The First of the Fall Fruit

If the pomegranate is the original apple in the Garden of Eden, then it is the original fall fruit.

paolos, are you defining "fall" the way I think you are?

Clever.

PAOLOS:  Contrary to every misnomer, every assumption, every unfounded belief and misspoken word, every Legend, and every Fairy Tale told in Sunday School and catechism class ... The Fruit in Question was, a Passion Fruit ....... Why do you think that it has that Name ???????  There is a lot more to it, but this is not the place ... Hit me across the Back Porch if you are curious, and I shall tell you all the rest ....... HINT:  Eve was a Five Foot Nuthin' Chunky Redhead .......

Splendid stuff, Ivan ~ my mind is boggled. The passion fruit (yum yum) is named after its lovely flower, which has a central tri-part of the Holy Trinity, an internal disc of structures representing the 12 apostles - am I boring you? If you are interested, check out passionflower on the net.

Good morning LOT, PAOLOS, HAZEL & IVAN...............I've got nothin', I love cherries. Great day to you all!

Fall fruits ~ run down your arms juicy pears and plums, blackberries, late season rasberries, elderberries, sloes, the late apples - have you ever tasted a real English Cox's Orange Pippin Apple with a chunk of Cheddar Cheese? If not, put it on your list of 50 things to do before you die. They have to be picked in the fall and stored 'till Christmas to mature to an exuberant ripeness.  To check the ripeness, you shake the by apple by your ear - if you hear the pipinside ratttle, then it's good to go. I have a cauldron of blacbkberry and apple and scary quantitiy of sugar bubbling on the stove, recycled glass jars heating in the oven. Lovely jam/sauce for all sorts, but constant source of something to make PBJ butties.

Can somebody find that poem that starts off "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" ?

I love persimmons! Throughout most of Asia, we also enjoy them dried. I believe parts of the West does this too; is it available in America?

There is something spiritual and pure about the pomegranate as it features in many societies. Ivan, I have often wondered why pomengranates are embroidered on the hem of the high priest, what is its significance? I do know that the supposed 613 seeds represent the as-many commandments of the Torah. In my culture, the plant is supposed to have cleansing and healing qualities. In Singapore, when I come home from a funeral wake, mum would have left a little bucket of water with some sprigs of pomengranate leaves outside the gate. I have to wash my face and my forearms, and then toss it away when I am done before entering the home. In fact, at times when repeated ill luck or illness strike, mum would cut some sprigs and order us to shower with it.

Ode to Autumn : John Keats 1795 - 1821

1.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

2.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

3.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

HAZEL Darling..Keats! But I don't know how to attach it.

Happy to declare our Spring is on the way, we dont even wait for the equinox as we declare the first day of spring on the 1st September. I'm no gardener so I lifted this from the web, what our seasonal fruits and vegetables are in Sept and Oct. I'll be having cherries for Christmas

September Seasonal Fruit And Vegetables:
Fruits:
apple – lady williams, cumquat, grapefruit, lemon, mandarins -ellendale – murcot, oranges – blood – seville, papaya, pawpaw, pineapple – smooth leaf, tangelo.

Vegetables:
artichoke, asian greens – bok choy – choy sum – gai laan – wonga bok, asparagus – green – purple, avocados – fuerte – hass – sharwill, beans – broad – green, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower garlic, ginger, leek, lettuce, mushrooms – morel, onions – salad – spring, peas, potato, pumpkin, silverbeet, spinach.

October Seasonal Fruit And Vegetables:
Fruits:
berries – strawberry, cumquat, grapefruit – pink – yellow, lemon, loquat, mango, orange – valencia, papaya, pawpaw, Pineapples – smooth – rough leaf, starfruit.

Vegetables:
artichoke, asian greens – bok choy – choy sum – gai laan – wonga bok, asparagus -green – white – purple, avocados – fuerte – hass – sharwill, beans – broad – green, broccoli, choko, cucumber, garlic, lettuce, onions – salad – spring, peas, silverbeet, spinach, watercress.

SPRING fascinating about the other properties of pomegranate, knew none of the fascinating facts, including the embroidery on the hem of the high priest.

In fact, when it comes to either persimmon or pomegranate, my flavor memory does not kick in in any way. It strikes me that since a cooked plum in any form (pie, cake, preserves, sauce savor or sweet, etc) is my absolute favorite fruit, and

the persimmon is a stone fruit as well, I would probably like it.

