Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover


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Haiku Moment: fire

summer fire flames

explode across the landscape

burning with beauty

fire by Angie Quantrell

my summer garden, Yakima Valley


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Haiku Moment: lace decor

you didn’t plan for

winter’s ice fog descending

yet look – lace decor

lace decor by Angie Quantrell

Winter 2026, Yakima Valley

Thankful Sunday

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Haiku Moment: pumpkin heart

orange on green surprise

heart shows garden trick, fall joy

love me some pumpkins

pumpkin heart by Angie Quantrell

Yakima Valley


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2025 Pumpkin Report

Pumpkin Displa

Like last year, the “new seeds” portion of the pumpkin crop was off to a slow start. I repeatedly replanted several sections of the various garden areas I have. Not to great results.

Monet and pumpkins

BUT the “toss out some old pumpkins and let them rot and self-seed” portion of the crop performed with glee! Pumpkin glee!

pumpkin patch after first frost, before harvest

Keep reading to find how many pumpkins were harvested in 2025!

during the pumpkin harvest

Especially productive was the raised bed we have way out in the pasture. That’s where I left several pumpkins from 2024: a white one my son surprised me with after a trip to a pumpkin farm stand, a smaller orange one, and one of those tiny pumpkins. They rested in the bed over winter and sprouted early. Hundreds of sprouts. I had to rip out handfuls to give room to the rest. By pumpkin harvest day, the spread was huge! We actually had to curb the growth as it headed over to the horse pasture (not ours) next door. It took many hours to harvest them. And then more moving them, ripping out the vines, stepping gently to find any lost ones.

I love my pumpkins!

Also productive were the tiny pumpkins planted (but also I left some from 2024, so it’s a toss-up which ones actually sprouted) in the sunflower forest bed. I love these, because they vine and grow up. We had them climbing pumpkins, shrubbery, and some of the pine tree (which began as a twig with roots from the Arbor Day Foundation, and is slowly taking over said sunflower forest and patio). I love discovering where these cuties show up.

I had a little help

I had some muscle to help haul in the heavy wheelbarrows!

wagon for the animal farm next door

We even ended up with a wagon of rejects (partially eaten) for the animal farm on the other side of the pasture.

40 for church potluck

Plus 40 in the trunk to go to church for a potluck!

Finally, here are the 2025 pumpkin harvest totals! Drum roll please . . .

2025 Pumpkins on Display

White pumpkins: 17

Tiny pumpkins: 67

Orange pumpkins: 158

For an amazing grand total of 242 PUMPKINS!

So thankful for a wonderful harvest! Can’t wait until next year!

Just for fun, check out totals from last year here.


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Sunday Peace

pumpkins, Bible verse, Romans 12-18, peace
Fall Pumpkin Harvest

Yakima Valley


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Haiku Moment: mimic

you crouch and mimic

wearing the perfect bright hue

artfully hidden

mimic by Angie Quantrell

Yakima Valley


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Haiku Moment: a pop-py

fuzzy fat pods hang

drooping from scrawny stems, then

a pop-py bursts forth

a pop-py

by Angie Quantrell

Yakima Valley


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Haiku Moment: flycatchers

Flycatcher parent waiting for me to not look while it feeds the nestlings. My car antenna is a convenient perch for such activity.

mournful calls echo

as watchful parents dash, dart

flycatchers nest here

flap, crack-winged warning

startles, drives out predator

hoping for a snack

poofed fledglings appear

flapping, dropping, flight attemps

offspring launch from home

Both parents cling tightly to the fence in the wind, wishing I would go away and they could catch bugs (yay) and feed the babies. It’s hard to capture them still! Wind does not help.

flycatchers by Angie Quantrell

The clearest shot of the female (I believe). The wind is pushing up her chest feathers.

Every year for the past 7-8, we’ve had a pair of flycatchers nesting in the parking shed. It’s fascinating to watch them. And they eat flies (and all sorts of flying insects). Win-win for us.


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Haiku Moment: hope

from dark and frigid

unseen grasps for blue and gold

hope springs eternal

hope by Angie Quantrell

Yakima Valley