Step aside Miss America,

Photo by Staff Sgt. Jessica Barnett, Kansas Adjutant General’s Department Public Affairs Office via Wikimedia Commons

you’ll need a bucket if you want to compete with Miss Uganda …

Photo, http://www.ugandaonline.net

a milk bucket, that is.

This year, hopefuls vying for the title of Miss Uganda had to show their talents in an unusual realm for a beauty pageant—a milking contest. And that’s not all; they also had to handle sheep and goats and answer pertinent questions about agriculture—no tapping cup tricks for these ladies … and no swimsuits.

“Why all this emphasis on farming?” you might ask. The current Ugandan president apparently thought it would be a good way to spotlight agriculture, the country’s economic backbone. “We are here to change the perception that agriculture cannot co-exist with beauty. The contestants have been taken through 25 modules of agriculture and have had their hands dirty at some points to get to know how things are done. The regional winners, together with the overall winner, will champion agricultural projects in the next one year,” said Brenda Nanyonjo, Miss Uganda spokeswoman.

You go, farmgirls!

Who says it? Can you name that character?

I’ve been hearing it from our bathroom while the girls brush their teeth, from the dining room while we eat dinner, hollered from the girls’ bedrooms, and muttered by the front entry while we pile our winter layers on. But who else says it?

Nanny Jane took us girls to the theater last weekend to see a live performance of Anne of Green Gables. We are so lucky to have a great little theater with great little productions in our small town.

It was definitely a cold and rainy November day. A perfect day spent with Anne Shirley and a bag of popcorn. The cast was wonderful and catered to a younger crowd, so the girls loved it.

The girls’ favorite line wasn’t one of Anne’s, but the rather nosy BFF to Marilla Cuthbert (Anne’s adopted Mum), Rachel Lynde.

“If you want my opinion … which I am sure you don’t!” is a perfectly fitting thing for two sisters to tell each other pretty much … constantly.

Hold on to your needles and yarn because science is proving what we farmgirls have known for generations … that crafting is good for the brain! Cooking, sewing, drawing, painting, taking photos, listening to music—any creative endeavor—is beneficial, and its physical effects are similar to those of meditation.

When we’re involved with a craft, we enter a special zone that psychologists refer to as “flow”—that place where we are so focused on the task at hand that we don’t notice hunger or fatigue or the passing of time. Being in a creative flow reduces stress and helps fight inflammation, and when we engage in activities that we find pleasurable, our bodies also release dopamine, nature’s own antidepressant.

And just like playing brain games or working crossword puzzles, crafting can protect us against aging and dementia by working different areas of our brains at the same time, using memory, attention span, visual processing, and problem-solving in tandem.

Whew, all that from a little old embroidery needle. So the next time you’re enjoying a little quilting instead of say, chasing dust bunnies, you can feel a little less guilty knowing you’re taking good care of your health.

We did it! Hubby and I have been quietly training for another half marathon. In 2013, I completed my first half marathon. Becoming a runner has changed my life. It’s a form of meditation, a reminder to appreciate the body I have, to be thankful I am able to run. I certainly don’t do it quickly, but this allows me to enjoy the world around me.

Of course, we were happy to abide by the suggestion to dress in costume. Hubby Lucas, myself, my dad, and my stepmom were maybe not as fast as Batman, but we sure enjoyed the journey!

Our girls were there to cheer us on, and we finished the weekend with a jaunt over to Point Reyes National Seashore. It’s good for the soles of tired feet to soak in the salt water.

And good for the soul to soak in the sounds of the ocean.

Today’s the day … ghosties, ghouls, and goblins beware. It’s a delightfully scary, spine-chilling night for youngsters and the young-at-heart alike, but where did it all begin?

Photo by Lance Cpl. Lisa M. Tourtelot, USMC, via Wikimedia Commons

People have been celebrating All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) since ancient times, as a time to remember the dead, saints (hallows), and martyrs. It’s thought to have evolved from the Celtic holiday of Samhain, marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, and also seen as a bridge between the living world and the world of the dead. Celebrations included costumes and merriment, using humor and ridicule to confront the power of death.

“The Green Forest Fairy Book” by Loretta Ellen Brady, illustrated by Alice B. Preston, 1920.

Traditionally, All Hallows’ Eve was a day to abstain from eating meat. Seasonal dishes like apples, colcannon (potatoes with cabbage and kale), and potato pancakes were served instead. Bobbing for apples, anyone?

Bob Apples by Frederick Morgan (1856-1927)

During the Middle Ages, homemakers in Britain and Ireland would also cook up batches of “soul cakes,” little cakes they filled with sweet spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger along with raisins or currants, and marked with a cross on the top to denote that they were offered as alms. “Soulers,” mostly children and the poor, would go door-to-door, singing …

A soul! a soul! a soul-cake!
Please good Missis, a soul-cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all.

… while saying prayers for the dead. Each little cake they ate represented a soul being freed from Purgatory. Trick or treat!

From a farm on Camp Dix, NJ 1914-1918, by Richard, Flickr.com.

Along with humorous costumes used to counterbalance the thought of death, a darker side of costuming also came into play. Dead souls were thought to wander the land of the living until All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1), and All Hallows’ Eve was thought to be their last chance to wreak vengeance on anyone who had wronged them in life. So those with a fear of retribution also wore costumes and masks to disguise their identities from the wandering spirits. Jack-o’-lanterns (carved pumpkins with candles inside to illuminate their scary faces) were carried to frighten the evil spirits away.

Photo by Valdemar Fishmen via Wikimedia Commons

Whether you’re 9 or 90, a souler or a baker, a trickster or a purveyor of treats, this is the night to scare away the spirits and have yourself a big dose of costumed merriment.

