10/23/06 Pumpkin Ramblings

On a recent trip to my supermarket I was confronted with displays of Halloween goodies&. and Christmas decorations. What ever happened to Thanks Giving? But That's another story. Today the market for pumpkins mimics that of Christmas trees, You've got the white ones, big ones, little ones, decorated ones, exotic ones and I hate to admit it t&the fake ones. The fake tree can be decorated the fake pumpkin carved What is this world coming to? Isn't it a enough of a travesty that little children now think Christmas trees come in boxes, let alone that a jack-a- lantern made from molded plastic? And how is it really carving if you are not up to your elbows in seeds and goo? Thankfully, the orange pumpkin pile in the store parking lot proves that pumpkin purists remain , they do, and for those of us who demand that our pumpkins be real, we are in luck there is no shortage of good pumpkins here in the great Northwest. That isn't true for the East though this season, there are slim pumpkins picking at the pumpkin patch attributed to a fungus that has caused a moldy crop.