Back Home on the Farm.

Yesterday was spent on a big farm in rural Virginia..

 My kid, after browsing a giant field full of orange pumpkins, found two tiny white gourds and said,"I'm ready!" and trudged back down the hill alone with a gourd in each hand...and got back on the tractor. He knows what he likes, apparently.

photos by Emphatic Reprieve Photography

Carving night

I feel as if October has been eluding me, so we decided to carve a pumpkin tonight.

I asked my other half if he carved pumpkins as a child...
his response was, 'I don't know...I don't really remember...' to which I replied, 'if you don't remember carving pumpkins, then it never happened'

October Country

This documentary first caught my eye last year...because of the title, naturally. But as I watched it, I became a little too fascinated by it. It's incredibly awkward and real, and reminded me so much of so many families I've known in rural West Virginia. It's that horrible train-wreck that you can't stop looking at, as you hate yourself for gawking.

Halloween Safety 1977

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Why, oh why...

Do things like this no longer happen.

1940s National Biscuit Co. Halloween Spiced Wafer Box and Canco Halloween tin.

I want to reside in that little house back there.



image found here.

Trick or Treat.

Image found here.

Baby Jack

Image found here.

Autumn Harvest

From the 1964 edition of the book Autumn Harvest, by Alvin Tresselt, illustrated by the great Roger Duvoisin. Copyright 1951.

Oh, hello...

Mossy terracotta jack-o-latern that I would have to sell a kidney to purchase.

 

From At West End

As if in a dream...

 

More images here

Strange things are good.

Image found here.

Thanks, Mamie.

 

From the Wood smoke and Pumpkins Blog

Kenny and his pumpkin.

Imagery.

Bad acting and Canadian accents aside, I was a fan of Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask episode.  I'm not entirely sure why, but I think a lot of it had to do with this scene:

That little novelty shop, the leaves skipping across the the street, and of course, those kids pulling a wagon of jack-o-lanterns on an autumn evening. It's a scene that I was sure I would encounter in the coming years of my life, but now assume no longer exists.

Image from The Blood-Curdling Blog of Monster Masks

We all have our place.