The Weekend...

We visited the farmer's market.

Brought back Brussel Sprouts on a stick.

I didn't realize they grow that way.

I always assumed they sprouted up like little lettuces out of the ground.

Nothing hotter than a man who loves his vegetables.

We also raked the leaves that had filled our yard.

Yellow. Brown. Crunchy.

Some leaves were still falling.

Like this one that floated gracefully until it came to rest on Noah's sweet head.

Noah jumped in every single pile. Buried himself completely. Popped out again.

His happiness is boundless.

And so contagious.

Sunday evening.

The non-Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins beg and plead to be used for something

other than decorations for the front porch.

I bathe them. Chop them. Roast them.

They will be transformed into Pumpkin Butter.

Homeade Pumpkin Butter will be a fine Christmas gift for someone.

Attack of the Killer Pumpkins!

Run for your lives!!
The pumpkins are everywhere. According to the nice hairdo lady who was trimming off my gnarly dead-ends on Friday, we've had an outstanding pumpkin crop here in the 'cuse. I had no idea. She said that all the rain over the summer resulted in this huge pumpkin infestation. So many pumpkins here...fleshy orange monstrosities... have been shipped down the road to less-rainier locales...like Buffalo, Albany.
Today Noah, Michael, and I had lunch at Moe's, and then ventured forth on our Annual Pumpkin Hunt. It is such a tradition with us that we have done this 2 years in a row! ; )
We like to go to this creepy little farm near Skaneateles...it's called Frienhoff's or Heffenstien's, or something like that. And it's a little strange. You are greeted at the road by scarecrows with jack-o-lantern heads...who have been impaled! There is a freaky corn maze with more creatures with various costumes...my favorite is a zombie-ish monster wearing a shirt that says "Taxpayer"... getting all Libertarian in the corn maze, cute.
Here's Michael and Noah and some spooky spectres. Can you see the red and yellow leaves behind them? It is gorgeous around here this time of year. I have no explanation for their facial expressions.

While exploring the corn maze, much to Noah's delight, Michael walks ahead of Noah and I, hides in the stalks, and then hops out all "Buu-ha-ha! and Boogity-Boogity!" Noah loves a good scare.

And then there are the killer pumpkins. You get to load up a little red flyer for 15 bucks...or just buy them individually. Here's my lil' punkin':

At first, we just picked 3 pumpkins: a cute baby one for Noah, a medium round one for Mad, and a giant daddy for our Big Daddy. And we drove off happily with our pumpkin score. But then I suggested to that we could have gotten a whole wagonful...and that way we could be The Great Pumpkin Fairies, and deliver bright spots of delicious ORANGE-NESS (almost like being the harbringers of Fall itself) to our neighbors and to Michael's mom. Michael and Noah liked that idea...so we turned around and got our 15 bucks worth.

 

I don't know if Noah is picking his nose in this picture or not.

I love October! As we were driving slowly towards Skaneateles today so that we could stare at the changing Autumn leaves, I heard Garrison Keillor say on the radio (in character as Guy Noire),

"October is heartbreaking...and that proves you have a heart..."

I'm paraphrasing here. Go, yourself, and listen to The Prairie Home Companion on a crisp, sun-shiney Sunday afternoon... and let something out there break your heart just a little.

I have some Great Pumpkin Fairy work to do....

Happy Pumpkin Hunting to you!