Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

This is my favorite time of the year for pumpkins: not on Halloween, when the orange gourds blaze in menacing glory. I like the look of pumpkins that linger a few weeks later on. They’ve dried out and shrunk inward upon themselves a bit, adding a hint of pathos. The mouths of the formerly toothsome pumpkins curl inward, making the Jack O’ Lanterns resemble senior citizens looking out and yelling at all the kids to get off their lawn.

They’ll be compost soon, completely unrecognizable. Pumpkins make great compost material, right up there with cucumbers and spinach in their decomposing glory. But why toss ‘em right away? Let ‘em linger, just at the time when the growth of the past summer is finally petering out. My challenge each year is to leave the pumpkins out long enough to really get some character, but to get them before the bottoms rot out and they fall off the shovel and all over the place. I didn’t move them in time last year. Let’s see what happens this season.

How late do you leave out your pumpkins, and what is their final destination?

Swine flu vaccine slowly trickles in, reads the headline of an article from the San Francisco.

I’m picturing a room full of people, all afraid of the H1N1 virus, waiting in a room all together, with IV drips in their arms, looking at the clock, waiting.

I have to share a secret urge that has yet to be fulfilled. For the last two weeks I have had a burning desire to go to a Town Hall Meeting on health care, and in the middle of a particularly furious debate, stand up and shout, What about Naomi?

PBS of the 1970s, I salute you.

Oh no they didn’t!

Keep on screwin’ her, Sammy.

Look at what’s going on in seemingly sedate Central NY:

Whoda thunk? The “if you need a ride” note at the top adds a nice touch.

Are modern pirates still bucklers of swashes?

Usually, you know, he wears a suit with the sleeves down. But in this picture you can see his forearms and everything. I wonder if he will get a burn that way. Probably keeping the sleeves down at most outdoor events is a good idea.