Pumpkin Picking

I love this time of year: the cool breeze, the changing colors on the trees, the Autumn smell. . . Arizona has none of these fall symptoms. There are also no real pumpkin patches here. You know the kind where you go to the pumpkin farm and there are dozens and dozens of pumpkins still on the vines waiting to be picked up and placed in a wheel barrel to go home with eager pumpkin carving families. I guess I might be dreaming of memories that I had from my childhood but I still miss it.

If I may be nostalgic for a bit. . . Halloween is my favorite holiday and I think that is because my dad made it so exciting and memorable. He loved Halloween too. Going to the pumpkin patch and picking out our favorite pumpkin that year. Adam always wanted the biggest one he could get his arms around. I need the perfect pumpkin with no flat sides, but I always had trouble deciding if it should tall and slim or short and fat. Sarah liked the little pumpkins for less digging out of the guts. Mom would pick one just because everyone else got one, but she was always more interested in watching us than carving her own. And dad picked one that complimented the others, sometimes it was the strangest one in the bunch but he always had great ideas for his pumpkin. Then we would set up the newspaper in the garage and begin the gutting. This took several hours most of the time because all the kids got sick of it after 10 minutes and dad ended up doing the dirty work. . . but he didn't mind. Next we would get out the pumpkin carving kits and pick our favorites that year. All the little holes to outline the design and the little serenaded knives for the carving. Finally when all were finished we would put them on the kitchen counter, light them up, turn off all the lights and admire our hard work Then out on the steps they would go for the whole street to enjoy.

So in grand tradition we decided to go on a search for the perfect pumpkin but no farms were to be found. So we ended up at a small display (they called it a pumpkin patch but it was mainly barrels of hay with pumpkins all over). It wasn't the farm but it would have to do. It wasn't crisp outside (95 degrees) but we still had fun looking over all the pumpkins and choosing our favorite family jack-o-lantern. The carving is still to come but for now you can enjoy the idea of the pumpkin patch and Jackson's first Halloween experience.