[JustAmy]

SMILE
Author: Jason, PEI, Canada

The sun glistens on the water
Making it sparkle and shine
It almost seems alive to me
This touches my heart

I hear a loon cry
All alone in the night
Her song haunts me
This touches my heart

I see a rose growing in a bed of sand
Struggling to survive
It seems to cry out for help to me
This touches my heart

I hold a new born baby in my arms
Opening it's eyes to a strange new world
It's crying for it's mother
This touches my heart.

All of these things touch my heart
But none near as much
As when I see you smile

[MEG33]

Good Morning.I love the poem..I have never heard a loon except on TV and movies.Haunting.

[JustAmy]

Music please .... She'll be Coming Round the Mountain!

She'll Be Riding on a Broomstick

She'll be riding on a broomstick when she comes.
She'll be riding on a broomstick when she comes.
She'll be riding on a broomstick
She'll be riding on a broomstick
She'll be riding on a broomstick when she comes.

We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes.
We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes.
We will warm up the big black kettle
We will warm up the big black kettle
We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes.

She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes.
She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes.
She will cook small toads and spiders
She will cook small toads and spiders
She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes.

We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins.
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes.

--Grandpa Tucker
Copyright ©1999 by Bob Tucker

[The Mayor]

Through prayer, finite man draws upon the power of the infinite God.

[firewalk]

Good morning
beautiful day here
hope it is where you are too

[Calpernia]

Morning. Off to the farm today so the kids can pick pumpkins. Be back later.

A Short History of the Pumpkin

Pumpkins are believed to have originated in North America. Seeds from related plants have been found in Mexico dating back to 7000 to 5500 B.C.

References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into "pompon." The English changed "pompon" to "Pumpion." American colonists changed "pumpion" into "pumpkin."

Native American Indians used pumpkin as a staple in their diets centuries before the pilgrims landed. They also dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. Indians would also roast long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and eat them. When white settlers arrived, they saw the pumpkins grown by the Indians and pumpkin soon became a staple in their diets. As today, early settlers used them in a wide variety of recipes from desserts to stews and soups. The origin of pumpkin pie is thought to have occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and then filled it with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in the hot ashes of a dying fire.

Pumpkins and Halloween

The origin of Halloween dates back at least 3,000 years to the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced "sow-ain"). The festival was held starting at sundown on October 31st and lasted until sundown on November 1st. It was similar to the modern practice of the New Years celebration.

On this magical night, glowing jack-o-lanterns, carved from turnips or gourds, were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones, but also to act as protection against malevolent spirits. Burning lumps of coal were used inside as a source of light, later to be replaced by candles.

Samhain was not the name of a "Lord of the Dead", no historical evidence has ever been found to back this up, it was simply the name of the festival and meant "Summer's End". It was believed that the souls of the dead were closest to this world and was the best time to contact them to say good bye or ask for assistance. It was also a celebration of the harvest. It is still treated as such today by those who practice Wicca or other nature based religions. It has absolutely nothing to do with satan, who was a creation of the Christian church.

When European settlers, particularly the Irish, arrived in America they found the native pumpkin to be larger, easier to carve and seemed the perfect choice for jack-o-lanterns. Halloween didn't really catch on big in this country until the late 1800's and has been celebrated in many ways ever since!

[MeekOneGOP]

Mornin', everybody ! Happy Saturday !

Don't forget to set your clocks BACK one hour tonight !

Have a cup while you FReep !

[Alamo-Girl]

Beautiful! Thank you!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hello everybody.

Summer Shower
By Emily Dickinson

A drop fell on the apple tree,
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.

A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!

The dust replaced in hoisted roads,
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.

The breezes brought dejected lutes,
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fête away.

[JethroHathAWay]

Thankyou for the lovely poem about the loon JA! It made me meditate on loons too! Here is the poem:

Loons at Twilight

It was just a lovers quarrel
but it sent me out to the lake
in winter
the treacherous moon
that spoke of love in summer
was spinning like a silver disc
in a gray-blue sky that promised
to do me injury if I stayed

How could that girl kill me
while professing her love?
I guessed there must be more to the heart
than I ever knew.
I flicked my Marlboro
at the moon and then I heard
geese calling over the wind
"Move on" they seemed to say
but meditating on forgiveness
I saw that they were liars
for after all
they were sleeping
not in the south but on a bed of ice!
Then overhead, I heard a sound
like water falling, like
fairies calling, like icicles crashing
when winter melts away!
A pair of laughing loons
were winging out onto the water --
fearless or clueless, they were uncaring
of life's little storms.
I drove that old red pickum-up
truck back to town.
The AM-PM was open, so
I bought that girl a winter rose
and left it on her car.