Perusing recipes I found my self distracted by a usual frustration--almost all of them called for "1 cup of persimmon pulp." Well how many persimmons is that? Through experience we know 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice is half a lemon, but I never assume that the person using the recipe has cleared room in his or her brain for that info. I try to always say 1 lb of shredded carrots instead of 3 cups, but ANYWAY I am guessing 1 cup of persimmon pulp is probably 2 pieces of fruit. I shall be experimenting and finding out. I am drawn to a Granny style persimmon pudding recipe that I saw.

Pomegranate and seeds are very trendy right now. Pom-tini anyone? Want to make your salad unbearably chic? Pomegranate seeds.

Spring~! My lovely! Thanks. That poem so evokes the mood of autumn. It is excellent, isn't it?

How about this Hazel, poem read with pretty pictures too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09afEvwpge4&feature=related

Autumn is my favourite time of the year. It also mirrors the time of my life I feel, one is past the heady times of spring and summer; there is a sense of calmness and mellowness. How about this poem by Blake? Just as awesome...

To Autumn by William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain'd
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

'The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust'ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather'd clouds strew flowers round her head.

'The spirits of the air live in the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.'
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat,
Then rose, girded himself, and o'er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

Pomegranate Mimosas while people watching and waiting for that second basket of warm pumpkin bread with the cinnamon butter.

Ah, the wonderful abundance!  And nowadays with things being rushed all over the globe, there's not much out of season.  Actually, this is also the season in North America for another "P" fruit, the paw paw.  I only know one spot where they grow, deep in the woods but near a river and on a slightly swampy area (moist, not wading depth).  It's a longish fruit, thin skinned, and looks like a short, stocky banana to which it is related.  The flesh is also whitish and textured a bit like a banana, but the taste is different.  And it is filled with an abundance of seeds, black and shaped like small lima beans.  There's almost as much space dedicated to seeds as to fruit flesh, and that is undoubtedly why they never became a commercial crop.  Quite tastey, though.  I have been told that man's biggest competitor for the paw paw is the racoon.  They love 'em.  Right now, we are still eating watermelon and cantelope.  And the pears and apples seem to be never ending, probably coming in from Latin America or Asia.

I'm with BEBE on this one: never met a persimmon face to face, arms length relationship with the pomegranate but love cherries.

A fresh copy of this cornball piece hung in every elementary classroom every autumn. I doubt that it does anymore with a few disgruntled Native Americans keeping an eye out for what they consider denigrating references.

http://www.tkinter.smig.net/Chicago/InjunSummer/index.htm

It's a good thing the the Washington entry in the NFL is named after a salad potato.

STONEY you are one funny dude.

I've been in the studio for days and taking a break and reading about fruit brings the sad fact that my cupboards are bare, nothing in fridge and I must take some time today to go shopping for food. Been living on frozen soups and crackers as we try to meet our deadline which is fast approaching and still, no finished product for client.
Miss the village and can't wait for free time again. You lucky ones that are retired and can post, know that one unlucky working stiff is really enjoying reading your posts and they are what I rush to when I can take a break from these 18 hour days. Soon I will be done and can enjoy the fruits of summer!

Spring~ you spoil me!
Stoney~ interesting, not my neck of the woods, but did the stuff in the man's pipe make him a bit stonied?
This time of year, churches have a harvest festival service. The offerings these days are challenging to create a lovely display, as people who are not farmers or gardeners bring canned or bottled food. All the produce is distrubuted to needy people in the community.
Do you make corn dollies? Fragile guardian angels of the harvest. Them, and similar things crafted from dried lavender, to hang in your wardrobe to fragrance your clothes and deter the moths. These old traditional crafts are dying out. Sad.

Goodneess!!  We seem to be rushing into fall all of a sudden!!!  Some are still sweltering in summer's temps--altho' ours have moderated finally.  I'm not ready for fall festivals or harvests or colored trees or any of the other things that are autumnal.  I'm all for enjoying the last of the local corn, my tomatoes (if I can keep the squirrels out!), basil, local peaches, warm weather to walk in without heatstroke, sitting on the deck and reading.  I love Fall--it's my very favorite season of the year--but I'm sure not ready to give up on summer yet and welcom it in.    As much as I did enjoy the nostalgic post of Stoney's.

