Sparks Ignites

When Halloween draws near every year, I think of my grandmother.   It wasn’t that she was a cackling, hump-backed witch or shaped like a fat pumpkin. My grandmother was a small woman with graying hair and bifocals, a typical grandmother image. She was “Nana” to the family. There were no casting of spells or broom riding over the harvest moon. That’s not why she comes to mind. It’s the fact that she made Halloween a special holiday for me.   You see, in my neighborhood my grandmother made me a costume connoisseur. Every October, all my classmates rushed to Woolworths to select their Halloween garb. You might remember those rows of costumes with the brightly colored masks peering from the cellophane window on the box lid.   These types of costumes make every child look like a cardboard cutout of their favorite cartoon character. If I wanted to be Batman, I wanted a real utility belt not a stamped on flammable material version. Remember this was the 60’...

Common courtesy has died. Yes, the milk of human kindness has soured, curdled and is now being sold as Greek Yogurt at a supermarket near you. The propensity for humans to look out for one another has failed. It seems to be everyone for themselves in this Twitter, Google, Android, iPhone World. “Get out of my way, you are standing in my hotspot,” seems to the prevailing mantra. People are too busy in their own electronic paradise to give much thought to anyone they aren’t texting, talking or tweeting to. Crowd’s march like drones with their heads down enraptured by the screen of their cell phone, as they stumble over curbs and into oncoming traffic.   Recently, there was a woman that made it on the news for falling into a mall fountain, because she wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking. Can there be anything that important you need to text that makes you oblivious to your surroundings? Unless your sending me a text that informs...

Fall has arrived. The autumnal equinox marks when daylight hours grow shorter, and the tree’s foliage changes color as leaves are shed. There is often a comparison of nature’s four seasons to the aging process in life.   Spring bringing new life, budding growth, summer bringing the heat of passion, the fertile freshness of youth, the fall when things begin to wither, as age creeps in, and winter arrives as all things die and lie barren. I have always been a big fan of autumn and winter. I love the colorful leaves that glow in vibrant orange, red and gold. The thought of harvest time arriving, with pumpkins and apples let me know that Halloween will soon be here. That means that holiday season is on its way, with Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations to plan.   Just something about hayrides and apple cider make me smile. Although, I don’t want to go on a hayride, I can still be happy about them. Who wants to sit in pile of dirty straw? The thought o...