Fall Fest: "L" is for...

If you're just tuning in, you will be interested to know that the readers of Highlowaha are in the middle of Fall Fest.  We're spending the week celebrating all the things we've come to love about the fall season.  Guiding us through our tour is of favorites are letters...

F-A-L-L-F-E-S-T.  

Today is our final tribute to the letter "L."

 

L.L. Bean  

Lands End

Lattes

Lanterns... Jack-o-Lanterns

Hard to deny the excitement that comes with packing away summer clothes and putting on the first pair of jeans and the first blazer of the season.  I can't actually say I frequently order from L.L. Bean or Land's End, but I love the look of their clothes and I always imagine that if I ordered something from the catalog, I would look just as good as the models do when wearing the items.  Same with hair cuts, by the way.

Parenthetically... I considered using "Lighten your Load" as an "L" phrase for today.  I realize in talking to people about their fall favorites that quite a few of us use fall as a season for organizing our homes and purging ourselves of old belongings.  If you have an organizational tip you would like to share for storing summer clothes, or anything else for that matter, please feel free to share in the comment section.

Lattes... what more do I need to say about this?  You already know I love Starbucks.  This time of year is especially fun  because new flavors are debuted.  I think I heard someone order a Pumpkin Spice Latte yesterday and the Peppermint Latte will be revived soon enough for our holiday shoppers.  Today's post is dedicated to Nicole, whose generous treat that I received in the mail yesterday, paid for the latte I'm drinking this minute.

Finally lanterns... Jack-o-lanterns.  I ran across this short piece titled, The Mystery of the Jack O'Lantern.  If you're interested, check it out...  http://www.mysterynet.com/halloween/jack.shtml.

- OR - 

Consider this... Highlowaha will host its First Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest.  Carve and photograph your pumpkin in time to be shared with the rest of the community on Friday, October 31.  Pictures must be emailed to Katie at kkolkmeier@gmail.com.  Submit a pumpkin and earn a Pumpkin Patch (Get it?  Pumpkin patch?  Ha! Ha!) for your Highlowaha Patchwork denim (for more information, see post from 8/7 - titled, Patchwork).

Signing off until tomorrow...

Fall Fest: L is for Leaves

Leaves

I must admit, the thing I miss most about living in Louisville, Kentucky (or Northern Georgia, or Ohio, or New York) was the beautiful sight of leaves changing.  There were points all along my drive to and from work where the vibrant colors of fall were breathtaking.  Reds, oranges, and golds lined the streets.  The drive to Bellarmine University (the Catholic university where Heather and I both worked... not to mention Stacie, Tera, and some other HLA readers) was capped off each morning with a picturesque drive leading onto campus.  It was lined with trees that turned so red, from afar they looked like burning bushes (appropriate, I know).

School doesn't start until after Labor Day in New York, so one of first, most memorable, assignments of the school year, was always collecting leaves for a creative assignment of some sort.  I remember pressing leaves between waxed paper; identifying the trees from which the assortment of leaves fell; categorizing them by colors, sizes, and shapes; and using leaves for all sorts of art projects.  Yes, while falling leaves signified the end of summer, they also meant the beginning of a new school year.  

I love fall leaves.

• I loved raking them up in to a neat pile, only to jump into them with two feet.
  
• I loved burying my friends under leaves.
  
• I loved getting paid $1.00 per full bag of raked leaves, by my dad.
  
• I loved making leaf angels, in anticipation of the snow angels that would come months later.
  
• I loved the smell of burning leaves.
  
• I loved (and still love) stepping on brown leaves and listening to the crunching sound below my feet.
  
• And, in a few weeks when leaves start falling in North Texas, I will love watching my boys romp around in the leaves - creating their own favorite fall memories.
  

Today let's talk leaves.  Do you have a fun (or funny) leaf story?  I do.  When I was in high school and my boyfriend lived in Arizona (where he wasn't treated to beautiful fall leaves), I mailed him a box of fall leaves from New York.

Do you have a favorite craft project using leaves?  Wrapping paper? Place mats?

Or, have your just decided to turn over a new leaf and to use today's post as a chance to tell us about it?

