it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown...

The holiday TV special about Charlie Brown and his crew and the pumpkin first aired in October 1966. I probably would have watched it, had I still been living in the United States, but in July of that year, we'd moved back to Poland, and the last thing on my mind then was Halloween. Poland (in those days) did not acknowledge or celebrate Halloween. 

I didn't miss this particular holiday. Living in Manhattan, in a mostly adult apartment building, I was not going to have much opportunity for collecting candy from neighbors. Only once did I even try to do so in my building. My mom allowed me to take an old sheet and convert it into a ghost costume. I rang some doorbells on my 9th floor. I got zero candies out of the deal. (In the following year I went to stay with my friend Jackie who lived on Long Island and had a proper gang of kids going door to door, and the candy loot was then substantial.) Since my parents weren't holiday loving people, pumpkins were not brought into the house for pumpkin carving, or pumpkin pie, or pumpkin anything. I probably never even touched a pumpkin until I moved to live as a nanny for a young child in New York. I was then 19. I assume they had pumpkins, but I don't really remember.

So is this why I never thought of Halloween as especially fun? 

Oh, but today we had great fun at a pre-Halloween outing that had all the trappings of this holiday, with some Wisconsin farm motifs thrown in for good measure.

 

Millie and I wake up to gorgeous weather. She has a bit of an upset tummy so I dont linger in bed (which is a shame because I did not go to sleep until way after 1 a.m.). But you cant feel anything but grand on a morning like this. Fall sunshine, misty blue skies, a cool breeze. Just fabulous.

Breakfast...

And then she snoozes while I plant. Just one rose. I dont have any more here right now. (I also invite a neighbor over to inspect and consider taking two of my oldest plants (dating back to.... May!). I'm having trouble with them in the places where they were planted and she has a large yard and loves to grow gifted flowers.

[So how many roses do I still expect to put in this Fall? I believe 17. And not a penny more!]

I have a noon zoom call with my Warsaw friend and then very quickly I go to my daughter's (Millie stays in her crate). I pick her up along with the three kids and we set out for the Enchanted Valley Acres.

Madison families know and love this place -- it's just about 20 minutes outside the city, located in a beautiful dale where Christmas trees grow and fields of corn are harvested to create corn mazes.  The idea here is to structure a Halloween-ish experience for kids, especially young kids. Yes there are pumpkins that you can buy and take home. But there are also themed activities: large slides, goats to feed, orange trampolines to bounce on, tractor rides, horseshoes to swing and toss, chains to lift up, big tires to roll in. And so much more.

They charge an entrance fee and though it is steep (in my view), it is well worth it, especially on a gorgeous day. Kids have freedom to roam and try their hand at any number of things. I'll post fifteen photos to give you a sense of the place.

And of course, there are the pumpkins. Each of us got to pick their own. Sparrow chose the largest he could find, Snowdrop picked the most perfectly shaped one, and Sandpiper wanted the one that came with a small paint set that you could use for it. 

Since Millie had had to stay in her crate for some 3.5 hours, once I returned home, I immediately took her to the nearby dog park.

She has mixed feelings about it. She loves dogs, but she prefers to tango with ones whose scent she recognizes.

Still, she does like the walk. It's just long enough to give her some movement and short enough that it doesn't wear her down. And the dogs are always on the friendly side of things (except for my two: Henry and Sadie both misbehaved here horribly, though not toward other dogs. Toward the dog owners).

Evening at home. Guess who is tired after this very full day? Yes, Millie of course. She and me both! 

with so much love...