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Pumpkin spice
Pumpkinfest!
I don’t know who thought a whole community would give a bright orange darn about everything “pumpkin”, but those folks deserve some kind of fancy-schmancy, pumpkin-spicy recognition! Pumpkinfest is such a wonderful event even the weather cooperates. Pumpkinfest is the gateway to all of the seasonal goodness I like the best! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a pumpkin-spice latte kinda gal, but I do enjoy a good spice cookie and a black coffee, especially at this time of year.
Pumpkinfest weekend also reminds me of all of the things that need to be done before the barn doors won’t slide because of the ground is frozen. And who knew I’d be writing something like that? Imagine a transplanted city gal worrying about getting the lawn furniture, BBQ, bicycles and garden implements into “the barn” before the ground freezes! Never in a bee-jillion years would I have seen me as a person whose yard clean-up deadlines were dictated by the weather or up-fronted by an event called “Pumpkinfest”. Nope, not me. It was never on my radar back in the olden days. Before we came to the County, our biggest seasonal concern was hoping the City cleared the roads after a snowfall, the TTC was running on time, and remembering to put a boot tray in the front hall of our apartment to catch all of the snowmelt and road salt from our winter footwear. Here, in the County, the days and weeks after Pumpkinfest are devoted to stacking and storing the lawn chairs, scraping the grill and wheeling it into the small side of the barn, cleaning the bike chains, winterizing the lawn mower, putting the rakes, hoes, hoses and putting the kid’s Tonka Trucks and Excavators away. Of course, we switch all of the warm weather stuff out for the snow shovels, the festive lawn decor, the tangles of outdoor holiday lights, the ice scrapers and the bags of ice melting stuff. Our kids used to help with all of those jobs, but now they’re doing the fall-to-winter switcheroos at their own homes. How do they manage without Pumpkinfest to remind them?
Pumpkinfest weekend means it’s time to make sure the freezer is stocked with emergency cookies and muffins— because you never know when a snow squall will hit and a coffee party breaks out. And along with the sweet treats, perhaps a few soups, stews and sauces need to be added to the stash, just in case. I know it all sounds kinda “Little House on the Prairie” but let’s face it, the Ingalls didn’t have a freezer, and I’m not about to dig a root cellar or buy a bunch of Mason Jars to preserve a pile of vegetables and fruit. I did make a big batch of red currant jam back in the early 1970s only to find out those red things growing in the backyard weren’t currants. Thank goodness we didn’t have a hankering for “jam” on our toast before the landlady told me they were Bittersweet.
Pumpkinfest! If you didn’t get a chance to join in the Pumpkinfest fun I’m fairly certain it will happen again next year. In the meantime, dig out your snuggies and get ready for Parade Weekend. I’m sure I saw Advent Calendars, festive greeting cards and holiday goodies in the drug store last week. It’ll be the weekend everything switches from pumpkin spice to peppermint hot chocolate.
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