We had a late spring this year and every harvest from peas to peaches has been running three to four weeks behind schedule. Case in point I am canning peaches and pears today with a side of pickling beets. We live too far north for either of todays fruits, but oh what wonderful apples we have. Just to touch on one of the other threads "Eve was framed!".

HAZEL:  With proper Respect and Consideration given to the Chroniclers of the Passion Fruit/Flower, and everything about it ... let me remind you that it was Two Jews standing in that Garden (tho' they were not at that time call'd by that cognomen) and when Ha'Shem gave to Moshe  Cunieform  and Instruct'd him to "Keep the Record of My People, Omitting Nothing ..." Moshe knew that he had to go from Day one thru the Oral Tradition, so he call'd upon his two Resident Experts, the Minor Prophet Jared, and ADAM, himself ...  both of who he spoke with at length, in his writing and production of the First Five Books of Torah/Bible ... Yes, Adam was alive, at that time, and lived a long time thereafter, to reach the age of, 930 years ... and given that people thought a Year was Nine months long, because Human Gestation was Nine Months, and that we are a Year Old when we are born onto the earth, and the three months are re-accounted in Adam's Age, he was still a little over 697 years old ... still a pretty old Geezer ... sitting across the table from Moshe, a cup of wine in hand, regaling Moshe with the doings of the early days ... Known as, Torah Shebikhtav ... the combining of the Oral and Written Traditions, from which we got, Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash, and the basis of Kairite-Judaism ... "Omitting Nothing" He said ... and we don't, regardless of how seemingly insignificant the item might be ... It was a Passion Fruit, so named because of the Passion that Adam felt when he knew that Eve was going to be driven out of the Garden ... He had become quite taken with her Attributes, and committed the Third Error, that comprises the Original Sin, so that he would be thrown out with her ... Adam set the Pattern that all the rest of us have followed ... We spend Nine Months trying to get out of the Hangar, and the rest of our lives trying to get back in ... The more some things change, the more they remain the same ...

STONEY:  Did you never have Persimmon Beer ??? It was a Big Thing with some friends of mine in Milwaukee ... Have you ever been to Goldman's Jewelers, in Milwaukee ??? Good people !!!

Ivan~ Great story.

John Peterman's theme picture could easily pass as a prototype of one of Carmen Miranda's hats.....

IVAN ~
Sadly, no and no. Since the emergence of pale ales and IPAs I have gone mostly in that direction.
If Coors or Bud light were the only available liquids, I would die of thirst.
It's 63°F, winds out to the NE at 12MPH and a deep blue clear and cloudless sky.
A practically perfect day and it could make a guy feel a little guilty thinking about the parched, smoldering or sodden areas.
Interestingly, most of the apples that I have seen while driving around seem quite far from ripe but it is still early and everything else has thrived in our drought less summer.

Hey, PARK4 ~
It's okay, you deserve a rest after coming up huge yesterday… or are you outside lovin' Wisconsin?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-chicagodays-injunsummer-story,0,643335.story
 
 
Hazel, the link above talks about the wonderful story and cartoon "Injun Summer" by John McCutcheon, that appeared in the Chicago Tribune from September 30 1907 until I believe 1962.  That was a sad day, the Sunday that it didn't show up, and especially sad for me because I meant to tear it off and have it framed for my father, who'd loved it for more years than I did.  And I hadn't heard the news:  politicians, trying to curry favor from the increasing unrest in minority groups (primarily African American, but also Native American) pronounced this legendary work of McCutcheon's, which didn't have a mean intention in it - to be racist.
 
It parodied native americans.  And McCutcheon called them "injuns" which was the latest on the list of racial slurs embraced by minorities back in the 1960's.
 
And so this charming bit of Americana went the way of the bonfire.  The article I linked you to says the narrative had outlived its time or some nonsense and that's why the Trib decided to stop printing it, but that is just not true.  It was all about politics - again - like so much of America is all about selling votes, buying votes, and trading votes, and damn the consequences.
 
