Soul Food

We drove out to Sauvie Island today. Migrating geese everywhere taking a break on their way south. Beautiful day. Gorgeous day on this agricultural gem only minutes from downtown Portland.

The last of the the pumpkin patches and exotic corn mazes was still open. But most of the pumpkins and squash remain in the fields on the island. That's where they'll stay and slowly rot over winter. Too bad they couldn't be gleaned and turned into food or energy.

On the way back into the city we passed one of those busy intersections where fruit and seafood vendors often park their trucks for roadside sales.

I did a double-take, then turned the car around to be sure of what I'd read. Yeah, every time I get near those jumbo shrimp my soul flounders and clams up, too.

I wonder where they get all those free "pumkins" anyway? Matter of fact, what exactly is a pumkin?

I know, it must be a close biological relative of the "punkins" that some of my neighbors grew in Nebraska when I was a kid.

Maybe "pumkins" are the new soul food. But don't let your clams flounder, you shrimp!

All Saints' Day tomorrow. Reformation Sunday. Give thanks for those who gave their lives of faith so that you could have one in freedom. They hungered for soul food. And they were well fed. May you be as well.

Pax,

Roger