Halloween and Pumpkin Seeds

 Yummy Sauteed Pumpkin Seeds

Confession up front that I love Halloween.  I don't love the scary, creepy ghoul part; it's the kids, it's the dress-up, carve pumpkins, party and cook pumpkin seeds part.  For many years we did minimal Halloween with our son.  He's much like his mom in that he doesn't like to be scared and Halloween can be very scary for the wee ones.  Heck, life in it's normalcy can be scary, throw a little skeleton or two and eek, enough already.  Anyway, now that Connor is eleven he's starting to see the fun in it all.  Plus he knows unless there's a costume involved there will be no access to free candy.  I figure I have maybe a couple years before it's all done, at least with any involvement of moi.  So I will enjoy, perhaps for the last time, being the safety ghost, stopping traffic so all the kids can cross safely.  Knowing Connor will pass me a twizzler every now and then when he gets one.

Connor's Costume-the scariest yet!

My own mother loved Halloween too.  I'm sure that's how it's trickled down.  She used to make all my costumes and help with the make-up.  She, however, did not like me to go trick-or-treating so instead she would always host a party at our place.  Looking back I now know why.  We always lived in apartments in sunny Los Angeles.  In spite of the lovely nostalgia of the old days being so much safer.  Like anything in life, that is subjected to the viewer.  We didn't always live in the safest neighborhoods so in her infinite Mom wisdom (single mom wisdom) she kept me as safe as she knew how.  If we lived in the Leave it to Beaver world I'm sure it would have been a much different experience.  Yet, I don't feel the least bit jilted by it all. I have a wonderful memory of making a maze out of appliance boxes she collected.  All the kids had a blast going through the many twists and turns.

So in memory of my mom and to all moms and dads; enjoy the time while you can as it passes so quickly.  Know, we are all creating memories.

Oh, and here is a guaranteed successful recipe for those pumpkin seeds left on the carving table.

SAVORY SWEET PUMPKIN SEEDS
Rinse your seeds thoroughly-get as much slime off as possible ; )
Over Medium heat
In a saute pan melt a tablespoon of butter (I'm sure you could use something lower in fat but not me)
Add your seeds
Sprinkle garlic power, salt and if you like spice, a little cayenne
Constantly stirring as they cook you might hear a pop or two which is aokay, they start to plump up.
As they brown sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar over the top.
Keep your stirring so you mix all the savory sweet together.
The whole process takes about 15 - 20 minutes.
Taste to make sure they are crunchy and cooked through.
Enjoy!
Happy Halloween, one and all.
Be safe!

Fishing and Camping in Lone Pine, California

Yes it's really that beautiful in Lone Pine.  It's off the 395 and I'm told on the way to Mammoth Lake.  Not being a skier I've not been to Mammoth but hear it's quite lovely too.  This was an unusual trip because it wasn't a big group just the family, the three of us.  I felt very responsible because I really pushed for this trip to happen and truth be told I love to fish more than the family but they do like nice scenery.  Also, I kept watching the weather and the weather report kept threatening thunderstorms.  I even telephoned the ranger station up at Mt. Whitney Portal to ask about the weather and rain.  He asked me if I've ever seen rain.  Quite frankly I don't think he was being flippant, it just sounds like that when I say it out loud.  Once I assured the Ranger that indeed I have seen rain I just wanted to know how much rain there may be, we got along just fine.  The weather usually moves through and doesn't linger.  Of course he couldn't commit to how it would be at our campsite.  So we committed and left Friday after picking Connor up from his 1/2 day of school.  BTW that's what started my wheels turning in my head.  Knowing he would have a half day on a Friday and this would be the last chance before it got too cold to camp.

This is the beautiful fishing hole by campsite #39 in Lone Pine.  #39 is a walk-up site which means you cannot reserve it by phone or internet.  In the past when there are a couple of families going someone gets there early to reserve the spot and hopes no one else has it.  We also get spot #40 and #41 as a back-up.  Those you can reserve through recreation.gov.  The sites are $17.00 a night. Another wonderful plus to this site is the bear locker.  It's bigger than all the other sites.

Ahh the bear locker.  Once I was tuned into this beautiful country I was also introduced to the bear locker.  A big pain in the tuchus at first but as I've learned to love this area I realize what a necessity.  It's my sleep aid knowing there's nothing for the big critters to get into and should they visit, hopefully they will just move along.  I always sleep better knowing my martini shaker is okay.  That being said I also sleep with an air horn in the tent and this trip we even brought inside a pan and hammer.  You see bears don't like loud noises.  So knowing I've done all I can outside the tent I do all I can inside.  Which means no food, toiletries or smelly goodies inside the tent.  That's all inside the bear locker.

The bear locker had even more significance as the first thing the camp host said to me was, "we've had a lot of bears so make sure you put everything away".  Not what I wanted to hear.  Thank goodness Connor was not with me.  I did whisper it to Barbara once back at camp.  I could tell it didn't sit well.  Then just as the sun set the camp host came and visited our site.  He's really a heck of a nice guy, Greg,  but he mentioned the information about the bears in front of Connor.  Thank goodness Greg then downplayed the ferocity of bears by showing Connor how goofy they walk.  Once he left.  Connor ate his dinner, sat by the fire and quickly excused himself to bed.  It was only 7pm but he said he felt safer in the tent.  So there sat Barbara and I enjoying the fire and trying not to let paranoia creep in.  Last log out and we too followed Connor's lead.  Needless to say we were closed up tighter than a gnat's arse.

Well rested we all woke very early the next day.  All in one piece and no bear snorts or growls.  Although there was a thunder shower in the middle of the night which I must say was quite wonderful to experience.  Instead of seeing the cloud you heard the cloud pass over head.  First gentle rain fell on the fly, then a little harder and then it was quite loud.  That lasted several minutes and then as it came it left in the same pattern.  There was absolute quiet and the sky lit up like a million flash bulbs. I counted and then the clap came at 5.  We had about 5 strikes but they were going further and further away.  As you know from previous posts, Connor sleeps through everything.

The best fishing is the early morning and late afternoon.  Although truth be told there were so many fish you could have pulled them out all day. Yet, they were only biting on worms, the fireballs didn't work as well.  By 8:30 in the a.m. we had caught about 6 fish and let the smaller ones go.  That was quite the reward.  If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be a. loving to fish b. putting worms on a hook and c. cleaning fish, I would have told you fat chance as I'm not that earthy of a gal.  It's amazing what having a child will do with your priorities.  I do love to fish, the worm on a hook you get used to but I don't think I'll ever get used to cleaning fish.  For me, I believe it's important to clean what you catch to appreciate the life cycle but... to make it through the cleaning I kept thanking each fish before I started the deed. We are so far removed from the food source we forget where it once came.  Also, I've never caught so many fish that I've had to clean at once.  Of course, no help from the family they were looking out for bears : )

It started raining mid-day and even though I was protected by the canopy of trees by the stream I was starting to get wet.  So back up to the campsite where I found the family reading in the tent.  Sweet.  I grabbed a pack of playing cards and joined them.  They read their books and I played a little solitaire.  I realize not often do we just stop or slow down enough to be.  I hadn't played solitaire with real cards in a very long time.  We were safe and dry, listening to the weather.  Each stopping every now then to share a bit of the story or thought of the day.  It was the connection I craved and the craving was satiated.

We left the next day.  We had Trout Almondine in our tummies and some for home.  Memories of clouds passing at night, bears that never came and stories for our next campfire.