The University of Illinois had a school "mascot" - Chief Illiniwek.  The Chief attended football games and basketball games, he did actual indian dances, blessing the goal posts - the Chief was a beloved school tradition, he was no joke, but he's no longer because a politician from southern Illinois who never attended the school and didn't know what he was blabbering about,  Sen. Paul Powell, declared the Chief to be the same as McCutheon's "Injun Summer" - a slap in the face of the Native American, a touchdown for prejudice, and sure enough, soon enough, the Chief was no longer.  Gone from the games, gone from the campus. 
Currently, Chief Illiniwek is back on campus, but he is not allowed at University supported events.  I'm hoping that will change, because it's nonsense to say he's a racial slur, just as it's nonsense to say John McCutcheon wrote "injun Summer" as an insult to native americans.
 
America is losing its heritage in the name of political correctness - I'm just giving you a couple examples here.  It's a shame, to my mind, that some folks look so hard for the insult - and if they can't find one, they make one up, just in case.
 
 
Hazel:  is the old man in McCutcheon's Injun Summer  smoking funny stuff ?- I don't think he is, because here in Wisconsin, on Geneva Lake, when the moon is bright and the newly minted autumn night air smells of woodsmoke - if you go down to the lake you'll see it all for yourself.   My husband says it's the fog on the lake, and a trick of light, but we both know it's no trick. 
 
I'll try and get a picture of them on September 30th of this year, I've tried before to no avail - for some reason they don't show up in pictures.  But I'll give it another go.  We'll see what happens. ;)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That enough words for ya, mister?

I thought you wrote that I deserved a break today after "coming apart yesterday" -- that wouldn't have been far from wrong either.

Spring and Hazel - Thanks for the poetry and autumnal themes!
 
 Here, we are not quite ready for the autumn leaves, pumpkins, and scarecrows by the door.
 
Just enjoying the aftermath of Lee's rains as the temps have cooled down into the 60's, our world is greener than ever, and very few leaves are turning yellow yet.
 
It is finally nice 'nuff outside to sit on the porch with a peach cooler  (peach schnapps, vodka, ginger ale, ice- yum!), so having no experience with the topic 's P's, I nominate the fruit of the day to be.....Peach! Our GA peaches have been especially sweet this year, and the SC ones get 5 *'s too!
 
Lady J is on the right track with canning up the fruits to have a taste mid-winter. And I agree with the analysis of Eve's complicity, as she was no doubt just cruising the Eden food mart looking for dinner, saw a new possibility and thought she'd try it before serving it to her hubby..... All good intentions...... oh, but then................ someone mentions that the Road to H**l is paved with those, so we are back to sq.1...   Ah, well, we tried to get her off the hook!
 
Ivan, thanks for the Bible lesson, but methinks thou hast taken liberties in interpretation!! To each his own!  That old apple/passionfruit was probably symbolic, anyway! Make it fit your own inclinations!

Ok, Ivan - Let's lay off blaming the "chunky redheads" for things!! My tribe may be at fault for lots of things, but to take it back to Eve is pretty low!! Do you have pictures??!

Bebe - I'm with you on the cherries! Wonderful ripe cherries this season, too!
 
 Favorite flavor for snowcones, cough drops, Jolly Ranchers, tooth grit at the dental hygienist's,  Cherry  Vanilla ice cream from Blue Bell, and cherry almond Jergen's hand cream! Go, Cherry!!

OK, since we are in a poetry mode, here's the one for September I had to memorize as a child. Lovely images.

HELEN HUNT JACKSON – SEPTEMBER POEM

The goldenrod is yellow,
The corn is turning brown,
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down;

The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun;

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook,
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook;

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes’ sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies–

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.

Park4: Glad to hear that the beloved Chief Illiniwek has returned to UIUC. His dance was always one of the most moving events of University of Illinois life and history.

O dear, my lovelies, who gives a **** whether it was an apple, a passion fruit, a pomegranate  or a persimmon. Fact remains that Eve was tempted by something juicy - and Adam didn't get all hoity-toity and say "No, thanks, I'll give that one a miss." I quite like the idea of Eve being a chunky redhead. There again, maybe God will manifest as a Big Black Momma or a beautiful American Indian Squaw.
Culture confusion - Injun Summer is foreign territory to me. We have - well, had some very non-PC cartoon series in the newspapers that have either been watered down or quietly shelved. I delight in giving a golly wog (O, goodness, wash my mouth out with soapy water!) to a toddler. Most parents react as if I'd handed the kid a loaded revolver. What, pray, is wrong with having a little black friend among your dollies and teddies?

Question that has never popped into my head 'till now - Do we have any black people on the Eye?

