Pumpkin Love: Thursday's Reflection

I love pumpkins and urge you to hug a pumpkin or two, as seen in this picture taken a couple falls ago. 

Perhaps I can trace my love of pumpkins to a book I had as a child--the Disney version of Cinderella. When you opened the front cover out popped an orange paper pumpkin transformed into the coach that took Cinderella to the ball. I was delighted each time I opened that book.  

Fast forward to one of our first years living at Sweetwater Farm in Ohio when my parents came to visit one fall. My mother told me about something new--WHITE PUMPKINS! I don't recall where she had seen them or learned about them, but that very weekend we went out into Amish country in search of the great white pumpkin. If I recall, correctly, we were successful.

A few years after that our son Geof and daughter-in-love Cricket were married in October  and guess what? Pumpkins were the main decoration at the rehearsal dinner, which we held at the farm. 




Every year I look forward to pumpkin time and all the ways to decorate with them both inside and outside the house. Real ones of all colors and shapes and clever fake ones, too. They make me smile, and don't we need to do that right now?

So in the interest of smiling, here are a few favorite pumpkin pictures from the past, including ones with grandkids, Maren and Peter in much younger days. 

Maren hugging a pumpkin.

Peter and Maren

An Invitation
What makes you smile these days? I would love to know.