Aren’t we lucky to have this unusual warm fall weather? Every day saves a little on the fuel which apparently is going to take a bigger bite than ever from our winter budgets.

A number of years ago, during part of the “back to the land” movement, wood burning stoves were rediscovered and were talked about and compared, much in the same way that people compare vehicles.

I think burning wood went out of fashion when people discovered preparation of the fuel was real work. The glow and odor of wood burning is very attractive but felling the trees, limbing, chopping, drying – it all takes time and a lot of hard work. We’re a fast moving society, no time for anything which involves investment of time and actual physical labor. And it shows.

When I look at 100-year-old pictures at the historical society, I don’t see many fat (obese?) people. I think all those lanky kids probably spent hours wielding an ax or saw, and carrying piles of split wood to the woodbox.

Maybe next year’s farmers market could last a little longer and vendors could sell firewood, fall flowers and fall produce. Surely someone has leftover pumpkins. I haven’t actually seen many jack-o’-lanterns this year. I always wondered when and where that practice started and went to my trusty source, the Internet, for some research.

Originally, according to Wikipedia, the term, Jack-o’-Lantern meant a night watchman, who was called Jackie of the lantern and was a familiar term before the mid-17th century.

An old Irish legend tells about a man named Jack, who tried to trick the Devil in a variety of ways. When he realized he had led a sinful life and would never go to heaven, he gave his soul to the Devil – and was also barred from hell. Now with nowhere to go, Jack asked the Devil how he would see where to go and the Devil tossed him an ember which Jack put into a carved out turnip he was carrying and endlessly wandered the earth.

Halloween came from the Celts of Ireland, England and Scotland, who celebrated a pagan festival marking the end of harvest season, called Samhain. Immigrants from Great Britain in the 19th century brought remnants of this celebration with them to America as well as to other countries where they settled.

When I was young, long before Windham had a police force, the day after Halloween would mean the local law enforcement people (like Peanut Bailey, Bert Jorgensen and Earl Boyden) would be muttering about the mess on Main Street in South Windham village where “some kids” had piled up some tires and set them on fire. That was about the worst thing that ever happened in Windham on Halloween. Oh, someone’s old outhouse might be tipped over and mailboxes knocked down (or filled with trash), but it was almost to be expected. And I don’t think anyone really got hurt. One thing for sure, we never had any such goings on as contaminating the trick or treat bounty.

I’ll never forget the awakening I had to modern times when about 30 years ago, my little son dragged his bag of Halloween candy onto the kitchen table and dumped it out. I asked him if he was going to have one of the apples or a candy bar, but he said he couldn’t eat any of it until I had checked it for razor blades. He said this so matter-of-factly, that itself was as much of a shock as the very idea of doing such a thing! The kids had been warned in school about being careful. But this mom, for one, was totally unaware. I had a lot to learn.

Today, most of the trick or treat kids will be children of families well-known. I guess that in housing developments there are still groups making the rounds. It appears that organized events are the way to go in Halloween of this modern age.

See you next week.