Friday Field Trip - The Pumpkin Patch

Since I'm away at the Emerald City Conference, I'm re-running last Halloween's post. Hope you enjoy! These are some of the jack o'lanternes my kids have produced over the years.
Which is your favorite?

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And the winner is ….

Thanks to all who voted for their favorite jack o'lantern. The voting was close, with only a single vote separating the top 3 picks. They are:

Family Carvings 2009

Courtesy of Daughter #1

And, on the home front, this year's jack o'lantern, setting a carving speed record, is brought to you by the shape: Triangle.

Happy Halloween

First, thanks to those who follow this blog. I hit a 100 milestone yesterday. I remember when Google first offered the "follow" option, and I had one person sign up--my daughter. Knowing there's some interest in my meanderings is extremely gratifying.

Tomorrow is Halloween here in the states (and Canada, I'm assuming from the picture I took in Quebec City). Although we don't do much anymore, what with the kids being on their own (I leave the massive celebrations to daughter #2, who throws a major bash every year), Halloween was a favorite holiday in our household for years. As a matter of fact, hubby was late coming to pick me up from the hospital after I was released when our twins were born because he and big brother had to make a stop at the pumpkin patch to pick out one large and two tiny pumpkins.

This year, he bought a pumpkin. I'm not sure if he plans to carve it, though. In this part of the country, you don't carve pumpkins before October 30th or they'll rot. That's something my neighbor learned the hard way when she moved here from Chicago and set about half a dozen carved jack o'lanterns outside her house in early October.


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Hubby was the carving supervisor. I roasted the pumpkin seeds (and ate most of them, because nobody else really liked them. It's good to be the Mom.) The kids designed and drew the faces; he carved. With the advent of those nifty little pumpkin carving kits with the short serrated carvers, they were on their own.

They still carve 'non-traditional' jack o'lanterns, but they were doing it long before it was trendy. My son did this one when he was in high school.


Costumes were fun too. My kids went to a special center for elementary school, and their big bash was Halloween, and costumes were supposed to be kid-made. They came up with some very clever costumes. One year daughter #2 and her best friend went as squeeze bottles of mustard and ketchup. Alas, that was long before digital cameras, and all my photo albums are packed up and in a POD somewhere.

But I did find these the year I turned them into scarecrows.


Also note: Color film HAD been invented, but I was a hobbyist photographer and shot black and white. I'd often hand color bits and pieces of the photos.