Love the autumn poetry you've shared. Love autumn! I hauled out fall decorations last weekend to welcome the season, to ENTICE the season.  Everywhere I look, others seem to be doing the same.  We live about 5 miles from one of our state farmer's markets. Here in North Carolina the varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers offered there are changing, too.  Peaches are giving way to abundant varieties of fresh apples and fragrant grapes. Gold, burgundy, yellow, and rust-colored mums carpet the vendor spaces. Pumpkins have made their first appearance, and the first of cool weather squash and greens.  A cornucopia indeed.  

Have often seen Eve shown as a redhead.  Recently heard someone say that redheads are a bit untamable.  Never said whether Rubinesque or slender made a difference.   Guess that's why the men who put together the Torah blamed our tribe, Mooseloop. 
 
I'm with you Hazel.  Adam could have said no.  But then there's the power of a redhead, and dispite the fact that one, or maybe more than one, person believes Genesis was first written by a woman (The Book of J) all the other contributors were men.
 
 
A few years a go a book came out that portrayed God as a black woman.  I can't remember the title.  Any one else here know it?   

HAZEL:  We had one that I remember, about a year anna half ago ... but he didn't stay long ...
 
While I am attit, Hazel ... Let me disabuse you of the notion that I might have, "Interpreted" ANYthing, from Sacred Scripture ...   Make Book on this ... I  do  NOT  Interpret ... Not only are there several Scriptural Proscriptions AGAINST it, but I am a Frum Jew and was taught better ... I know you were unaware of all that, so No offense taken ... but I'd rather you accused me of molesting my Gerbil ... You must remember, just because you have never heard it before, or seen it before, or that it flies in the face of, "Conventional Wisdom" ....... or just because you don't like it or don't agree with it ... Doesn't mean it isn't True ...  Thats the way of it Hazel, and thats just the way it is .......

MOOSELOOP:  That wasn't blaming ... that was just an incidental fact of the moment ... Personally, I have always liked Chunky Girls .......

Didn't know you had a gerbil, Ivan. This is only topic of the day, not WW3. I have trawled back and can't find anything I have accused you of, but if you feel that any of my comments were an attack on you personally, my apologies. Certainly unintended.

RUSTY:   It was, MOMS MABLY DOES MANHATTAN .......

HAZEL:  My profound apologies ... I am in error ... and misread the By-Line ...
 
It was not You, but another, who has with Good Intentions, I am sure, misjudged me completely ... and now MY faux pas has negated the smarting that I felt, because I KNEW, that you know me better ... The Facts remain the same, I have simply miscued the blame ... Not making excuses, but the one thing that I hate worse than somebody sittin' on my Hat, is being accused of something that I have not done, and that will get my ass up over the dashboard in a heartbeat ... and of course, when Passion drives the moment, mistakes can be made ... Not as seriously as Adam, I made one ...
 
My apologies, again .......

O well, roasted pig's ear left for Floyd on the train. Yummy. I'm off under the duvet. Nos Da, dear people. X

Rusty- Do you remember a play called Steambath?  Slightly  off topic but your comment about the book reminded me of it and how we all look at Heaven differently.

Ivan, didn't know abouot Moms Mably and didn't know there was another book with God as a black woman.  The one I read was about a father seeking the murderer of his daughter.  The man spends time with God, the Holy Ghost and Jesus.   Each one is shown as a very unexpected persona.  This came out about 3 years ago.
 
Steambath sounds familiar, Julia, but all it's doing is ticking my memory right now

                                            Yam What I Yam by Tommy T

Popeye said it I agree

So a truth I will expound

There's a treasure not of gold

Buried in the ground

Most veggies rise up to the sun

you are planted in the deep

Subterranean Mr. Tuber

Greenery starts to creep

There's more than meets the eye

You have shown me potato friend

Its what you turn out to be

Not how you might begin

I praise you underground hero

Big fat orangey yam

I mash you add brown sugar

Serve you with my baked ham

Park4 1.47..I enjoyed your post.  It baffles me - I think many political correctedness actions are in themselves racialistic slurs.  Hazel 3.36 .... well, I'll put my hand up and say at least, I represent the yellow people. BTW, why are white people called white? You are more pink than white. Even with yellow, some of us are slightly reddish yellow (me)   When God was a black woman - Merlin Stone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_God_Was_a_Woman

Found the title: The Shack.  God is a big black woman. 

