Saturday, October 30, 2004

Happy Halloween Everybody!

Remember; to set back your clocks tomorrow, Fall back everybody!

I don't know yet, if I'm gonna take my daughter 'trick or treating'. She's got a virus, I took her to the Doctor, and that's what he said she had, he also said he didn't think it was serious. I got the cough syrup that he prescribed, but my daughter says it tastes terrible--YUCK! Every time I give it to her. I just tell her, it tasted worse when I was little. I don't think she believes me though! When I was little, well lets just say it was along time ago, and leave it at that! Some of the meds where still a little primitive, and you still got the occational shot in the butt! If the Doc thought you needed it!

I hope she is better for Halloween, I can use the exercise! I hope it's not foggy!
Aw! The cold, the darkness, with a few headlights and porch lights to see by. And the smell of lit jack-o-lanters to perfume the air! I'm gonna miss it, when she is too old to go 'trick or treating' anymore, which will be any year now!

Well, the Black Cat costume is ready, if she feels better! And she's a little better today. Poor kid, I know she hates being sick,I hate being sick too! I rather keep her home and warm, then get out there and get a chill and get more sick!

I hope, there is a lot of scary movies on TV tomorrow, good ones anyway! My daughter says their funny!? I didn't like them when I was a kid. But, the last few years she has started to love them. Go figure! Kids are never what you expect! And their always surprising you!

Sunday, October 24, 2004

My daughter is driving me crazy!

My daughter is thirteen years old, and is in the seventh grade. That's enough to drive anyone around the bend!

My daughter, was going go the school Holloween dance this year. And at first she wanted to be an Angel, I spent $40.00 on a nice pair of real feathered Angel wings! But, she thought because there so nice, something might happen to them at school.

So, now she wants to be a Cat!

I said O.K. (deep sigh) only if we can do it for not so much money! I'm in the hole for $40!
"Well", she says "I still had the tail from a few years ago." And no she wasn't a cat then exactly, she was "Sakura Card Capture", who had a lot of costume changes in the show(cartoon)! One of my daughters faves, was kinda kitty in a dress costume, she (Sakura) wore on the show at lest once! Which yours truly made by hand, for my daughter!

Well, the tail was a start!

Then came black pants; I rationalized buying these by saying I'll whip stich the tail on, then when Halloween's over I can easily take the tail off and she got another pair of pants to wear.

Then she and I found house slippers big paws; and "Awww! Can I have these, for the Cat costume?"
"Well", I said "seeing you grew so much over the summer, I guess you do need new house slippers."

Then a black sweater. There we got lucky, we found one at Dollar tree for a buck!

The ears, my husband and my daughter found at Rit Aid for a couple of dollars.

Then I said "you know what your costume needs? A bell Cat collar!" So we went to the Halloween super store, that was my stupid idea!

If you never heard of it, it's one of those stores that pop up a month or so, before Halloween and have every costume on the market.

There we found Cat eye glasses, every self-respecting Cat has to have a pair!
And Cat claw gloves! And yes finally the Cat bell collar!
Then when we got home and my daughter opened the package, one of the bells fell off!
Figures! It's not refundable either! Oh, well! I guess I'll just glue gun it on!

Then after all that! I find out that the school isn't even gonna have a Halloween dance! Because there isn't enough money for it!

Well, there might be a costume contest, I guess that would be better, esecially after all the money I spent!

Friday, October 22, 2004

Figs a short story written by Lady Jan

I went shopping with my thirteen year old daughter, the other day. We were going through the produce area, and something stopped me in my tracks! Figs! I snatched a package up, and stood and stared at the figs carefully packaged, that I held tightly in my hot little hands. I don't remember seeing fresh figs in the super market before. Not unless there were dry or made into a cookie. In that moment the world faded away, and I stood alone with my memories:

When I was little and the long hot summer sun, was not burning quite so hot. My Dad drove us over to this old broken down, long forgotten field. I leaned out of the window, as my Dad got out of the car with a paper bag in his hand. I couldn't understand what he wanted here. "What's ya doing Daddy?" I asked, while my younger sister fought for room in the same car window.

"You'll see," he said, as he headed for one lone, old struggeling fig tree, that inspite if everything; disease, neglect, and lack of water, had survived and amazingly had put on fruit. The black tear drop shaped fruit hung singerly, and in small groups all over the tree. My Dad picked as many as he could reach, then when the bag was full, he brought them back to the car.

He came over to our car door, and my sister and I obediantly fell back in to our prober seats. He placed a figs in both my and my sister's little hands, and said with his Tennesse twang, "Here girls, this here's a fig, and this is how you eat it. You break them open, and you eat the insides!" He then demonstrated the eating, and made a slurping noise as he consumed the fruit.

I still remember how the fig felt; still holding the sun's warmth in it, and how it fit my small child's hand. Dark purple to black in color, the fig had a some-what flat bottom, and came to a point on top with a little stem on it. Some of the juices were oozing out in little droplets, advertising the sweetness trapped inside. My sister and I broke open our own figs, and bent to eat them. We looked at eat other "mmmmmm!" I still remember the taste; warm, and sticky, but very sweet, with a kinda nutty flavor.

Dad then looked out across that old field and got this faraway look in his eyes, that said more than anything he was looking not with with his eyes, but with his memory. Then he said "This here orchard, girls, use ta be the biggest fig orchard in the world! It use ta reach from Madera (Ca)all the way ta Fresno(Ca)."

Later after we all ate our fill of the figs, Mom made jam out of the left overs. That way we had a last taste of figs, and a last taste of summer, for at least part of that winter.

When I was grown I had a chance to look up that old orchard, and I thought I found it too. But years later after I found the figs in the super market, and started to write about the figs, I did some research on the web and couldn't find that particular orchard that my Dad spoke of.

There were fig orchards planted in Madera and Fresno area, all the way back to at least 1890. In Madera, not much remains of these orchards today, but In Fresno, there are some fig trees still hanging on, in some for long gotten field. But they are gradually being torn-out, to be replaced with more housing development, and shopping malls. Some of these places will use the name fig, as part of it's name, to keep their rual feel(Like fig garden village).

The good news is; figs are still in Madera County, going East out of town toward the foots hills, are realitivly new fig orchards. There is 8,425 acres of figs grown Madera county. There is a fig advisory board, and for the first time a fig fest, held this past Aug. 14, 2004, in Fresno at the Vinyard farmers market. I'm sorry I missed it!

The figs that had me so mesmerised in the supper market were not the ones I remembered, they were called brown turkey fig. Not the black mission figs I think my Dad's were, nor were they as sweet and sticky as how I remembered either. But at least they were a fig, and had a figgy taste.

My Dad passed away in the wettest September on record in 1982, from colon cancer.

I still miss my Dad.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Lady Jan's first blog

Hi, I'm new to the blog's, so pardon me if I am too silly, or don't get this right!

I chose the name; Lady Jan for my blog name for two reasons; one I couldn't think of anything else, and Jan's my nick-name, and two I like to go to Renaissance festivals, hense the Lady part. And yeah, I got a costume and everything!

The reason I desided to get a blog was to practise my writing. And it is a good way for me to get my practise in-since I have problems with my hands, and I can type easier then I can write long hand.

In the future I intend to write-in or is it blog-in? About I guess-just about anything, and even my stories, that I will be working on in the near future.

Because this is a learning curve for me and I need feed back on my writing; I will welcome, any and all comments that anyone cares to make.

But please no profanity!

I appreciate good values, in the comments and in the laungage that's used.

After all I am a Lady!