Wordless Wednesday: Looking Up

Wordless Wedensday - Orange!

The Family Pumpkin Patch

Each year, my parents grow pumpkins for their grandkids to carve at Halloween.  My parents live on 5 acres now, so they have room to grow plenty of pumpkins for us and our friends.  The pumpkins look especially good this year.

There were a couple of flowers still in bloom on the vines.  It's too late for them to turn into pumpkins!

Normally we carve the pumpkins together too, but this year our schedules worked out so that we harvested a little too early to carve on the same day.  Of course we started out with lunch and cookie decorating for the kids.

I couldn't resist sampling the parsley in the garden.  It was so juicy and sweet!

The dogs got a chance to play too.  My parents' place is fenced, so they can safely run and play chase in a large area.  Here they are running through an area that was tilled for planting next year.

The black and white dog is Glacier, and the brown dog is Gobi.  Chase is their favorite game.  They ran for hours.

After we played around for a while, we decided it was time to load up the pumpkins.  My dad cut them off the vines.

 Then we washed the dirt off.

The next part was fun - we loaded them into a trailer and used my parent's little tractor to haul them over to the cars.

At the end of the day, we each drove home with a load of pumpkins.

Do you have any harvest or seasonal activities for autumn?  I'd love to hear about it!

Wordless Wednesday - Spiderweb in Oaks

In the Mood for Halloween

Sometimes the stresses of everyday life can make difficult to be in the mood for the holidays. I have a demanding day job, and lately I have been having trouble getting into the spirit. I find that time spent with family can sometimes get me to relax and see the inspiration that is all around me.











My oldest son and I went for a walk and took pictures of some of the neighborhood in autumn. These pictures show two of his favorite discoveries. He liked the flower because it is his favorite color - scarlet. He liked the leaf because it looked rusted to him. We also had a good time playing "camera tag". I would try to take his picture and he would try to dodge.

Later in the week we carved pumpkins at my parents' place. They have a large garden and grow the pumpkins themselves. Spending a little downtime in the country and pumpkin carving really put me in the mood for Halloween. I'd like to share some that mood with you.

The pumpkins in the garden


and after they've been picked and cleaned:
















Mums and turning leaves...





























...the neighbors' giant pumpkins...















... giant mushrooms in the yard...















... and the main event! Pumpkin carving!