Remember the Catalina pork roast?

Well, I got the greatest compliment yesterday! My sister Carol called from New Jersey and told me she was making it for dinner!

So of course, you know what I asked her... if she could send me a picture for the blog! And she did. Yum!

Now I'm excited to cook this again. And I think I want to find some more recipes that use Catalina dressing, because I like the taste a lot.

Reader Jo took this photo of the 39th annual apple butter boil held at the home of a friend of hers in October. I was invited - again. I missed it - again. It's becoming a fairly irritating tradition! What does apple butter have to do with this post? Read on.

I don't normally do this, but I am hoping to engage in some gratuitous self-promotion here on the blog and get some feedback from you, loyal readers, in the process.

Here's the deal:

I have four "big things" going on online right now - two on the blog here, and two elsewhere. Here, in no particular order, they are:

1. Next week, I'll be guest-blogging for a good virtual friend and fellow Yorker, Debbie Jordan Kravitz, a professional organizer. I'll make sure to post a link when my post is up over there, but rest assured - if you're a neat freak like me, I think you'll love it!

2 and 3. I've got two new "blog series" ideas that I'm going to kick off as soon as possible - hopefully by the end of this month. I've gotten great response to series posts like yorkisms and what stores used to be. The two new series are also going to be occasional and, hopefully, very reader-interactive.

They are:

First, an ABCs of York County. I'll be taking suggestions each week for York County icons that begin with a particular letter, then we'll post a poll and let everyone vote for which gets to "own" that letter. Just think about it. Is S for Shoe House or Scrapple? And is A for apple butter, like that seen above, or the Accomac Inn? This should be fun.

Second, we'll do Names Around Town. Who was A.B. Farquhar and why did we name a park after him? Who is Norman A. Trimmer, for whom my daughter's school is named? (I don't even know the answer to that second one - yet!) We'll find out together, and again, I'll be taking suggestions as well as working through some good sources, like names in county parks and schools.

4. Finally, I am just finishing up something cool for the newspaper's Web site - a new user-submitted photo gallery. This is a great way for you to share your photos, whether you're in York now, from York but living elsewhere, or just a friend of mine with cool pictures. Hahaha! This is another case where I'm asking for your help! Remember the apple butter boil picture above by Jo? Well, she's helping me out by filling up the gallery with some of her great photos before its official launch. I'd love for ALL my readers to do the same. Just go here, click on "Submit photo," and fill out the form. And, of course, let me know if you have any problems or questions!

So what do you think? Willing to stick around with me for some more fun blog adventures? I'm really looking forward to it!

Go vote!

And check back to our Election Central home page throughout the night for the latest vote totals, videos, photos, stories and more.

That's all for your public-service announcement for the day.

Yes, Halloween has come and gone, but I'd be remiss if I didn't direct you to the stories of some paranormal happenings in York County that were recently told as part of our "Remember" series.

One of the stories happens to be from a good friend of mine, Whitney Stover, whose mom passed away a little more than a year ago. In addition to the event Whitney describes in the article, I was present for another "happening" related to it.

Whitney is part of a group of ladies that I scrapbook with occasionally in the Stoverstown area. One time, not long after her mom passed, Whitney looked at the door of the room we meet in and said, "It feels like she's just going to walk in at any minute and join us." The amazing thing? The door opened a bit, then softly closed. Now, this is a HEAVY outside door - and it hadn't even been cracked before. Needless to say, all of us there were pretty shocked.

Now, I'm sure there are some of you who don't believe in ghosts. I'm not one of them. I believe that I have seen things that were a bit out of the ordinary. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, at the house I grew up in (on Blackberry Road in northern Dover Township), I walked out of our bathroom, heading through my parents' room to go downstairs. As I walked into Mom's room, there was a woman standing at her dresser, looking into one of Mom's jewelry boxes. As Mom certainly had friends at the house on occasion, I didn't think much of it. The woman turned to me and said, clear as day, "You're Joan's daughter." Again, I didn't think much of it, just said, "Yes," and went on my way. Later, I asked my mom who the lady was - imagine my surprise when, as I described her, Mom told me that was HER mom, who died long before I was born, and who I'd never seen a picture of. And the jewelry box the woman had been looking at had been my grandmom's.

Strange things do happen in York County, and that one made a "ghost believer" out of me. So when I read the stories in this month's "Remember" installment, all I could think was, "Oh, thank goodness I'm not crazy."

How about it? Ghosts? Yes or no? Vote below, and leave a comment if you've had any kind of supernatural/paranormal experience!

Starting today, the York County Heritage Trust Auxiliary is selling Schermer Pecans.

From now till Dec. 31, the trust said in a news release, you can buy 16 oz. bags of mammoth pecan halves and holiday-wrapped 12 oz. bags of chocolate-covered pecans, pecan-caramel clusters and cinnamon-glazed pecans for $8 each.

Pecans can be purchased from auxiliary members or at the Historical Society Museum, 250 E. Market St. in York, or by calling 848-1587, ext. 210.

If you're a marketgoer, there will be a sales table at Central Market from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays from Nov. 5 to Dec. 17 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays from Nov. 7 to Dec. 19. Want to know more? Call 764-8782, 854-4209 or 757-1051.

Proceeds from the sale benefit the auxiliary's youth programs - the Junior Docents and the Junior Curators.

And, um, YUM! Eat up. Why is it that everything tasty is soooo fattening? I could eat a whole bag of these at once.

Remember how I was trying to get all of York County - and beyond - involved in neighborhood booings?

Well, that blog post ran in this week's Living section, and once it did, I got a letter from Julie Brown of Spring Garden Township. She wrote:

"Our neighborhood in Spring Garden Twp. has a booing going on every year. The kids love it! They can't wait to go out after dark, knock on the neighbor's door and run as fast as they can so as not to get caught. And even more than that they anxiously await a knock on our door and go running to see if we've been booed and what goodies there are. This year, as my kids were putting on their shoes the other night to go get
the booing started, there was a knock at our door and we were booed first. It
was pretty funny!"

The picture with this post is Julie's; she says it shows what her family put into the "boos" for their friends this year. The funny thing is, in the boo we received, we got one of those cups! :-)

If you're celebrating, have a safe and happy Halloween!

I'm still celebrating the Game 1 Phillies victory in the World Series. I hope that, by the time you're reading this on Friday morning, I'll be celebrating another!

So, while I'm off partying and cheering, here's a look at some interesting sites featuring Yorkers:

· Chris on the AT is Chris Sheaffer's log of his hike southward on the Appalachian Trail - all 2,167 miles. Chris is a 2002 Central York High School grad. Read more about his undertaking here.

· A magazine for professional truckers honored a Windsor man, Jim Waltemyer, for 37 years of safe, accident-free driving. He hauls Federal Express freight.

· Speaking of vehicles, if you haven't seen the work of Prueitt and Sons auto restoration of Glen Rock, you're missing out. They do amazing things. Check out their "In Progress" photo gallery.

· Here are the memories of many Yorkers about S&H Green Stamps. Expect more from me on that subject in a future post, but in the meantime, if you remember those, leave me a comment!

Have you spotted news about Yorkers elsewhere? Let me know, because I'd love to feature it on the blog. And, it bears repeating - Go Phillies!