Punkin' 'n' the Rock!

I got a pumpkin at Wegmans!

Hiya, Friends!  I can't help but notice that this time of year, pumpkin shows up in everything.  There's pumpkin spice, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin spice lattes ... Um, are pumpkin and pumpkin spice two different things?  Does anybody know?  I'll just count 'em as two different things.

Back to my tally: Pumpkin donuts, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin SPICE donuts and muffins, and of course, pumpkin pie.  Did I miss anything?  I'm sure I did.  It doesn't matter.

Pumpkin is EVERYWHERE this time of year, isn't it, Friends?!

And it's not just in things to eat!  NO!

I see pumpkins at stands by the side of the road.  They're usually sorted by size, and priced between $2 and $4 for small ones, $3 and $6 for medium pumpkins, and $4 and $7 for larges.  The really, really big pumpkins don't seem to turn up enough to need to be graded and put in their own spot at these roadside pumpkin purveyors.  I don't know what you do if you wanna buy one of the really bigguns.  Maybe you discreetly ask the pumpkin seller how much for the giant pumpkin.  Maybe you haggle like you do when you're buying a car.

I don't like to haggle, though.  It isn't my thing.

I think if I wanted to buy a great, big, giant pumpkin, I'd just go up to the pumpkin seller, and point to the one I want, say 'How much you want for that?' and if the price isn't crazy, like a quarter of a kajillion dollars or anything like that, I'd probably get out some foldin' cash and hand it over in exchange for the pumpkin.

Someday, I might grow my own pumpkins.  I like 'em that much!  Maybe I'll grow a coupla those great-big-huge pumpkins.

On my last trip to the Wegmans, I saw a curious sight.  All over the store, there were dozens and dozens of pumpkins.  In roadside pumpkin stand terms, they ranged from large smalls to small mediums, I'd guess.  Some were bigger than others, but they all had FACES painted on 'em!

Now, I didn't wanna make a big deal out of seeing pumpkins with FACES on, because for one thing, I think I've mentioned before about the way I get a little embarrassed for other little kids carrying on for stuff at the store.  I don't want anybody needing to be embarrassed for me.  I mean, I tried walking in those shoes up to Bully Hill that day, and the more I think about it, the more I'd like to just go back in time and give myself a chill pickle.

Back to my pumpkins with faces.

The worst thing about Pumpkin Season is that it has to end!

I couldn't help but be fascinated with 'em, though, Friends!  I have never seen anything like 'em in my whole life!  So I let an 'OH WOW!' out, and when Mommy asked what I thought was so fascinating, I pointed right to a pumpkin with a face on it!  Mommy asked me if I'd like to adopt one of those pumpkins with the face, and I sure did!  The pumpkin I picked out wasn't the biggest one in the store, and it wasn't the smallest, but I thought it had pleasant features.  The kissy lips made me laugh!

So the pumpkin rode around in the cart with me while we got all the things on our grocery list, and once it had its barcode scanned at the checkout, we were off to the races again.

The thing about things with faces, even pumpkins, is that it's hard to remember that they're not people.  You know what I mean, Friends?  Whether it's a pumpkin or a pancake, you go and put a face on it, and I think it's a friend.  I bring this up because when I read the tag on the pumpkin, I couldn't help but see that it said "decorated pie pumpkin."  I asked Mommy what this was all about, and she said you make pumpkin pie out of pumpkins, and some pumpkins are better for pie than other pumpkins, and my pumpkin with a face is apparently a good pumpkin pie-making pumpkin.

This upset me a little bit, Friends.  I'm not going to lie.  Because like I said, my pumpkin with a face has a face, and I've gotten attached.  And I know it can't keep its face if it's gonna be pie.

I'll love my pumpkin with a face for now, and enjoy pie later!

Then Mommy told me all about Jacko Lanterns, and how you take a pumpkin and cut out openings for its eyes, nose, and mouth, and then you stick a candle inside the pumpkin, and it makes a face that glows.  That sounds really fun and really pretty!  But then I wondered what happens after Halloween to Jacko Lanterns.  Mommy said that some Jacko Lanterns get smashed by big kids who don't have enough manners or enough to do on Halloween night, and the ones that don't get smashed wind up getting all wrinkly and mooshy.  And they can't even have pie made out of them.  They just become compost, if they're lucky.

That made me kind of sad, Friends, the thought of pumpkins going to waste, or getting all smashed on Halloween night.  So I guess I'm kinda glad that my pumpkin with a face is a pie-pumpkin, and that after Halloween, Mommy can cut up the pumpkin and make pie out of it, or maybe pumpkin pudding.  She says she's gonna let me pick what she makes out of the pumpkin.  I don't want to dishonor my pumpkin with a face by letting it get all mushy so it isn't good to anybody anymore.

So my plan is to love my pumpkin with a face while it's Halloween Season, and then look forward to a pumpkin treat made from it later on in the fall.  I think it's a pretty sound plan.  I just kinda wish I could go back to the days when I thought pumpkin grew in cans right at Wegmans.

All right, Friends!  I love ya!  Be nice to the pumpkins, but don't get too attached to 'em, even if they have faces, mmmmmkay?  Muah!