As a youngster one of my favorite candies that I gathered up on Halloween was the candy corn. It used to be quite common to find candy corn in every home. Even some businesses put out a candy dish on their reception area counter or tables. I would always be tempted to eat a handful of candy corn. It’s one of my favorite Halloween memories.

I have to admit that I’m not the most creative pumpkin carver on Earth. I have carved pumpkins for many years, but they tend to be average pumpkin faces. You know, the triangle eyes and the toothless evil grin. So I appreciate the talent when someone makes a more clever face, like these. Just a little imagination and effort and you can have a special pumpkin face, too.

The weather has turned much colder now and it should. The end of October is here and we are getting ready for winter.

At home we have begun collecting firewood to take the chill off the early evening hours. Most nights are now down in the 50’s and sometimes in the 40’s. When we have the first night into the 30’s is when I will give up on our little garden.

But my tomato plants are still valiently producing tiny yellow flowers and small green tomatoes. These plants have been amazing producers this year. To have ripe tomatoes on the vine from March to almost November is quite a growing season!

For some reason I heard a little tune by a piano player and composer named David Lanzand I liked it so much I did a search on Google about it. The song is titled Cristofori’s Dream.

According to a short article on David Lanz that I read, Cristofori was the Italian inventor of the piano. Before the piano the instrument was a harpsicord, which had a different sound and many limitations to the range of notes and sounds it could produce. Cristofori made and repaired harpsicords and dreamed of a more sophisticated and elegant instrument, so he invented the piano in his repair shop. Lanz wrote this song to honor Cristofori and I think it is a great story and a wonderful, beautiful song.

Poking around in the closet I came across an interesting find. There was a framed poem about the “Man in the Mirror.” The poem was written in a stylized lettering and layed over a silhoutte of a boy’s face. The poem speaks to the pride one must have in one’s own actions, as you have to face the man in the mirror every day.