tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post4011037210082305728..comments2024-02-28T22:43:49.960+00:00Comments on Asia Vu: Autumn Ideals, Seoul-StyleMsCarolinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-56011591508653871282011-09-26T02:18:31.532+01:002011-09-26T02:18:31.532+01:00Too late to be long and insightful again like my l...Too late to be long and insightful again like my lost post. Will try during the week to repost! Think it will work this time...the name/URL option that I use looks different.Karennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-21715645919430719462011-09-25T07:44:07.382+01:002011-09-25T07:44:07.382+01:00I'm glad you liked AZ. I think it's the mo...I'm glad you liked AZ. I think it's the most beautiful place on the face of the earth but I'm just a little biased since I'm born here. LOL My father called PA "Back East" but my mother called it "Back Home." I never heard my father refer to PA as home until 2000. As far as scary Bach fugues, did the man write anything that WASN'T scary? I'm not a big fan other than perhaps the Brandenburg Concertos. LOLWilmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03943837947695508102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-50152946208193882762011-09-25T06:56:55.702+01:002011-09-25T06:56:55.702+01:00No problem, Wilma: the 'Michael's Syndrom...No problem, Wilma: the 'Michael's Syndrome' is one that gets to all of us. As far as people coming to AZ and being unhappy that it's not Back East (that's how everyone referred to it), I didn't run across many of them, but when I did, I thought the same thing you did: time to head home. We loved AZ wholeheartedly and hope to retire there someday. My mom didn't decorate for Halloween except for pumpkins, either, but she had some nice harvesty decorations she took out in November; she was an elementary school teacher, so she did have a little stock of Halloween activities she did with the kids. I did the same for my German students: nothing actually 'Halloweeny', but every year they would have an All Saints'Day assignment where they did a brief research project on a famous German speaker and had to create a tombstone for him/her. Culminating activity was on the school day closest to Halloween; I turned off the lights, played scary Bach fugues, and the students had to 'wander in the graveyard,' reading tombstones and gathering facts about the famous people.MsCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-34994349938332886512011-09-25T06:04:06.078+01:002011-09-25T06:04:06.078+01:00I hear you, Carolyne. You did convey that. I went ...I hear you, Carolyne. You did convey that. I went off on a tangent--I'm bad that way. Sorry. :( I never really thought too much about fall, probably because we didn't have it. I was more concerned about Rex Allen Days and would I be able to find a tortoise for the derby. I went trick-or-treating a few times and there was a carnival in the community center and I won a teddy bear in the costume contest when I was four. Fourth grade was the last time I dressed up and third grade was the last time I went trick-or-treating. We didn't decorate at my house other than to make a jack-o-lantern and set it outside. That was it. My mother dressed as a witch for school though. She also read Old Black Witch to each class every year and then while they were doing their work she played that album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. LOLWilmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03943837947695508102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-15803652237691580632011-09-25T05:27:33.173+01:002011-09-25T05:27:33.173+01:00@NVG: I bet they do Autumn beautifully on Long Is...@NVG: I bet they do Autumn beautifully on Long Island; my parents are both from the Northeast (Boston and Canadian Maritimes)so I heard a lot growing up about the wonders of Autumn in New England, and did experience it during visits when we were living in the US. We never trick-or-treated in Bangkok or Taipei that I can remember, unless we did something through the school; we usually had a Halloween party at school, but that was it, not a big deal at all. Seems like it's gotten much more commercial in the last few years.MsCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-25407255145654564042011-09-25T05:10:18.211+01:002011-09-25T05:10:18.211+01:00@Flora: I had no idea we'd corrupted British ...@Flora: I had no idea we'd corrupted British culture so much - apologies! It does seem kind of strange to hype the idea of trick-or-treating when there's no where to actually do it. I love the idea of a bonfire for Guy Fawkes - I've only read about it - and a bonfire seems completely appropriate for that time of year, as does crunching through an autumnal wood and cooking warm, comforting things instead of grilling out and making salads.MsCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-43659480793903691972011-09-25T05:03:15.570+01:002011-09-25T05:03:15.570+01:00@Wilma: yes, things certainly are over the top at ...