Carving the Pumpkin

The family went to the Farmers’ Market Sunday to pick out pumpkins. In years past, we went to big pumpkin farms set up as little “theme parks.” But this year we’ve been more busy than normal, plus the whole family has been battling illness this week.

We picked out four pumpkins: one for carving into a jack o’ lantern, one to send to Calfgri7’s school, and two small ones that Calfgrit4 wants to decorate.

At the kitchen table, I set about carving the biggest pumpkin, and CG4 worked his stickers and markers magic on the small two. CG7 directed my artistry — he wanted something scary for the trick-or-treaters to see on Halloween.

It’s usually a lot of fun to carve a jack o’ lantern, but doing it only one time a year means my skills never really improve much. I use a marker to draw out a design on the pumpkin, but my knife work never exactly stays on the lines. I’ve never been able to do the fancy designs that I see win awards, but my boys have always loved the jack o’ lanterns we’ve put on our front porch.

This year’s looks very similar to ones I’ve done before. The stitches across the forehead is new — CG7’s idea. He calls it our “Franken lantern.”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com