Elaine Faber

As I child of the 1950’s, at Halloween, my friends and I dressed up as ghosts, hobos, cowboys or Cinderella. Properly attired, we escaped out the door as soon as the sun went down. Invariably these trips were made alone or in groups of two or three, but without chaperones, since our parents stayed home to dole out the goodies to other trick-or-treaters.

I recall how we tromped through the neighborhood, knocking on doors. Our decorated brown paper bags were soon filled with cookies, cupcakes, oranges and often, homemade fudge or even a candy covered apple. It wasn’t unusual to be invited in to show our costumes to elderly family members.

Overhead, at least the way I remember it, the moon was always big and round and yellow with the face of the Man in the Moon watching benevolently as we tromped the streets.

Halloween these days? Kiddies are still at the door, but there is always a parent hovering on the sidewalk to keep predators and kidnappers at bay. Good-hearted grandmas can’t offer cookies, unwrapped candy or cupcake treats because any such treat would be thrown away, suspected of Ricin poison or a razor blade hidden inside. Children wouldn’t dare enter a neighbor’s house to show their costume to an aged parent, lest the risk of a depraved, perverted felon lurking in a dark hallway.

Even the custom of trick or treating has come into displeasure and is often substituted with private school parties, church carnivals with tailgate trick or treating and prizes for all participants.

Now, you might think that this article is about Halloween customs from yesteryear, but my main subject is not the practices of Halloween. It's actually about that pesky full moon I thought I remembered shining down on every Halloween trek through the neighborhood. Apparently, my memory was faulty.

While considering a particular topic this week, I questioned how often we had a completely full moon on Halloween. Imagine my surprise when Google research reported that the moon is actually completely full on October 31st only four or five times EACH CENTURY! Whoa! Who knew?

The last time we had such a Halloween moon was October 31, 2001, barely six weeks after the attack on the World Trade Center. The next scheduled Halloween FULL moon will occur on October 31, 2020. What an interesting, probably little known fact and a subject that screamed to be shared on Mind Candy Mysteries blog.

Now, if I knew a whit about the sun, moon and stars, rotation of the earth, planets or the galaxy, I could probably give you a reasonable explanation for such a rare occurrence, but since I don’t, you’ll have to do your own Google research to understand the why of it.

Suffice it to say that the occurrence of the first full moon since 1974, directly following the dreadful 911 World Trade Center disaster gave me just the mystery topic I needed for a blog post and a short story, soon to be posted at Kings' River Life online magazine.

Children will celebrate Halloween this year differently than the Halloweens I remember. as one more childhood memory bites the dust. One more pleasure that our grandkids will never experience, like riding my bike alone to the park, playing outside all day and not coming home until dark, or selling lemonade on the corner. These days, parents would be arrested for child endangerment for the former and a City Seller’s Permit is required for the lemonade stand.

But, there will be another full moon on Halloween in just five more years. That’s something to look forward to. October 31, 2020. How shall we celebrate?

Fishing CatsIn the wild, cats are very lean. Fat helps an animal float and keeps them warm in the water. Since cats don't have much fat, they are not natural swimmers and their natural food source consists of small land animals. In addition, since Cat’s fur is dense, it takes a long time to dry, so a cat wants to avoid the discomfort of a soggy coat.

Not so, the Fishing Cat of the South Seas, Prionailurus viverrinus, a breed of feline with webbed paws and a preference for fish. Over the years, they stepped out of their comfort zone hunting land animals, and adapted to their environment−densely vegetated areas near water, rivers and streams in the South Seas islands, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Burma, and China.

 Although they will eat small mammals, they prefer fish. They approach a stream, tap their paw lightly on the water’s surface, mimicking an insect. When a fish is attracted by the movement, they dive into the water and catch the fish. Over the years, their bodies evolved to have partially webbed paws and long claws so they can scoop out fish, frogs or other prey. They swim underwater to stalk ducks and aquatic birds.

 The Fishing Cat ranges from 15 to 25 pounds. Their long, stocky bodies have short legs, a broad head, round ears and a short tail, with black stripes and rows of black spots marking their fur. They usually raise 2-3 kittens in a litter. Their vocalization is like the bark of a dog

 The Fishing Cat is endangered due to loss of habitat and being hunted for food and fur. People have drained wetland areas for farmland and roads where they lived. Pollution has poisoned rivers and streams where they once fed. However, the few in captivity, (see the Smithsonian Zoo video attached) are doing well, so we may yet be able to save this beautiful and unusual cat, one of God’s beautiful creatures.

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 Like the Fishing Cat that stepped beyond his comfort zone as a land animal and found his life enriched when he moved into the uncomfortable water, why don’t you take a chance and move out of your comfort zone? Take on the chairmanship of a committee, learn a new sport like tennis or bungee-jumping (maybe not so much), take a cooking class or volunteer at a local charity. You’ll find your life enriched by your new experiences. What have you done lately to step out of your comfort zone?