Thanks Rusty, I think Merlin Stone's Woman-God may be white

Thanks Rusty, I think Merlin Stone's Woman-God may be white

God currently has at least 7 billion identities on the third rock and climbling if one truly believes the body is a temple. As an old character actor that pleases me immensely to have He or She playing me. Act I and II were full of surprises. can't wait for Act III, Curtain Call, and the Cast Party.

SF- You are so logical to point out that color is merely that- color. For that alone to be a basis of one's self worth except in terms of what plummage to wear tastefully against the earth suit backdrop is absurd to me. Dr. King was so right on in his great speech. We must all take it from theory and make it into the reality he envisioned. And I do mean everyone.

SF:  I think white people are called white people because they have the lightest of the skin colors.  Which some of us anyhow look pretty white, at least compared to darker/blacker/browner/olive-er/yellow-er or lest we forget red-der skin colors.  ... As for being pink looking, I beg to differ because most white people have yellow undertones in their skin, which is why cosmetic companies needed to change their color range for caucasions - it was all pink based and that color looks like a mask over white/yellow based skin.  There are true neutral based white skinned people, who have both pink and yellow in equal amounts in their skin, and they can pretty much wear any base tone, although pink is still iffy at best.  ...............  Aren't you glad you asked.  Or, actually you didn't ask, I just answered. FYI: I've got 1/4 Cherokee Indian running through my veins and if you want to call me Injun, I won't mind.  I don't have a bit of red skin tone in my skin though: I have white/yellow skin reflecting the 2/3 of me that's Scandanavian....... Again, aren't you sorry you replied SF?  More than you needed to know, yes?
  

Oh TT: and there I went on about cosmetic companies and undertones in the skin...;) 

MOOSE.....................OOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhh, now you've done it! You are a true cherry lover......yes to snow cones, the fabulous cherry/vanilla ice cream from my youth, the Jergens cherry/ almond lotion; you could seduce someone w/ that scent, cherry lifesavers, cherry clan candies, and the fondly remembered Bonne Bell cherry lip smacker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's good to be a cherry lover. I do believe I will make a cherry crumble sometime for you & STONEY...............and whomever else would like some.................
 
IVAN................we have a cat w/ one eye ( when she showed up w/ her sister her eye was hanging out of the socket & so we had it removed; she's a perpetual blinker!) Her name is Moshe & I will let you figure out why...........clue, a manly crush from childhood..............
 
SPRING.......................thanks for the poems!
 
PARK.......................if you were on any more of a roll you would be a Parkerhouse!!!!!!!!!!! Get it, Parkerhouse; yuck, yuck, yucketty yuck! Speaking of political correctness; at our idiot Wednesday meeting we watched a video on the state code of ethics for educators. Seriously, the state bigwigs on the video were so horrendously looks challenged that I was forced to read my Food & Wine magazine that I bought from a friend's child to help his school. There's only so much stupid I can take. I think I know; "respect other cultures" (duh) & my personal favorite; "Don't do drugs & alcohol on school property." Wow, thanks, I could have lost my job w/ out those tips. It's to the point that I would be embarrassed if any of you wandered into a faculty meeting...................like hari kari embarrassed.............. & then they gave us a placemat w/ "Injun Summer" on it & sent us on our way...................if only............................ (If MOOSE or CAROL wandered in they would roll eyeballs & say, "I know, I know"........................)

Tommy T - and may I add that when the alpha woman Eve was driven naked from the garden, she started the fashion industry. To every cloud, a silver lining.

Park4 - I am glad I asked. It is a true hallmark of the maturity of this website if we can discuss "sensitive" issues without agenda. I think yellow people are not really yellow either - alot of that probably came from the settlement of the people around the Hwang He River or, the Yellow River. I think mixed races are often very beautiful; my colleagues tell me its "hybrid vigour", with one of them wishing his children will marry Chinese (to get less hairy he says .... many Chinese people would prefer to be a little harier!). Incidentally, my dad has greyish blue eyes which has puzzled us for ever. I'm told by the ophthalmologist it's a regressive gene; goodness knows where one of my previous kinsman/kinswoman has been)

Hi Bebe!!

P4 ~
Re: 1:52 PM, that, my dear, was exactly what I look to you for. I throw out a tidbit, you supply the scholarship and erudition… a perfect relationship.