Maybe you don't even want to talk about leaves.  Maybe you're allergic and you hate the fact that they make you sneeze.  Maybe you have a different word starting with the letter "L" that makes you think about fall.  If that's the case, tell us about that (maybe you'll hit on the "L" word I have lined up for tomorrow). 

Signing off until tomorrow...

Fall Fest: A is for Acorn

Good morning.

This week we will celebrate many of our favorite things about Fall.  I'm a simple girl, so I thought we would use the letters F-A-L-L-F-E-S-T as a tour guide.  That's the good news.  The bad news is the bus already left and we're a day behind.  We'll use yesterday (the letter "F") to pay tribute to America's favorite fall sport... FOOTBALL.  If your town is anything like ours, there were enough high school homecoming football games this weekend to warrant football's spot on center stage.  We topped the weekend off with the Cowboys losing in overtime to AZLori's team!  The Packers, on the other hand, beat Seattle Seahawks 27-17.

Now to to the letter "A."  I love acorns as a symbol for fall.  I'm not quite sure, why.  Maybe because acorns connect to Oak trees, which connects to leaves, which connects to beautiful fall colors.  Or, maybe because I've never known how to whistle... EXCEPT when using the cap of an acorn.  Whatever the reason... acorns immediately conjure up thoughts of fall. 

The nice thing about acorns is they laden with symbolism.  Below are some examples.  See what you think.

"Great oaks from little acorns grow." - English Proverb.

"The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun.  It's the one that stands in the open where it compelled to struggle for existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun."  - Napoleon Hill

Did you know... In Britain, one tradition has it that if a woman carries an acorn on her person it will delay the aging process and keep her forever young?

And, of course, there's the long standing story called, "The Acorn Planter," written by Brian Cavanaugh.

"In the 1930s a young travler was exploring the French Alps.  He came upon a vast stretch of barren land.  It was desolate.  It was forbidding.  It was ugly.  It was the kind of place you hurry away from.

Then, suddenly, the young traveler stopped dead in his tracks.  In the middle of this vast wasteland was a bent-over old man.  On his back was a sack of acorns.  In his hand was a four-foot length of pipe. 

The man was using the iron pipe to punch holes in the ground.  Then from the sack he would take an acorn and put it in the hole.  Later the old man said to the traveler, "I've planted over 100,000 acorns.  Perhaps only a tenth of them will grow."  The old man's wife and son had died, and this was how he chose to spend his final years.  "I want to do something useful," he said.

Twenty-five years later the now-not-as-young traveler returned to the same desolate area.  What he saw amazed him.  He could not believe his own eyes.  The land was covered with a beautiful forest two miles wide and five miles long.  Birds were singing, animals were playing, and wild flowers perfumed the air.

The traveler stood there recalling the desolation that once was; a beautiful oak forest stood there now - all because someone cared."

There are a few big Oak trees on our block and lots and lots of them at a nearby park.  I think that today the boys and I might gather a container full of acorns.  Maybe then I'll mail them in packages to people whose patience and long hard work, I think has made the world a more beautiful place.

Oh, and maybe I'll slip one in my pocket... just in case there's any truth to the whole bit about delaying-the-aging-process.

How about you?  Do you have someone to whom you could send an acorn?

Or, is there another word beginning with the letter "A" that reminds you of fall?  Let us know.

Special Note:

• Happy Belated Birthday, Layne!  Layne and Heather share the same birthday.  We caught Heather on the front end, but we'll kick the week off wishing Layne well.
  

If You Could...

Before I finish the question, a few important notes.

We don't gather on Sundays, so when a special day falls on a Sunday we either miss it or we celebrate early.  Normally, maybe less than ideal, but through the power and magic of newly established Birthday Eve... no problem at all.

Happy Birthday Eve, Heather! 

10*12*08

10+12+8 = 30.  That won't work.  

Heather is a young friend and hasn't hit 30 yet.

1+0+1+2+8=12!  There it is!  The actual date of Heather's big day.

Confirmation that numbers can say whatever you need!

As was noted a few times on Wednesday, when we whacked the wonderful idea of Birthday Eves, this is a great time to recall all that is notable about the current year, before launching a new one.  So, Heather... here are a few...

• Being offered you great new job at UTA, among a pool of competitive candidates.
  
• Moving your family from Kentucky to Texas and settling in... seemingly effortlessly.
  
