Ella the Exterminator

"Say, did you know your computer has a bug?"

"I'll catch you yet, you wascally wabbit--er bug!"

(Excuse for not posting #341:  too much help on the computer.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cupid has nothing on Melon-- except perhaps a bow and arrows, but Melon's human discourages the use of weaponry around the house.  The Rotund One volunteers to polish off any leftover candy, cookies or other tasty declarations of love you might want to send his way.

Introducing. . . . me

I don't really have a name, not yet.  I was just cruising the neighborhood and found this neat house.  After a major charm offensive, I got a bed on a porch and ten square meals a day.  The lady is a real pushover.  There's this big fat pillow-like animal who howls at me.  We've tusseled a time or two.  I don't think he's really a cat, but I didn't know marshmallows had claws.  Whatever.  I've learned if I come to one door and tease the Marshmallow into throwing himself at the glass, I get fed again at the other door. 

The lady's saying something about getting me tutored, but I think I know enough already.

She's also talking about a Rebecca person to me.  I don't know anyone by that name, but if she's as much of a easy touch as this woman, I'm ready to make her acquaintance. 

Happy Chinese New Year on February 3!

a

So, what treats do we get for Chinese New Year?

Happy Year of the Rabbit

From Melon, Jeanne & the Horde

Looking for the door into summer. . .

"Okay, the joke's over.  Turn the heat on out here!"

(Note:  Melon spends 90% of his time indoors, but occasionally likes to sit on the front porch and sidewalk.  With the advent of bad weather, he steps out and turns right around to come back inside without moving more than a few inches from the door.)

Happy Mew Year!

Are you ready for New Year's?  I don't mean champagne and noisemakers, handy things though they are, but the stuff to make for a lucky new year.  (Note:  the noisemakers are very useful in scaring off bad fortune, but you have to be sure and be very loud at midnight on New Year's Eve to achieve results.  If you are too loud and the neighbors object, you may find you have actually summoned ill-fortune-- unless the police officer who comes calling is a dark haired man.  But that's a whole 'nother set of superstitions.  We'll get to them later.)

The traditional lucky foods for this area are black-eyed peas, cabbage and hog jowls.  I tend to do a bit of substitution. Black-eyed peas aren't my favorites, so I just add some to a bean soup and use fatback instead of jowls.  I throw in a few carrots, since they're considered lucky in some places, add the cabbage and make cornbread.  Yum! In some places, other greens such as collards take the place of cabbage.

Of course, the next question is, "WHY these things?" Symbolism. Pork has long been a sign of good eating-- "high off the hog" as it were. Some say that because pigs root in a forward motion, it means you will gain in the new year.  Eating chicken is said to be unlucky, because chickens scratch in a backward motion. (I think the chickens have been taking psychology notes from the Chik-Fil-A cows.)  Beans are considered lucky in many places, because they look a bit like coins. Blackeyed peas are usually the bean of choice for the American South, though the form may vary a bit.  (In Louisiana, they're the main ingredient in "hoppin' john,' along with rice and pork.  Other ingredients may vary.) Carrots cut into rounds also look like coins, and cabbage is said to look like paper money.  "Cabbage" was a slang word for money at one time.

Remember the dark haired man?  In Scotland and a few other places, the first person to cross the thresh hold in the new year foretells the future of the household. This is called "First Footing."  The best person is a good looking dark haired man, preferably one bearing gifts. (That would seem to be a no-brainer.) A fair-haired woman isn't a good omen. Some folks have been known to stage a first footing by having aforementioned dark haired man stationed outside the house so he can enter just after midnight, thus assuring good luck.

There are a host of other superstitions.  One of my favorite sites has a good list; just click here:  http://www.snopes.com/holidays/newyears/beliefs.asp

And if you don't read this until after New Year's and do everything wrong, then just wait until February 3 and you can try to set things right.  That's the date of the lunar New Year for 2011 as celebrated in many countries, including China, Japan and Korea.  It's the Year of the Rabbit-- or, in some places, the Cat.  Guess which version I like better!

Melon:  Party Animal.

Happy Mew Year!

Merry Christmas!

"Ho Ho Ho!  Where are the milk and cookies?"