I am thankful for you!
Sending warm thoughts of delicious food, blessed fellowship, and grateful thoughts.
Peace and grace.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tag Archives: pumpkins
Haiku Moment: orange girl
October’s color
orange, furry, smooth, soft, warm,
purr, marmalade girl
orange girl by Angie Quantrell
Seattle furry friend, Daisy
Pumpkin Patch 2020
In the year 2020, everything changed. Yes, we all know this.
Each year, I’ve planned a pumpkin patch outing with my grands. This year, we were lucky to find one (a pumpkin patch, not a grand). And this year, I had separate trips with the two families, mostly due to scheduling, but also . . . 2020.
The Quantrells went with me on a very rainy day to Washington Fruit and Gift Shop at Barrett Orchards. We’ve used Barrett’s displays as backdrops and adventures before, but never on such a wet outing. We were the ONLY people outside and inside other than employees. Though adults and children alike were damp and dripping, pumpkins were chosen and lovingly carried home for fall fun. Papa broke my rule (see below) and carried out Donavyn’s huge pumpkin.
The Aucutts went with me to Dagdagan’s Fruit and Vegetable Stand, where the owners conveniently displayed a mini straw bale maze filled with piles of pumpkins. We were the only ones in it for most of the time and need only don our masks to go inside to pay for the chosen orbs. I might say, the older they get (the grands) the larger the pumpkins they choose. My rule: you have to be able to carry it. That sort of helps me out.
Both Hayden and Donavyn (oldest child in their respective families) chose close to 30-pound pumpkins. An oldest thing? A boy thing? Who knows. Autumn, the youngest, chose three mini pumpkins, caring for them as a mother would her young children (or stuffed animals). Gage chose traditionally and Khloe went with a white pumpkin, though she also leaned towards a larger choice.
Happy Fall to all!
Sunday Inspiration
Photo by Angie Quantrell
Text by God
Haiku Moment: fall passion
colors scream intense
vibrant, exploding passion
swan song before cold
brilliant gemstone hues
garden offspring demand gaze,
dried promise for spring
hastily comes foe
winter breathes down our neck, quick!
capture fall passion
fall passion by Angie Quantrell
Souvenirs of the long summer growing season. Just like that-blink-and cold winds usher in the end of heat and beginning of cold. Get out today and store fall beauty in your mind’s eye to save for the dark cold snowy white and gray days of winter.
Smashing Pumpkins (2nd Annual)
The pumpkins were frozen solid, as was our turkey, on Thanksgiving Day. This made for an invigorating hunt for fresh turkey to cook for the main event. It also made for challenging smashing of the pumpkins.
Overall, smashing pumpkins this year was a bust. 😉 Only 2 large carving pumpkins were hollow enough to smash when tossed. One rotten butternut succumbed to smashing by foot. All other squash, regardless of variety, bounced upon re-entry to gravity-meets-earth. Add to this recipe of disappointment, drenching buckets of rain descended on this, the 2nd Annual Smashing Pumpkins event. Rain and icy cold temperatures. Bah-humbug.
Still, there is hope. The next warm day (will there be one before spring?), more attempts will be made to roll, toss, and smash the pumpkin stash. In hopes that next summer, the pumpkin fairy will deliver bounties of new beauties.
Until next Thanksgiving Day, have a wonderful winter, dreaming of sugar pie pumpkins and dancing jack-ô-lanterns.
Toasty warm wishes to you!
Happy Hump Day Haiku Challenge: 31 October
autumn’s pumpkin king!
here today, cooked tomorrow;
commence with slaughter
by Angie Quantrell
good-bye 31 of October, hello 1 November!
Besides pumpkin delicacies, what are you looking forward to in November? We’d love to read your haiku! Or just your comment. But you could write your comment in 5-7-5 syllable format! That would be fun. 😉 Also, it would be haiku.
Happy Hump Day Haiku Challenge: pumpkin
harbinger of change
fecund to bursting with life,
sleep cycle begin
pumpkin by Angie Quantrell
Pumpkins are some of my favorite fall sights. Add colorful falling leaves, the crunch and swish of piles swirling as I walk, brisk air, silver mornings, and bustling life preparing for winter’s rest. Autumn is the time to stock up, cozy up, and cuddle in to enjoy hot soup, warm drinks, and wild weather. Who’ll join me?
What signs of fall do you enjoy? Add your favorites in the comment section. Bonus points for haiku!
It’s the RV Life for Me
by Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell
We live in an RV.
That’s recreational vehicle for you wondering about the abbreviation. Our tenement on wheels is like the Big Green Rolling Turd in the Robin Williams movie RV. Without the backed up sewer, ripped off awning, and Class A drive-and-walk-around feature.
Our RV is the type you drive in, unhook, set up, and drive away.
The Quantrells are on an adventure.
Phase 1: Complete – The house is sold. Closed. Done.
Here’s a chance to say “Thanks” to our 2 fantastic realtors, Stephanie Blehm and her son Kenny Blehm! They did a fantastic job. And they survived Kevin. I mean our process. Wink, wink.
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Sorry, Kenny. Mabel thinks your card is tasty! |
Phase 2: In Process – Live full-time in RV. Settle cats and selves in for the winter. Learn to grocery shop often for not much at all (no space). Wear the same clothes all the time (no space). Store rubber stamping supplies (no space). Eat outside with guests (no space).
Search for property and research choices.
Phase 3: In the Future – Build small home (tiny is too minute) on out-of-town property.
Our lives in a nutshell.
It’s been great so far. Things did get a little tense every now and then (sorry, honey). We relieved ourselves of many possessions. That felt good. Now we can see what we really need to survive.
An outdoor catio is a definite NEED. Poor kitties have adjusted well, but opportunites for exercise in the RV are limited. And, well, I just need them-who-love-outside-time to be out in the fresh air. Soon, babies, daddy will have it all done. It’s going to be great! I’ll post pictures when it’s complete.
Pumpkin season is here, and despite the lack of space indoors, the big beautiful world beyond the RV walls has plenty of space to display my favorite seasonal produce.
Anyone else out there living in an RV? Who else loves kitties, pumpkins, and fall? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Early Pumpkin Harvest
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Safe and gorgeous |
By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell
I harvested 8 pumpkins this morning.
It’s August.
Harvesting pumpkins in August just does not sound right. Especially when it will be around 90 later this afternoon.
Not right at all.
Extenuating circumstances encouraged me to wade deep in the bristly pumpkin patch and knee high grass to grasp my favorite orange fall buddies. Er, I mean, signs of the season. Sure, I talk to my pumpkins. And those dratted slugs and squash bugs. I do admit to speaking kindly to my pumpkin pals. Not so much with the vermin.
Doesn’t everyone talk to their plants and garden inhabitants? No? Hmmm.
Slugs. They were eating HOLES in my pumpkins! I rolled one large pumpkin over and a huge spotted slug, probably 3-4 inches long when stretched out, was coiled comfortably in the blossom end hollow. UGH. Tiny little slime booger slugs were creeping all over as well.
Odd. Spring. Weather. We had the weirdest spring. That is all I can blame on the extremely early crops. It was very warm, very hot, and then very cold. Plants in my area don’t know what to do. Except grow.
Squash bugs. I’ve been so busy packing up the house, I missed recognizing the sign of yellowed leaves that indicated I had extra special garden pest visitors. Why, those hungry little insects have moved right in!
Orange. These pumpkin babies were colorful and ready to visit my porch.
Snip, snip, tug, and off we went away from hungry mouths to the safety of shade and protection.
Fall (in August) here we come!
How is your garden growing this year?
Love, Laughter, and Life 