Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The day the leaves fall.

Fall in New England is pure splendor. All of the heat of summer fades and leaves us with crisp blue skies and an explosion of color.

The maples go first, all fiery red. All of the other trees seem to take their cues from the maples and like dominoes they all begin to turn.

This morning we woke up to find that our street had turned gold over night. The leaves had begun to fall in earnest. With every cold damp breeze there were more on the car, the stairs- I found a few in the house having hitched a ride in Rebecca's hair and on my boot heels.

The day never seemed to brighten and the heat was turned on for the first time this season. It was a message from winter- "I am coming, prepare."

It was the right day to carve pumpkins.

So much planning goes into carving jack-o-lanterns. The children draw pictures of possible garish faces. Many are discarded.

Once the final choices are made the real work begins. The pumpkins must be gutted.

I gut mine in record time with Rebecca not far behind. Lily tarries knowing that eventually someone else will pull the sticky mess of seeds from the orange fruit.

Finally it is time to carve and this a job that falls to me. By now the children have wandered off, allowing the factory of mom to turn their designs into truth.

There are seeds on the floor and now bits of fallen carved pumpkin walls are gobbled by the dogs who wait beneath me.

One by one I complete the faces. In go the candles. Off go the lights.

Darkness.

Then...







Boo!

6 comments:

TwoBusy said...

This is probably my favorite thing you've ever written. (That I've seen.)

Also, your pumpkins are totally badass.

Anonymous said...

Love them. xo Mari

Left-Handed Housewife said...

I lived in New England when I was in grad school and was amazed by autumn. It was almost worth the six months of winter to be surrounded by all that beauty. Almost.

Great pumpkins!

frances

Ginger said...

I love how you carved the pumpkins. Great job.
Now, can you go out and take some pictures of the leaves and all that beautiful color? My dream vacation has always been to go to New England in the fall....probably never happen, so I have to just look at pictures. lol.

Pom Pom said...

Beautiful writing, Sara!
It's Punkie Night in England! They display their jack-o-lanterns and then tour around by the light of the candles! I can just see your beautiful street - golden! Happy! Happy!

Lisa said...

Awesome pumpkins! You girls did a fine job!
Hugs, Lisa