• Being nominated for New Professional of the Year, for our professional association.
  
• Being an extraordinary mother to your daughter Lily for another 365 days.
  
• Providing Highlowaha our symbolic connection to the number #218, with your great whack from months ago.

Not too shabby of a year.  Move forward knowing you made the most of last year!

One of Heather's greatest strengths is that she is able to remain calm, even when every thing around her is chaotic.  In fact, It was Heather who, when we worked together, established the great Twelve-Minute Rule - the notion that all we really needed was twelve minutes to meet any important deadline (a topic for another day).

So, it isn't surprising that yesterday, amidst nursing Lily who has pneumonia and preparing for a week long visit from her in-laws, Heather made time to snap this picture of a cute Halloween accessory.  It was, after all, part of yesterday's Free For All activities and Heather is conscientious with a capital "C."

Agreed, the shoes are adorable.  And I especially like that they are only $5.00!

Heather, Nicole, Cristine, Layne, and Cheryl truly played along with yesterday's Free For All and recommended a specific Halloween tricks or treat.  As promised one of you was to receive a Halloween treat in the mail from me.  And the winner is...

Layne!  I love this on two levels.  First, she told us about newly manufactured Candy Corn Hershey Kisses (always a good thing), and second... Layne has never won one of our contests.

I will mail it Monday, Layne.

Speaking of winners...  Nutmeg beat Candy Corn by three votes yesterday (8-5).  Good luck Maureen and Katie.  We'll be interested to see what each of you comes up with.

Finally...  back to "If you could..."  I find I enjoy using Saturdays to pose thoughtful questions about every day life.  Last week it was about working on having a "yes" reflex, as opposed to a well-developed, "no" reflex.  Another week it was about the simplicity of breakfast in bed and another about the fun (and ease) in actually stopping what you are doing and making time to fill the request of a child.

Months ago I received a postcard from a good friend and it has been posted in my office space ever since.  The postcard reads...

If you could open a door to anywhere, where would you go?

Let's use the weekend to think about and answer this question.  I'm really curious to hear responses.

Free For All Friday: Trick and Treats

It's official

H*A*P*P*Y  B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y

AZLori

Let's see if it works again today...

1+0+1+0+0+8 = 10!

or 10+10+8 = 28

One year short of Lori's age... 29, of course!

Lori, hopefully your birthday will be as nice as your Birthday Eve.  It did occur to me yesterday that I never followed through on your great suggestion to share one experience I would love for us to share in the upcoming year.  I'll think big.  Before year's end, I would love us to revisit the 13th floor of Manzanita Hall - together!.  

Having wished Lori a happy birthday eve and a happy birthday, we are going to depart from birthdays for the rest of today, so that we may turn briefly toward Halloween, football, and whatever you might have up your sleeve. 

Hopefully many of you have kept your eyes open over the past week, in search of your favorite Halloween trick, treat, novelty item, baking item, decoration, or whatever else you might have run across.  Provided you did, we can have a fun day sharing our Highlowaha Halloween Favorites.  I for one am excited to see what you've discovered.

Here's my item to get us going...

I found this at Michael's Crafts.  I couldn't get the image any bigger, so if  you are having a hard time discerning what is pictured, they are Halloween party favors.  Though Martha Stewart sells all the supplies necessary in a "kit," there is no kit necessary.  The party favors are simply balls made out of paper mache and filled with small Halloween treats.  Cute, homemade, and inexpensive.  What else could you ask for?

Let me back up.  Using water balloon-sized balloons, fill with air and tie not.  Paper mache the balloons using orange tissue paper and a paper mache' solution.  Paper mache' solution is simply flour and water... don't let anyone try to tell you there's some super secret expensive ingredient.  Note: Be sure to leave a small  hole where treats will be inserted.  Once dry, pop the inner balloon and remove. Fill with fun treats (i.e. bugs, gummy worms, eye ball chocolates, or spider rings).  Cover hole with remaining orange tissue paper and solution.  Using black tissue paper, cut out bats, cats, or Jack-o-Lanterns faces.  Apply using the same paper mache' solution.

