Miscellaneous Writings

Yay, It's Halloween Time!

I got up early and stepped to the kitchen on silent feet to make a pot of coffee. It sputtered and spouted and when it finished brewing I took a steaming cup and my laptop out to the screen porch to enjoy the coffee and writing in the cool, crisp morning air.

Our plan for the day was to go to the pumpkin farm and play a couple of games, pet the animals, and maybe even ride a horse. But for now, I let the rest of the family sleep in a bit. That gave me some time to myself. Once everyone got up and dressed we would set out for breakfast. After breakfast, we would head over to the farm.

After a few hours and about three cups of coffee later, I heard the squeak of the back screen door. "Mom, aren't you cold out here?" she asked rubbing her arms.

"No, it feels great, plus I have my hot coffee to keep me warm. I'll be back inside in just a bit. Are your sister and dad up yet?"

"No, not yet. I'm hungry, Mom."

"Well, when I get back inside I'll wake them up so we can start getting ready to go out for breakfast."

"You didn't say anything about going out for breakfast! Okay, I'll wait."

***

Ah, the smell of breakfast cooking, especially the bacon, wafted through the restaurant. It was so nice, and we were seated near the wood burning fireplace. The fire smelled wonderful. It's the only restaurant that had a fireplace. It made our dining experience kind of nostalgic.

We enjoyed a rounded out breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, grits, biscuits and fruit. A mighty big breakfast but we would sure need the energy to enjoy the cool air and walking around the farm, looking for pumpkins.

After breakfast, we wandered around the gift shop for a bit before heading out. I got a coffee to go and would finish it while the kids pet the animals and I wandered around the little store.

***

Last year I bought a jar of pumpkin butter and a jar of apple butter. Unfortunately, no one else would eat it so it wound up wasted. I really wanted to buy more but decided against it because it probably wouldn't get eaten again.

The kids and my husband came into the store. They were ready to head out to the patch to pick their pumpkins. So we climbed on the train-type seating hooked to a tractor that took us out to the patch.

It was amazing the amount of and variety of pumpkins available. There were small ones, and huge ones, round ones, and oblong ones. There were warty-type pumpkins, too. They had orange ones, and white ones, and a butternut squash-looking one, too.

We each picked our pumpkins and got them to the pickup point. It became a little difficult because dad had to put one down and go back for the next one because our youngest daughter couldn't carry hers. We piled ourselves and our pumpkins on the wagon and arrived back at the little store to pay for our finds.

***

Halloween was just a day away and dad had the kitchen table covered in newspapers so we could clean out the pumpkins and carve them.

This was always a project for the girls and dad. He enjoyed this time with his girls. I would pop in and out but mostly stayed out. That is, of course, after I scraped out the pumpkin's insides.

Dad would draw the eyes, nose, and mouth and confirm with the girls that it looked good enough, then he would begin cutting. I think I'll try and talk him into letting them use the little carving tool to carve at least one pumpkin on their own this year.

The picture posted above is of our pumpkins from last year. We didn't carve my pumpkin but saved it for baking.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with this year. Maybe I can talk them into doing one of those picture carvings.