Festively colored and nearly bursting from every grocery-store shelf this time of year, candy corn harkens the arrival of Halloween. But aside from that, what do we really know about this little dentist’s nightmare? I went searching for answers and found out that it’s certainly the candy we love to hate; candy corn has been reported as the least favorite candy by consumers. But ironically, 35 million pounds of the confection are made and sold in the U.S. each year.

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for Lady Gaga. Now, who thought I would ever, ever say that?! I surprise myself sometimes.

I’ll admit I didn’t know much about Lady Gaga’s music—a little out of my wheelhouse, which includes traditional Irish dance music (think Riverdance) and soothing birdsong—but what I did know was that she had become rather infamous for her onstage and red-carpet antics, including showing up to the Grammys in a giant transparent egg carried by men in gold short-shorts and workboots, parading down the carpet in a raw meat dress, and recently having a performance artist vomit green goo on her as she sang a disturbing song called “Swine.”

Call me old-fashioned, but I’d rather watch Ella Fitzgerald standing regally still on stage while singing her heart out on a classic from the Great American Songbook.

Well, blow me over with a feather, but that’s just what Lady Gaga does on her new duets album with legendary crooner Tony Bennett! Carol, my magazine designer and a serious crooners fan, gave me their new CD, Cheek to Cheek, this week, overriding my hesitation about anything Gaga by saying she was sure I’d like it, and I must admit, I immediately found a new appreciation for Gaga!

photo by luigioss via Wikimedia Commons

Who knew she had a wonderful, full, rich voice well-suited to classic tunes like “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Anything Goes”?

Her collaboration with Tony Bennett started back in 2011, when she sang “The Lady Is a Tramp” on his Duets II album. And this unlikely pair formed an immediate bond; not only did they have deep Italian-American roots in common, but Tony recognized a genuine love of jazz under all the crazy trappings of her public persona. “”She is actually a very authentic jazz singer,” he said. “She will turn a phrase, she will make it different, because of the moment that she is singing. And so, what happens is it keeps the songs alive; the interpretations become very intimate and everlasting.”

photo by Tom Beetz via Wikimedia Commons

In a documentary about the making of their CD, Tony said that Lady Gaga, who he sweetly calls “Lady,” actually might be his favorite person to sing with, and that’s saying a lot, since he’s probably sang with just about every wonderful singer in the last 78 years. Because that’s how long Tony Bennett’s been singing publicly. Tony, who recently turned 88, was already singing by age 10, when he performed at the opening of New York City’s Triborough Bridge next to then-mayor La Guardia, who patted him on the head. He’s gone on to enjoy one of the longest singing careers in history, winning 17 Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his 100+ albums. And, at 88, he still sounds wonderful—smooth, soothing, and yes, even sexy. (It doesn’t hurt to know that he’s known as one of music’s nicest guys, as well, and as a passionate—and very good—painter.) Just listen to their rendition of 1947’s “But Beautiful” and see if Tony’s line, “And I’m thinking, if you were mine, I’d never let you go,” brings tears to your eyes, like it did to Lady Gaga during their recording session. (Watch it here.) The CD debuted at number one on the Billboard Chart, making Tony the oldest living artist to earn a number one album in the U.S.

Okay, I’ll admit, I’m kinda gaga for Tony and this version of Gaga!

Have you seen these spooktacular specters billowing around the Internet?

Photo courtesy of Shadow Manor

Photo courtesy of Wacky Archives

Oh, the chills, the thrills!

I love the “Wandering Woman” crafted by blogger Lori Nelson of Shabulous Creations:

Photo by Lori Nelson via Shabulous Creations

Crafted of good ol’ chicken wire (poultry netting), these ghostly figures and free-floating dresses are perfect decorations for frightening farmgirl fun on Halloween. Just imagine hopping on a hayride or wandering through a pumpkin patch at dusk …

Photo by Visitor7 via Wikimedia Commons

When suddenly you spy strange, ethereal figures drifting through a darkening field …

Plowing at Dusk by Leon Bonvin, 1865, via Wikimedia Commons

Gives you the shivers, doesn’t it?

Whether you have enough acreage to host a hayride or are nestled on a tiny townstead frequented by trick-or-treaters, your visitors would be delighted to find fabulous femmes fatales twining though the twilit shadows on Halloween night. And, you have just enough time to rig up a few ghostly gals using the basic technique in this tutorial from P. Allen Smith (leave out the rebar and pumpkin heads for a simpler project):

In a laboratory deep in the heart of Fillmore, California, a mad scientist named Tony Dighera gave a face to a monster pumpkin … literally.

Photo by Tony Dighera

Tony’s monstrous pumpkins are organic, but that’s not the reason they’ll fetch up to $125 apiece. That’s because these pumpkins aren’t carved, they’re grown into little likenesses of their muse, Mr. Frankenstein himself. Tony came up with the idea to create plastic molds that fit around the pumpkin plant when the fruit’s still small.

Photo by Tony Dighera

But his vision wasn’t … small, that is. He grew over 5,500 pumpkins in his first season on his 40-acre organic farm near L.A. For over 30 years, Tony worked as a tractor operator for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. But his real love was farming, and in 2003, he bought his small farm and struggled to make ends meet as an organic farmer. Then, inspired by a photo of a square watermelon grown in Japan, Tony got the idea to grow his vegetables in shapes, starting with square and heart-shaped watermelons, then imprinting logos onto melons for Whole Foods, then trying his hand at creating a monster. And that’s translating into a monster business … Tony sold his entire crop to suppliers for $75 apiece. Let’s see, roughly 5,000 x $75. Monster math, I mean, monster mash.