Sarahphim's World

Sarahphim is pretty happy today. I was thinking about pumpkins and pumpkin carving. I really like it. From the beginning, going to the farm and seeing the pumpkin patch. I was not a believer in the Great Pumpkin so the pumpkin patch for me was not so mythic sacred as it was just sacred. First it was the crunch of crisp Autumn leaves under your not so new school shoes at this point. Mom giving instructions to dad on the kind of pumpkins she wanted. "No no, not that one it has a dent on that side, how bout that one over there." My sister and I were given full leash to hunt, inspect, and pick out the most perfect pumpkin to inflict with cuts and grooves. Picking the perfect Pumpkin is an art. Like my mother said "No Dents" That's a bad carving pumpkin the bump will either tip the pumpkin. Now for long time I was obsessed with small pumpkins. Not too small it had to have a carveable face. But just small enough. Hah. With the diligence of CSI investigator at crime scene I inspected each specimen until the perfect pumpkin was found. Successful with our searches we would return home and then wait. If you carved them too early they got mushy so we usually waited to the last week before Halloween. Then the careful intricate planning took place as I dreamed about the face I would put on my Hallowed out creation. On the day of the gutting. We would cover our table with newspaper. Dad would cut the tops out just right so that the hole was not too small and the lid fit back on right and there was notch for ventilation. Then I would scoop out all the guts, cold and squishy and awesome. After the de-gutting was the moment, the great glorious moment of all that plotting and dreaming would come to fruition as I drew my design on my pumpkin. And it was. . . . . .
What I carved every single year of my mostly pre college life. Two triangle eyes, one triangle nose and a big mouth, sometime with one tooth sometimes with no teeth. Brilliant. God Bless Pumpkin Carving for Halloween!!
Sarahphim singing out.