Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Let's Give Them Pumpkin To Talk About

 




September has flown by so quickly that October is upon us and pumpkins are everywhere!  Why just today at the local grocery store, we saw bags and bags of Halloween chocolate and treats. One bag had 405 pieces inside! (Four hundred and FIVE, in case you think I typed that number incorrectly!)  Oh goodness, I am remembering going to "Trick or Treat" with my siblings. We walked around in our neighborhood in our homemade costumes carrying paper grocery bags. Sometimes we would encounter older couples who didn't have any candy and they would apologize and say "Please, don't play a trick on us!".  Oh my, that made me feel so bad. ("No, no... we would never do that, it's just an expression!" I remember saying that to them!) At the end of the evening, it was so much fun to pour out all the "treats" and look at what we had been given!

I haven't gotten my "tiger stripe" little pumpkin yet, but I will!
This is a photo of a past pumpkin! I love it!

















When our son was in the first grade, I read out to him something from the newspaper about a couple from the state of New York who had grown the largest pumpkin on record for that year. When I told him the weight and dimensions, he wondered how big would that make the pumpkin? We got some (very large) pieces of paper together and sketched the size upon it.  Thinking that was the end of it, I kept reading my newspaper and then, started on housework.  Noticing that Christopher was very quiet, I went to check on him.... he had gotten those pieces of paper that we had taped together of the huge pumpkin and had colored all of it in orange! Wow, that was so much work! I told him to take it to school on Monday and to show his teacher.  He did so and she had him put it up in the hallway on a bulletin board. (It overlapped the bulletin board!)  The class then wrote to the couple who had grown the pumpkin, and they wrote a very sweet letter back to the class! 

 There, that is my pumpkin story! 


September photos for you....


Our cereus cactus bloomed! We have had this cactus since 1994! It is a night bloomer, so we have to really watch it, or we sometimes miss it!


We have roses AND a swimming pool in our backyard....



Okay, it is a swimming pool for birds but still, we get a lot of enjoyment watching our little feathered friends! Our yellow daisies are blooming in our backyard also and we do love them! (If you remember, I had them in pots and they have just re-seeded themselves and we have now enjoyed them for years,) They are natives, and belong to the sunflower family. (Helianthus porteri).



Here they are at Arabia Mountain!  They are like this every year!



How are you y'all doing?  Please let me know....

"I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends". 




 

36 comments:

  1. Hey! Hey! Don't scare me that way!!! Time certainly is flying by at a rapid rate of knots, but it is still September!!!! Whew!!! lol

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  2. Love your pumpkin story about Christopher -- so sweet! And what a gorgeous cactus flower too.

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    1. C. always loved pumpkins so I guess that story was interesting to him, with the pumpkin being that big. I remember one of the parents thinking that I had made Christopher do that pumpkin project but nope, it was all his own idea! And he used so many orange crayons down to the nub!

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  3. Your son was most clever.

    It looks like the autumn blooms are starting, a sure sign the heat will be moderating soon, at least I hope so.

    I think I'm going to look for a striped pumpkin this year.

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    1. Our son is very clever, he actually would astonish me! Still, it helps to have an intelligent father! LOL! I do love that little striped pumpkin, it brings me joy!

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  4. Your daisies are so pretty, and speak of Autumn. I really like the Tiger stripe pumpkin - hope you get one this year. Four years ago we flew into Canada on 25th September, and the pumpkins on display astonished me. What an attractive fun time you all have in October. Alas, we do not do this in Australia. Well done with the pretty night time cactus.

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    1. I do love pumpkins! I do notice that there are more green ones this year! I'm open to a lot of things but I like at least a hint of orange in my pumpkin! I know you would love the cactus flower, it is a creamy white and is so amazing.

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  5. Autumn is such a lovely time to the year.
    https://www.melodyjacob.com/2023/09/styling-y2k-cycling-goggles.html

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  6. How Adorable! And your son's teacher was inspired to give the children an additional lesson about communication. "How about love."

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    1. We were well pleased with our pumpkin story and I guess you know I like writing letters! LOL!

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  7. Such a lovely story, thoroughly enjoyed it and all these delightful photos. My favorite time of the year :)

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    1. Hey Denise! It was just a fun thing that our son did that I always think of when I see pumpkins! I do like the Autumn.

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  8. Great story about your son and the big pumpkin! And I have a couple of those pools in my front lawn.
    Cathy

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    1. You can't see it in the photo but there is another pool just like it which is right beside it. AND another one that we have high on top of a ladder! Anything for our birds!

