Celebrating Fall

Fall is now officially, as of yesterday, here. At least in our house it is. The kids have spent their free time this week making ghosts and cutting them out. I have them hanging all over the house. We have our Fall wreath on the door and our cornucopia is on the table. There are various coloured leaves and wee pumpkin candles around.


Grandma and Grandpa and K's Paul came to visit yesterday. They brought pumpkins for the kids and we spent the afternoon carving.



K was right in there, digging out pumpkin guts and designing and carving all by herself.

R was a little more stand-off-ish. He did enjoy poking holes in pumpkin parts and trying out all the carving tools . He chose his pumpkin's design and Paul carved.

Beautiful pumpkins this year! They were home grown in Grandma's garden. We are so spoiled.

If you get a chance, go to your local farm and buy your pumpkins and gourds. In my experience, they're much nicer than the 'Grown in Canada' specimens that WalMart ships in. Isn't it nice how they undercut the local producers? While you're at the farm getting your pumpkin, grab some apples or cider while you're there.


Get Grandma to pick out all the seeds while you're busy carving. Wash 'em off, spread them out on a kitchen towel and blot them dry. Melt half a stick of butter (or use 4 tbsp of oil), stir in 1/2 tsp of cayenne, 1/2 tsp salt and some black pepper. Pour it over the seeds and swish it around until the seeds are coated. Put them in the oven on a cookie sheet at 325°F and stir them around every so often. They take about 45 minutes to dry and toast. Very tasty.


As is tradition, Paul brought K's costume and she treated us to a rare fashion show. Grandma brought special treats for the kids. An early trick or treat treat.


Later in the evening, my brothers had to stop by on their way out for some pre-Hallowe'en fun. Here is Matt, who makes his own fun wherever he goes. He'll be joining us Hallowe'en evening to hand out candy with R, who has chosen not to trick or treat this year.



We had cider, which I'd had warming in the crock pot all day, and they ate up the rest of the pumpkin seeds. After a short visit, they were off. Now I need more cider and pumpkin seeds.

Here they are in all their revelry. No, they're not all my brothers. Two of them are, one is my surrogate brother, another is his wife and the other two are the significant other's of my two brothers.

During our visit, I discovered that Surrogate Brother's wife, from Korea, has never 'done' Hallowe'en before. Of course, we invited them along for Hallowe'en evening so she could get a feel for it. Surrogate Brother is excited to have Wife see all the kids' costumes and to hand out candy.



The pumpkins turned out well. We pulled the drapes closed, turned out the lights and lit them up. Cool, eh?



A good day of family and friends. No better way to celebrate, imo.