Halloween Wind Up

We spent the weekend with friends in Connecticut, where we made an apple-centric outing to Maple Bank Farm in Roxbury. It's one of the oldest farms in the country, dating back to the 1700s, and the family who runs it has done so for 9 generations. They had about 12 different types of apples there right then, heirloom and not, all yummy. We didn't do any apple picking or pumpkin patching, but the farm stand and its surroundings were so pretty it felt good and autumn-y. Here's Rosemary with her sweet buddy Bea. R completely refused to put down her hot spiced cider for the photo.

In this one she agreed to put the cider down but only because she wanted to eat her apple instead.

Back at home in Brooklyn, we just carved our pumpkin today and are treating it like (I recall hearing) the eskimos treat whales they've hunted, making use of its every part. Here's a little pumpkin lid printing from this morning.

Later on today we'll cook up the pumpkin seeds. She's been looking forward to making them the way they did at school, or I guess just one of the ways. They made both the usual savory style but also sweet ones using cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar (she gave me the recipe). Then they took a poll and made a chart of which kind each kid liked better. They did this last year too and R categorically refused to try them. Progress!

Carved pumpkins below - R made the faces, grown ups did the carving. Jason (handiwork on right pumpkin) clearly has the smoother touch, though I don't think we'll be winning any family pumpkin carving contests just yet. Grinch standing by (not stealing Halloween).