@Wilma: yes, things certainly are over the top at Michael's. I don't remember anyone ever complaining about the lack of an East-Coast type Fall in Tempe; we were all very happy to be living there without expecting harvest wreaths or whatever. We did carve pumpkins, but we never put them out until Halloween - otherwise they rotted too fast in the heat (and besides, they attracted javalinas.) However, what I miss here in Korea was the sense of all of us, as a culture, marking the transition between seasons in a predictable, familiar way. That's what I was trying to convey in my post, the fact that being in a foreign country means you're missing those things, that -for you- mark a certain time of year, like listening to the Corona del Sol marching band practice before school, or kids bringing home those turkeys they make out of their handprints, or even the ridiculous amount of Halloween costumes littering the aisles.MsCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-66625995127572346392011-09-25T02:53:10.808+01:002011-09-25T02:53:10.808+01:00Fall is my absolute favourite season in America. I...Fall is my absolute favourite season in America. I love the whole pumpkins, apples, hayrides and the rest of it culture, even if I have found the whole cult of Halloween completely over the top both years I've lived here. Autumn in England just isn't the same; yes, we have apples and bonfires (I do miss Guy Fawkes; nothing like that here) but we don't make such a huge song and dance about it, and Halloween just isn't that big a deal. Growing up in Hong Kong, there was a little more American influence, so we did go trick or treating. But here it is huge; almost bigger than Christmas, I would say.nappy valley girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788949037047084412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-82557074557708047172011-09-25T02:17:06.378+01:002011-09-25T02:17:06.378+01:00*WARNING: Native Arizonan on a rampage* AZ wasn...*WARNING: Native Arizonan on a rampage* AZ wasn't like that when I was a kid. We don't have true fall and we didn't pretend to. I grew up before they whored the place out to the outsiders and the tourists. To be blunt, when I was a kid our response was, "You don't like how things are here, leave." *rampage ended*<br /><br />As far as autumn wreaths or whatever those things are, I never heard of that until the '90s when Michael's started taking over the world. I don't think I've ever actually seen one. My parents were from the land of four seasons and I've been there for Thanksgiving a couple of times and I can honestly tell you that NOBODY decorated for fall. Maybe some particularly pretty colored leaves from the yard arranged in a glass on the table but nothing more than that. I hold Michael's and the other crafty-crap places responsible for all the overboard decorating we see nowadays. They've managed somehow to convince people that this is a tradition. I think also that since many people no longer decorate for Halloween they've changed to do that instead since they have some need to decorate.<br /><br />Reading back over this, it would seem that I'm in a foul mood. Not really, just blunt--and maybe cantankerous. I understand if you choose not to approve this one. I'll send it though since I've taken the time to write it. LOLWilmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03943837947695508102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-12976564726128265642011-09-24T11:22:36.096+01:002011-09-24T11:22:36.096+01:00Wilma, you're right, there were only 2 seasons...Wilma, you're right, there were only 2 seasons in AZ, but even there they did their best to contrive some sort of Fallish feeling, with pumpkin patches (horribly hot)and scarecrows and things. In Tempe, it did cool down some in October, but it never got really comfortable until right around Halloween. When I first moved there and asked people when it would cool down, they said, "Halloween' and I thought they were kidding...live and learn. What you mention about the cool breeze coming in during homecoming - I swear that happened in Tempe on Halloween, like clockwork every year we were there. It really was a sudden change, just like you say.<br />Glad you like the pics - I shocked MrL when I mentioned I'd posted a topless one....; )MsCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-76993100654570105632011-09-24T08:14:33.385+01:002011-09-24T08:14:33.385+01:00Funnily enough, exposure to American culture throu...Funnily enough, exposure to American culture through media meant that like a lot of British kids, I grew up feeling that I had somehow been cheated of Halloween. We are told that it's this great big deal for kids and all this cool stuff is going to happen but in Britain, it really doesn't. You might get to go trick or treating but most people won't open their doors! We always had a little party for Halloween anyway because it's my mum's birthday, but most families didn't do anything at all.<br /><br />But we do have Guy Fawkes' Night just a few days later which was always celebrated with a huge bonfire and fireworks and kids coming round collecting 'a penny for the Guy' they had made.<br /><br />Now I am in Scotland, autumn starts in August and late October is winter. It means more soups and stews, bringing the chickens and guinea pigs in and having to start visiting indoor attractions rather than the beach. Autumn is also my favourite season - I love the damp decaying woods, the fungi and the darker evenings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4551977354338403876.post-18404679943815560232011-09-24T07:03:32.809+01:002011-09-24T07:03:32.809+01:00When I was a kid growing up in Willcox I knew it w...When I was a kid growing up in Willcox I knew it was fall when it was getting close to Rex Allen Days weekend. That is the first weekend in October and it coincides with football homecoming. Without fail at halftime during the homecoming game a cool breeze would come across the valley and from then on there were no more hot days. <br /><br />Here in Tucson I don't really have anything like that. Usually by mid-October it has cooled down to where it is only in the 80s or so during the day and I might grab my sweater when I take Sean to school in the morning. You lived in AZ long enough to know that we don't really have four seasons in the traditional sense. We just have "The Hot" and "The Cooler" which lasts just long enough to lull us into forgetting just how horribly hot it gets during "The Hot." LOL<br /><br />Loved the childhood pics, BTW.Wilmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03943837947695508102noreply@blogger.com