Matthew, Jack (that'll be messy)  and I will make these for their classmates and teachers.  If we weren't making them for our preschool friends, I would most certainly make them for friends, colleagues at work, for neighbors, or  for other swim moms who keep me company at the pool.  They're easy, cheap, and notable.  I'm practical, so I also like the fact that you throw the paper mache' ball away when you're done and there's no chatchka to clutter your home.

Now to something for which we actually need a secret ingredient.  Super Bowl Throw Down.  Competing next are Maureen and Katie.  The ingredients we are choosing between this week are...

Nutmeg or Candy Corn      

Place your vote.

Now it's your turn.  Tell me about the best Halloween item you've seen this Halloween season and why it caught your eye.  If you know the price, even better.  The Martha Stewart kit, by the way, is $12.99 -(less 40% if you have your weekly Michael's coupon).  Take the time to share and have your name entered in a drawing to receive a Halloween treat in the mail.

Signing off until tomorrow...

A Most Happy Birthday Eve... Lori

I love it when the planets align like they have today.  This whole week is dedicated to birthdays because, it just so happens, I know someone every day this week who has a birthday.  Most of them are people near and dear to me... except today.

Today, October 9, it just so happens is the birthday of Richard's ex-wife.  I won't even go into the coincidence of us having birthdays two days a part.  Could we really have something in common?  Yikes, if we do... I don't want to know about it.  I've tried and tried over the years to make a friend whose birthday is October 9, but so far... nothing.  Do any of you know someone whose birthday is October 9?  If so, bring them to me and I will start a friendship.  Promise. You can even tell them I'm a frequent package sender.  It's the missing piece of the puzzle.  If I can just lock in a friend for October 9, I can rest easy knowing the week is covered - minus the ex.

Until then, I've figured it out.  We'll celebrate AZLori's birthday today - a day early.  It was Lori who yesterday had the genius idea that perhaps a new birthday tradition could be a formal celebration of the last day of someone's current age, before ringing in their new year.  Loved ones could recall a quality, an experience, an achievement, or something else they especially appreciated about the person from the current year... before moving on to the next.  In my mind, this is like a Birthday Eve.  Lori also suggested loved ones could use "Birthday Eve" to wish for an experience with the birthday boy or girl the following year.  It could be something as simple as, "I wish next year we can have a cupcake picnic."  Or how about, "I wish next year we have could learn at least one new thing about one another."; "share a new hobby."; or "play hookie from our responsibilities one day." 

I just love it.  Peggy, I see a greeting card line.  We could start a movement.  Rather than focusing, exclusively on the birthday boy or girl's year ahead... new year, new presents, new you....  we can use Birthday Eve to sufficiently pay tribute to this year's contributions and achievements.

It is true that most of you have come to know Lori as a committed and creative member of the Highlowaha community.  She is always up for an adventure - even if it means making a trip to the post office - and is frequently responsible for some of our most winning ideas.  What you might not know is she is the mother of three boys (and therefore often serves as my parenting mentor) and ranks right up there with some of the most loyal, thoughtful, and generous people I am privaledged to know.  

Chances are you don't know that Lori and I went to college together at Arizona State.  We celebrated a handful of birthdays while in college - one of us always working to out-do or out-smart the other.  Here's one of my prouder moments...

I literally filled Lori's entire residence hall room with pink and purple balloons (if it wasn't obvious before that I was full of hot air, it ought to be now).  It took me all day and the help of many of the 75 residents living on our floor, but I did it.  What's funny is, that in pulling this picture out of my scrap book, I ran across the caption below the picture.  It read, "Your clue is somewhere in one of these..."  It's vaguely coming back to me now....  Rolled up on a scroll of paper was a clue for Lori, revealing where her present was hidden.  Thing of it is... I can't remember what the present was.  Lori... do you have any idea?

So, yes today maybe you will join me in wishing Lori a "Happy Birthday Eve," but also maybe you will use it to share your "Birthday Most..."  It could be the most outrageous birthday stunt you've ever pulled, your most fun outing, the most memorable gift given or received, most extravagant, most meaningful, most funny, most sentimental, most, most, most....  You get the idea.  

It seems fitting, as Lori is one of my oldest and most cherished friends.

Signing off until tomorrow...

Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday: Birthday Edition

Happy Birthday, Uncle Sam 

(that's mine, not yours)

Today my dad's brother celebrates his 80th birthday

80

on

10-08-08

By the way 10+8+8 = 26

And, 2+6 = 8

Last night we had corn beef and cabbage with cooked carrots and potatoes for dinner.  Why?  Because when my thoughtful, thoughtful, husband and I were dating, I told him of a Kamhi (my maiden name) family tradition.  Each year on our birthdays we got to chose the dinner menu of our choice, regardless of how simple (mom = bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Ellen = Bacon lettuce, and tomato sandwiches) or how elaborate (me = corn beef and cabbage with Grey Poupon mustard) the choice may  have appeared.  Or, no matter how little anyone else in the house liked it (dad = blue fish) or how... wacky (Ann = pancakes and eggs) the request might have seemed.  On your birthday, you and your taste buds ruled the roost.  And so it goes, even 40 years later.

That's not the only family tradition I remember.  The other thing I remember is how you hoped your birthday landed on a school day.  Yes, if you were lucky enough to have your birthday land on a school day, you were lucky enough to score a serving of junk food.

I should stop here to tell you my parents are kind of health food fanatics.  Wheat germ, shredded wheat, nuts, whole grains, lots of fish, broccoli, plain yogurt, apple sauce, and for dessert... fruit cocktail, with an occasional shortbread cookie.  School lunches were precisely this:  One sandwich  - either turkey, ham, or roast beef on wheat bread, cut in half, and neatly placed in wax paper bags; 1 small container of Mott's Apple Juice rolled in tin foil and packed neatly next to the sandwiches; 1 piece of fruit, usually an apple or banana; and a small box of Sun Maid Raisins on top.  All of this was carefully placed in a doubled brown paper bag, with crisp edges, neatly folded over, and our names written in black marker.

Oh, but on your birthday!!!!!  On your birthday it was a whole new ball game.  The sandwich and the fruit remained, but... the apple juice was replaced with a CAN OF COKE and the raisins were replaced with either a Ring Ding or a Twinkie!  All topped off with a small wrapped treat and a happy birthday message.  Yes, life was especially good on your birthday.  

This stroll down memory lane does two things...  One, it reinforces the importance of little things, over and above elaborate gestures, when it comes to being memorable in the lives of someone else.  Two, it makes me wonder what new birthday tradition we can dream up right here at highlowaha.  Today we will be Imagineers.  We will put on our creative thinking caps and develop a brand new birthday tradition so irresistible all will want to adopt it.

We'll use this whack to get us started.  

Find A Pattern.  Poet Alexander Pope: "Order is heav'n's first law.  Much of what is called "intelligence" is our ability to recognize this order in the form of patterns.  We recognize cycles (plankton yields conform to a strict four year boom-and-bust cycle), sequences (the order in which you put on your clothes), processes (how to convert flour, eggs, and milk into waffles), tendencies (cracks in dried mud usually form 120 degree angles), shapes (the stars that make up the constellation Leo), similarities (stellar galaxies and water emptying in a tub spiral in the same way), behaviors (etiquette on a crowded bus), and probabilities (the likelihood of throwing a "seven" at a crap table).  What patterns do you detect?  How can you use them to better understand your idea?

So let's have fun with this.  What fun birthday tradition (kid's or adult) can we create right here on Highlowaha?

Announcements:

• Halloween Activity:  Today's Beeny Family Halloween Activity is... Today we will wrap ourselves like mummies in toilet paper.  And since I've forgotten to post for the past few days... yesterday... play a round of "killer" at the dinner table, and Monday... enjoy a candy apple for dessert.
  
• What Happens in Vegas...  Thanks again for playing along yesterday.  The winners of yesterday's gambling were AZLori (who won a favorite candy bar from each player) and Julie who won a pot of $18.90.  Below are the addresses you need to make good on your antes.  AZLori - 645 S. Doege Street, Gilbert, AZ 85233; and Julie S. - 24 Orchard Place, Apt. 205, Bradford, PA 16701.
  
• Trick or Treat:  Remember, Friday I am hoping we are all going to share a favorite Halloween trick or treat that you've seen in a store.  Maybe a decoration,  a new baking or cooking tool, or a new holiday craft item.  Ideally you will be able to share the item and the price.
  
• Blog-a-thon: Still kickin'
  

Signing off until tomorrow...