler and the sky seems clearer. I am not a fan of heat and humidity – so October is perfect for my internal thermometer! I also love the fall foliage and Halloween. I am sure I will be posting more about that in the near future.

Have a wonderful October, everyone!