BEEBS ~
Dayan. I didn't think you were that old.

STONEY...........................thanks, I'm going to slay myself now & yes Dayan..............that eyepatch was just really, um, uber seductive...............I was reading VOGUE sometime last year and his daughter is a designer & beautiful! I'm just immature..........................bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha................a cherry crumble for you next weekend you charmer!
 
Speaking of interesting; I heard the manager of the, I believe, San Francisco Giants on the radio coming home.........Bouchee???????????????? they said his name, I mangled his name, BUT.................what a nice voice, really nice..............old school manly and confident and delish.................my, but I perked up from the code of ethics doldrums.................

HEY SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Park - Re: PC folks demanding the removal of Native American mascots....In Atlanta, we once had a "chief" Knock-A-Homa (all in fun and for the cheering on of the Braves baseball team!! There was a platform way out on the edge of the left field wall with a teepee and the chief danced there, like a rain dance, trying to get up a chant and rally for the team!! When they scored, and especially when there was a home run, the mascot danced and chanted a special ditty for the fans!! It was all in fun, and of course, no one thought of it as demeaning our Native Americans.....but....as PC will have it, the PC police demanded the chief's role be removed.....Don't think the Braves have had a winning season since!! :-)
 
Jalopkin/Ivan - I was the one you fussed at about the "interpretation" comment!! It just seemed to me that  the comments about Adam being over 900 years old and the final editorial sentence about the male of the species "getting out - and then always trying to get back in"  might have been above and beyond any Biblical text, or at least not the strictly believable info that most folks would buy. I was kidding you, of course!    But, go ahead and fuss at me when we disagree, I can take it!!
 
Oh, Bebe, I know what you mean about those awful faculty meetings! They talk to you as if you were a kindergartener, then expect you to act like you have 3 PhD's in other cases! Talk about mind-numbing! You do have my complete sympathy....Like you, I'd usually take something to read behind my faculty handbook or gradebook to those confabs. Hang in there...retirement is wonderful!
 
 
 
 Spring et al - On racial color....It is definitely the content of the character,  the  measure of the mind, and the heartiness of the heart that matters in people!!...Not the skin color. There are rascals in all races and creeps in all colors! (My auburn hair came with fair freckled skin, orange eyes - "hazel " for want of a color on the chart to check - and an extremely sensitive sensory system.) As to the eye color, they are not really green, brown, gray, but more like the color of my hair. I once had a boyfriend in high school who wrote poety for the Beatnik coffee house scene. He informed me after a few hour's efforts that I had eyes the color with which nothing rhymed!! Orange. Oh, well....He rhymed some of my other attributes!! That was the son of the Univ. Fla. head football coach, Woodruff....Beatniks and coffee houses seem sooo long ago! Black tights, snapping fingers, candles, and expresso...ah, memories of youth!) I have nothing on persimmons or pomegranates. Good night all, Eye people.....Sleepy time!

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=72103

Bebe--My eyes rolled as I read what you wrote!  My friend who still teaches at my last school called tonight and said they were told today in no uncertain terms that they would act with decorum in in-service meetings and there would be no gossip or sarcasm at the school.  If you gossip or use sarcasm you will be "written up" and warned, if it happens again your employment can/will be terminated.  Yup, good luck with that one, oh great administrator!  Bebes...........you were absolutely correct to read your Food & Wine mag and think of better things!

bebe.... A teacher friend of mine just conveyed a similar encounter with her school administration. You guys should not have to suffer fools. It seems to me that school systems would be better off with a lot fewer administrators and a few good leaders.

I don't know how you put up with it.... I doff my cap your way.

Park.....excellent posts as always.

Persimmons always seemed other worldly to me when looking at the barren trees with the orangish fruit hanging from the branches. Bizarre.
 
Bebe...I LOVE cherries. They are my all time favorite fruit. I spent lots of time in our cherry tree as a child. Our neighborhood diner makes a fabulous cherry crisp. All the things you mentioned awaken my olfactory senses just thinking about them..
 
Mooseloop, I have hazel eyes....they look green when I'm wearing green and blue when I wear blue.
 
SF...love your posts. I have a black niece and nephew. Sadly, my grandparents disowned my older sister when she married her husband. They were together for 25 years, had two beautiful children and now have beautiful grandkids.