Dave Richards for October 31st
--Tonight is Halloween. Thank goodness the weather in our area will be good enough for the kids to have some fun safely. Can you imagine if the weather we had Sunday night was scheduled for this night?
I remember when I was growing up you were sure to never get sick on October 31st. If you didn’t go to school, you couldn’t go out Trick-Or-Treating, right? And if the weather was bad……….well, you never got a “make-up” day for Halloween. If you missed it for any reason, you couldn’t go out the next night, remember?
The number of years you could go out on Halloween were definitely numbered, too. Maybe seven years, if you were lucky. And, if you had a bunch of younger siblings, as I did, some of those “golden years” were spent shepherding your brothers and sisters around. It just wasn’t the same, you know.
Despite the shortcomings, Halloween was always a hit. I mean, for Christmas you had to be on your best behavior or you were doomed. But for Halloween you could be ‘a little naughty’ and it was all part of the fun.
Today we see more adults enjoying Halloween than when I was growing up, but for different reasons, of course. Except for a peanut butter cup or two, adults generally are not in it for the candy. They’re in it for the fun. Some for the costumes. Some for the slight misbehavior. And some are still in it for the fun of watching the kids have fun.
Whatever your reason, keep it safe but let your hair down a bit and “howl” tonight. Just remember tomorrow is a day of obligation for Catholics. I always thought that put the whole thing into balance, somehow.
--The gales of November have begun. And with them, the winter weather patterns. In the summertime, just before a storm hits the wind picks up, the temperature drops, and just after the storm is over the wind is still. In a winter storm pattern in New England the storm starts with little fanfare, the temperature rises during the storm, and when the storm ends the wind picks up and the temperature drops. The storm we saw this past Sunday night, even though it formed in the tropics, played out like a winter storm. So, according to Mother Nature (who never did learn to read a calendar) it is now Winter.
It is at this time of year that the skies are often in turmoil, as the adjustment is made by the northern latitudes of our planet. This is the reason November is my least favorite weather month. It is also the reason that tomorrow I start saying my favorite winter phrase…….”C’mon April”!
--Speaking of this time of year, those of us who prefer to decorate a live tree for our Christmastime celebration will need to ante-up about ten percent more doe this year. The story goes that a lot of former tree farmers have left the business leaving too few farmers to meet the demand. The fir trees we traditionally use at this time of year grow at just one speed, you cannot rush them. So, fewer farmers mean fewer trees and fewer trees means higher prices. Say, I wonder if we could all switch to bamboo trees for Christmastime? They grow incredibly fast and you can grow six of them in the same space it takes for a fir tree. Not sure it would catch on in New England, though.
--Before I go this week I wanted to say a word about some troubling news I’ve been reading on the wire from Spain. You don’t often hear of trouble in that country, at least not in the recent past, but they have big time trouble brewing there now. The people in the northeast province of Catalonia have voted in their parliament to press for independence from Spain. They did this as the Spanish Senate approved emergency measures designed to take control of the area and remove the leaders of the independence movement. Over seven million people reside in Catalonia. That’s a lot of people.
I hope you will join me in a prayer that this disagreement somehow avoids bloodshed.
--That’s what I think. What do you think? Comments to: dave@onworldwide.com or postal mail to Dave Richards, WOON Radio, 985 Park Avenue, Woonsocket, RI 02895-6332.
Thanks for reading!
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