I always write down little things the kids say that strike me as funny or  sweet. Here's a little blast from my past on this day in 2010: At bedtime tonight, PJ told me he wanted to bring cold lunch to school.  I told him no because we have paid for hot lunch.  (Apparently many kids in his class bring cold lunch.)  I told him that they probably bring cold lunch because they have allergies and their mommies don't want them to get sick. So, then PJ told me he had allergies too... he said "I'm allergic to pumpkins".   I said "really."   He said yes.   I said "Well then you won't have fun on Halloween because there are pumpkins all over that night".   LONG PAUSE while his jaw drops.  Heavy sigh. "You caught me mom.  I was just trying to trick you." Pumpkin allergies... at the time I thought that was a made-up thing. While this story is super sweet, there are folks who are actually allergic to pumpkin. Typically, they are allergic to the seeds. That said, other parts of the pumpkin can negatively effect the body. People with allergies who touch the pulp or the seeds can get dermatitis or even hives. If they smell pumpkin cooking, sensitive people can have an allergic response from the vapors. And, kids with pumpkin allergy can feel sick just from carving a pumpkin. Uninformed parents can easily dismiss coughing and wheezing during pumpkin carving time as signs of a cold. Thanks to Starbucks and other retailers, our society goes a little crazy for all things Pumpkin Spice this time of year - the Pumpkin Spice Latte actually has a little pumpkin puree in it. But just know, there is such a thing as pumpkin allergy and be sensitive to folks have it.       Brevities   #OTD  Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Luis Nee who died on this day in 1807. Luis Née was a Frenchman living in Spain. He worked at the Madrid botanic garden and he botanized in the mountain ranges of Spain. Nee went on an expedition to South America in 1789. When he collected in Chile, he discovered the Lapageria rosea which is now the national flower of Chile. Lapageria rosea plants, are also known as Chilean bellflowers. They are named after the Empress Josephine Lapagerie, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.     #OTD   Today is the birthday of the German botanist, Frederick Lueders, who was born on this day in 1813. On November 13, 1843 Lueders was botanizing along the Columbia river in Oregon. He'd been collecting specimens for three years. He had just encountered the explorer John Freemont, when all of his work, which was secured in a canoe nearby, was drawn into the rapids. Lueders plunged into the river and managed to retrieve only a copy of the Flora by Torrey and Gray. The devastating loss was recorded in Freemont's journal who wrote: "In the natural concern I felt for his misfortune, I gave to the little cove the name of Lueders' Bay." For Lueders part, the loss of his specimens was devastating. However the loss of his instruments and his correspondence with Asa Gray and Dr. Englemann was almost too great. Lueders  determined his best course of action was to return home. He traveled south around the tip of Chile and then onto England. It took him a year to return to Hamburg a year after his mishap on the Columbia. Lueders didn't stay in Germany long. In fact,  he returned to America within the next year. By 1851, he had made his way to Wisconsin; he spent the rest of his life in Sauk City and he dabbled in astronomy.  A biographical sketch said that in his old age, Lueders was devoted largely to his flowers.         #OTD  On this day in 1807, the botanist Frederick Pursch visited David Hosack. Hosack was happy to have Pursch collect specimens from all around the United States for him. He wrote, "I shall have a very industrious and skillful botanist [begin] to collect from different parts of the Union."       #OTD  On this day in 1856 John Torrey's Office at the Mint was described in the NY Daily Times. When Torrey was 57, he m