Pumpkin Fest 2016

Hi all! How is your Halloween traditions going?

Yesterday we went to Sycamore (Ill), to check out the pumpkins on the courthouse lawn. This has been a tradition for this town for 55 years!

The tradition here started by Wally Thurow, known by all as "Mr. Pumpkin", in his own front yard and it just grew so immense they had to find a larger place for it. The fest lasts from Wednesday into the weekend of Halloween, or before. The pumpkins and gourds are donated to anyone who wants to join in. And they are judged and given 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in different categories, and divided by ages. There are adult sections as well. I think the one below is "Scary & Ugly"

I love to see what kids can think up...

We roamed up and down town Sycamore, where we went in and out of stores (once they opened). We were really disappointed in the fact that almost none of the vendors were getting meats cooking over the grills yet, and we have eaten either a butterfly pork chop or bratt before ten in the past. We had to get something inferior (in other words something opened up and heated in a microwave. Well, at least the money goes to a good cause. All proceeds go to various charities). Maybe all of these people were watching the Cubs loose to the Indians and stayed up way past their bedtimes, like we did, the night before.

We stopped into a craft store and bought some Door County blueberry coffee for morning.

After walking back and forth, in and out of shops for a few hours, we went to Blumen Gardens, where it was peaceful and quiet. This place is a treasure. I know the owner really wanted a crowd in that day, but they were taking advantage of the quiet and switching over to Christmas.

They bought an old factory and used to the best of it all the building and materials to make a truly unique place. I'll have to get back here some time to do a more thorough picture story on it.

Here is a doorway out into the garden area.

This is yours truly squinting out at Dennis taking my picture.

Well, that does it for today. Hope you are having a good Halloween Eve. I'm going to work on my murder mystery today. Couldn't get Halloween off. Oh well!

Leaving you with one of my spooky ghosties flying under a tree in my backyard!

PUMPKINS

What's Halloween without PUMPKINS?

I think they are my favorite part of Halloween. Maybe it's those childhood memories of cutting into one and pulling out all the guts.

O' course, it would be nice if the damned thing would just upchuck and save me the mess!

Just beware, there are those pumpkins who are cannibals!

And some are creepy!

Some are just Uuuugly...

Some are EVIL!

Some are, uh, hungry...

But others are pleasant, pretty and decorative!

Some come in disguises...

So many can be found on Pinterest! You can browse each idea by clicking on the pictures. (Who knows, you may become addicted!)

I haven't figured out how to carve my pumpkin yet, but...
Maybe something to keep those nasty clowns away?

12 DAYS UNTIL HALLOWEEN . . .

DID YOU CARVE YOUR PUMPKIN YET?

I did. Just a little while ago. I'm drying the seeds and keeping some to plant for next year, and bake the rest to eat. Yum! This is the first pumpkin we've bought in ages--since I'm the only 12 year old in the house (tee hee). And love Halloween so much I want to change my birthday to October 31st.

So, I'm feeling a little lazy, and am not posting my usual Wordsmith 101 article today. It might have something to do with the fact that I had only one day off this past week, which was yesterday, and had to clean the house and go get groceries.

Plus, I've been working on my 3rd book's plot. I want to post something on this, but haven't got anything ready. (Did I say I was feeling lazy?)

Also, I'm entering the Publishers Clearing House. I've been doing this for decades now. You never know when you might be the one who wins. A couple who live right here in DeKalb just won the lottery, and they had been playing the same numbers for 25 years.

Do I feel lucky? I don't know if it's a feeling. I just think you throw the dice and if you win you win. That's all there is to it.

My husband procured three novels by Dean Koontz today when he popped into one of the student halls. That's what's so great about working around a college, you just never know what free stuff you might find. The titles are: Prodigal Son, City of Night, Dead and Alive--these are three of his Frankenstein novels. I've wanted to read them ever since I'd read about them in Koontz's "Useless News" newsletter--which I get every now and then. The man is not only prolific, but an absolutely flawless wordsmith. He can scare the heebeejeebees out of you, and on the turn around make your heart wrench enough to produce tears. If you have never read anything by this man I urge you do do so. If you enjoy a pulse-pounding tale, this man can spin them. I've also enjoyed a few where he could make me laugh, and then dread what the mad man/villain was about to do. I don't think there is another writer who has mastered not the suspense novel, keep horror/terror level up at such a high place, and still is able to spin such wonderful prose as he does. Merely reading through the reviews in the front of the book will make you ashamed you haven't read him, or genuinely proud that you have.

So, here I sit in my room, drinking a chai late--or my version of it--writing this on a lovely autumn day. I need to return to my notebook to jot down some things I've been working on.

I think I'll wait till next week to return to my Wordsmithing 101 post.

I'm just in a lazy place today.