all hallow's eve . . .

A soul cake is a small round cake which is traditionally made for All Saints Day or All Souls' Day to celebrate the dead. The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, were given out to soulers (mainly consisting of children and the poor) who would go from door to door on Halloween singing and saying prayers for the dead. Each cake eaten would represent a soul being freed from Purgatory. The practice of giving and eating soul cakes is often seen as the origin of modern trick-or-treating. In Lancashire and in the North-east of England they were also known as Harcakes.

The 1891 song contains the following lyrics:

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.

In 1963, the American folk group Peter, Paul and Mary recorded a version of this traditional song, titled "A' Soalin," whose verses include the following:

Soul, soul, a soul cake!
I pray thee, good missus, a soul cake!
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for Him what made us all!
Soul cake, soul cake, please good missus, 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, and three for Him who made us all.

Should FEMA be a political issue? . . .

Yes, of course. It is a political issue . . . Republicans want to send the responsibility back to the states . . . Democrats want the responsibility to be with the larger community . . . Yeh, it's a political issue, the difference between libertarian "I got mine, screw you" and the larger sense of community notions that we're all in this together . . . All it takes for a libertarian to become a short-term community-minded citizen, is a little need for help (check out Ayn Rand's history and Republican governors' conversions when their states have natural disasters) . . . but when the need is gone, it's back to the "I got mine, screw you" philosophy . . .

'Spiegel im Spiegel' . . .

Ry Cooder and David Lindley . . .

4-0

To win one World Series in this era of parity and expanded playoffs is hard. Two in three years bespeaks a continuity of success rarely acheived.

The Giants are the second team to accomplish the feat since the playoff field was doubled from four to eight teams in 1995. The other was the New York Yankees, who won three in a row from 1998 to 2000. The Giants, Yankees, Marlins, Cardinals and Red Sox have won multiple titles in the wild-card era.

The Giants also got hot at the right time, as many title teams do. They finished their run to the championship with seven straight wins. Their longest winning streak during the regular season was six.

And a group of players who spoke so often about "team" put their final rally where their mouths were.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/SF-Giants-win-World-Series-3989059.php#ixzz2AgXTr8DB

Colcannon

Colcannon is traditionally made from mashed potatoes and kale (or cabbage), with scallions, butter, salt and pepper added. It can contain other ingredients such as milk, cream, leeks, onions and chives. There are many regional variations of this dish. It is often eaten with boiled ham or Irish bacon. At one time it was a cheap, year-round staple food, though nowadays it is usually eaten in autumn/winter, when kale comes into season. An old Irish Halloween tradition is to serve colcannon with a ring and a thimble hidden in the fluffy green-flecked dish. Prizes of small coins such as threepenny or sixpenny bits were also concealed in it.

The song "Colcannon", also called "The Skillet Pot", is a traditional Irish song that has been recorded by many artists, including Mary Black. It begins:

"Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?
With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?"

The chorus:

"Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry.
Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot."

3-0

Armed and accelerating, the San Francisco Giants became the first team to throw consecutive World Series shutouts in nearly a half-century, blanking Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on a chilly Saturday night for a commanding 3-0 lead.

Hunter Pence, who scored one run and drove in the other during a 2-0 win in Game 2, drew a four-pitch walk to begin the second. It was a telling sign - Sanchez had not walked a right-handed batter since August.

Pence stole second, took third on a wild pitch and, with the Tigers' infield playing in, trotted home when Blanco tripled off the wall in right. Crawford looped an RBI single with two outs for a 2-0 lead, and Rick Porcello began warming up in the Detroit bullpen.

2-0

Hunter Pence: "We played good small ball today. We played a great game of baseball, had outstanding pitching and great defense and we found a way to get it done."

blue note in A major . . .

just so you know that I know . . . for A . . . based on the latest polls, color NV and OH blue for now . . . if the blue doesn't fade, that colors Obama President, regardless of VA, FL, NC, CO, IA and NH . . .

Sunny, shelter pup from Houston on boards in NYC . . .

I haven't seen the headline in the Chronicle, "Dog from Houston makes debut on Broadway" but then maybe the Chronicle doesn't do that type of story . . . too busy endorsing Romney and losing my online readership (long ago lost me as paying member of the home delivery paper) . . . long story . . . never mind . . .

The dog playing Sandy in the current revival of "Annie" on Broadway, is none other than the Houston native, Sunny . . . According to the current (October 22, 2012) copy of The New Yorker, Sunny was a pick of the litter (and I continue to read The New Yorker even though they've just recent endorsed Obama . . . go figure. She was first choice among three applicants:

... It came down to three: Sunny (who came from a shelter in Houston), Casey (Nashville), and a dog from Indiana named Bart Star ... Bart Star was eliminated. ... Sunny won top billing over Case partly because of the mournful black rings around her eyes - the perfect Depression mutt.

Bart Star was male and a little too easily aroused to be a good choice as a Depression mutt.