Tag: Pumpkins

  • ODDS and ENDS: Friday, Saturday and Sunday

    (Thursday I don’t care about you…)

    Friday is just okay in my book. When I was working full time, and had a career and everything, I did look forward to Fridays. When I was performing, Friday was always a show, which usually led to a late night with the cast – either at the theatre or at a bar. Now, Friday is the final day of chores for the family. If I do have time for myself, it’s at the end of the day. Friday night to Saturday morning is my chance to catch up on bad movies and tv. There’s no rest on a Friday.

    This coming Saturday we are heading out to get our pumpkin for Halloween. We have given up on carving a pumpkin, as no one in our house really likes doing it. Well… no one likes cleaning out the pumpkin of its guts. Two years ago, we painted a pumpkin, and last year, we just had one that we left on the bookshelf… Not the most exciting, I will admit. This year, we are getting more than one pumpkin – maybe even a fancy pumpkin that is a different color than orange. Could even have those weird pimple bumps on it. What I can tell, and even feel, is that we are in the middle of a transition when it comes to Halloween in our home. It’s not so much kid and trick or treating centric anymore. We are moving towards more of an Autumnal celebration. I’m not sad about it, the kid is getting older, and at some point everything does change.

    Sunday is the night for disappointment! Talking about the Dallas Cowboys here. Yeah… I know they aren’t out of it, as the NFC East is just a dumping ground. No, I’m not looking forward to sitting through three hours of them sucking. And it is the defense that sucks, which will make the whole time just painful. Good thing the Knicks are about to start playing.

  • Apple Pickin’

    This past weekend, we took part in our annual tradition of going apple picking! I dusted off my red and black flannel shirt because there was a chill in the air, and I had a need to the great taste of crisp ripe apples!

    We started apple picking when the kid was two, and my folks came up to visit us in October 2017. My parents were here to see us, especially to see their granddaughter, and my Ma wanted to experience a New England Autumn. My wife was the one who came up with the idea of apple picking, and it was great Fall activity. It was cool out, slight mist in the air, leaves were changing, and it was something that my parents had never experienced before. Me as well.

    After that, on the first of second weekend in October, we head up into the Hudson Valley for an orchard to spend the morning weaving between trees, picking away.

    This year, I had been looking forward to this more than anything. Part of it is that Autumn has been late in arriving up here. Seems like two weeks ago, we still had the air conditioners on dealing with several days of 80 degrees. But Fall did arrive, and like magic the leaves started changing, temps cooled, and we even got a little rain. Driving up out of the City, it was rejuvenating to feel that the season had started changing. For me, Summer is oppressive while Autumn is liberating.

    This year, as the season was changing, there were other changes too. The apple picking was fine, we all had a good time. But as I looked around the orchard at all of the other families out there with their little kids, I noticed that my daughter was one of the older children out there. I was sort of amazed that there were no teenagers; Like almost none. And the few that were there looked like they wanted to die. I know that apple picking is a cheesy cliche thing to do in Fall, and when I looked over at my kid, who was having a good time, it was apparent that I have a limited time left to do this stuff with her.

    Things will change, as they always do. It will be sad when the day comes and she doesn’t want to do this stuff anymore, but it’s also normal for her to get older and not want to do the old things anymore. Maybe she’ll prove me wrong. I know that she’ll still want to apple pies that her mother makes after these outings. That part won’t change.

  • You Know, It’s the Great Pumpkin