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  9. I LOVE your pumpkin story, Kay. What a wonderful teacher Christopher had! And how neat that the class wrote a letter to the couple and got rewarded with a reply.

    I do love daisies too.

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    1. You know a good teacher when you read about one, am I right? (You sweet former teacher you!)

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  10. That's a sweet memory. How lovely to receive a reply to the letter too.

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    1. Oh yes, the class was so happy! And all from reading that one little article in the paper!

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  11. Christmas Eve is three months and one day away!! (Believe it or not, I have already lined up a few Christmas presents - not bought them yet, but taken notes so that I won't forget what I had in mind.)
    Maybe you remember that my hometown hosts (their claim, not mine) "the world's biggest pumpkin exhibition" every year in the palace grounds. The event spans nearly three months, and one important part of it is finding the biggest/heaviest pumpkin.
    O.K. and I went to have a look yesterday, and the largest pumpkin weighs just above 1,000 kg, with the second and third places at somewhere around 700 and 500 kg.

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    1. Oh yes, I well remember your pumpkin festival from the Palace grounds! I love seeing all the pumpkin displays you show us! I still have the pumpkin measurements of the pumpkin that I've told you about here but not sure where I have that piece of paper. Be assured that I have it somewhere. LOL!

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  12. What a wonderful thing to have happen for your son!!
    The flowers are Gorgeous!!
    hugs
    Donna

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    1. And it only blooms at night! We were well pleased to see it!

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  14. What a kid ! I hope as he got older Christopher has continued to be as hard working. It's a really good trait. And a lovely story about the pumpkin! Pumpkins are just so pretty. I am not such a fan of the taste, but I just like to have them around!
    .

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    1. Our son is very hard working, it is true! When he got married in March we had several people cone up to us and say they had never had a groom work so much on a wedding! He works hard and plays hard, maybe he puts them both together and that makes a difference. And I do have my tiger stripe pumpkin now along with a sparkle orange one. Just to look at, not to eat! Lovely to see your comment here, Jenny! ❤

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  15. I enjoyed your pumpkin recollections and your pumpkin story. Unfortunately I don’t have any because in France we never had trick or treat or a pumpkin time. I wish we had had. As for pumpkins, since I never had tasted one until I came to the US I really don’t know what to do with them. In France I think we only make soup. I tried making a pumpkin pie, but didn’t like it much. But pumpkins are so pretty; they go well with the fall colors.

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    1. Ah, merci! So lovely to see your comment here! It was always sweet potato pies that my Daddy made, I think I was a teenager before I ever tasted pumpkin pie. I must admit, I am of an age that I must stay away from any pies. Like you, I think pumpkins go well with the pretty Fall colors. You know I did get my tiger stripe pumpkin! It's little but it packs a punch!

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  16. What a cute pumpkin story! One year the kids got huge pumpkins and we lived in an upstairs apartment and getting those big gourds up there was hard! So after that year we made a rule that you had to be able to carry your own pumpkin if you wanted to carve it! All things are good here and it's my favorite month so it's really all good!

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  17. Carry your own pumpkin! 🎃 Ha! I love that! I love October too but I'm still waiting for it to cool down, that's what I really love. Happy October, Yaya and Jack-have fun with the kids!

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  18. That must have been the most "sincere" pumpkin in the pumpkin patch! That's a very cute pumpkin story. Hello! I just stepped through to you through my cousin's blog. Greetings and may the rest of your October be fill with many happy moments.

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    1. Hello Gloria! Thanks for your comment and you must tell me the blog name for your cousin! May you have a lovely October as well, may all the pumpkins give you joy!

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  19. Halloween in the UK nowadays has followed the American model as I do not remember carved pumpkins growing up. Mind you we were poorer back then and pumpkins came from far away, so more expensive. We did use turnips but they were much harder to carve out. Going round strangers doors in costumes has decreased rapidly as well in cities and towns with older people being too scared to open doors after dark here except if it's already arranged before hand among parents, relatives, friends etc with young children. Bob.

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    1. I have been visiting England since the 1980's and I can tell how much more Halloween has become like America! WE have more of what they call "Trunk or Treat" where churches and groups get together and so, the treats only come from people they know. It really must be safer that way. I also read that something like a BILLION pumpkins land up in landfills in America. I am happy to say that this not the case with my two little pumpkins, I keep them out for the entire Autumn and then, they go on the compost pile at my home! And hey Bob, it is so nice to see your comment!!

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