On All Hallows' Eve

 Not much to report really, it's a cold, wet and miserable day. Thank goodness I took the photo below yesterday when there was an hour or two of sunshine in the afternoon.

The leaves that had been clinging desperately to its branches are falling off the Tulip Tree quite quickly now, blowing here and there across the garden.  

 

Whirling upwards from the lawn occasionally in a wind driven flurry of activity.  Scattering across the flower beds and catching into the hedges.

They are laying in the water in the bird baths and covering the pond which is near to overflowing.

 

They will have to stay there until it is dry enough and calm enough to go outside and rake them up.

Tonight we will place a tea light in the pumpkin and settle down.  Last night there were fireworks cracking and fizzing long into the night causing dogs to bark around the Crescent, there will most likely be more this evening. I worry for cats and dogs and the foxes and badgers at this time of year.  Squirrels and hedgehogs too. 

I expect this will be the second year without 'trick or treat' knocks at the door not only because of the ongoing presence of the virus but also because of the stormy weather.  The wind is strong,  plant pots, wheelie bins and a water butt have blown across the garden and even more of those leaves have said farewell to the tree.

Take care everyone

Yesterday and Today

Tomorrow is All Souls' Day and today is All Saints' Day following on from yesterday's All Hallows' Eve or Hallowe'en.  I love the sounds of all these celebrations redolent of past beliefs and traditions; the wonderful mystery of history.

Nowadays Hallowe'en or Halloween is more about carving pumpkins and 'trick or treat' which just wasn't around when I was a child in the late 50s and early 60s. I do remember we sometimes used to carve out a swede or sugar beet and put a candle inside to make a lantern but I remember more Mischief Night and Bonfire Night in our village.  Bonfire night then was more about the bonfire than the fireworks although we would probably have a little box of fireworks with the usual Roman Candles, Catherine Wheels, Rockets, Jumping Jacks and Bangers.  We always had a packet of sparklers too.  Bonfire toffee would be made and potatoes wrapped in foil and placed at the edge of the bonfire to bake.  I can still remember the sounds and smells, the heat of the fire as we stood watching the fireworks, warm in our winter coats, woolly hats and gloves, holding our sparklers and waving them in the dark.

Last night we had lots of little witches, ghosts and vampires knocking at the front door dipping their hands into our witch's hat to pull out their treats (fun size mars bars and milky ways this year)  each child took just one bar except one little girl who grabbed four or five so we ran out quicker than we'd hoped for but luckily we had just enough for the last visitors.  Phew!  The photo above was taken at a nearby garden centre in the coffee shop.  Standing next to it was a life size Father Christmas - I cut him off as it is too early to think about him yet - I want to enjoy the seasons and the celebration of Halloween and Bonfire Night and reflection of silence on 11th November - only then will I think about Christmas and the first thing will be making the Christmas pudding on 'stir-up' Sunday.  I love Christmas but it starts far too early now and in doing so loses a certain magic.

This morning we had a lovely walk at Jackson's Coppice near Eccleshall. It was so warm walking in the sunshine and seemed more like 1st October than the 1st of November. 

 After the walk we returned home for a lunch of a very seasonal homemade pumpkin and carrot soup (made with the only pumpkin that made it out of our garden this year) It was very tasty with a cheese topped bread.

Today is my brother-in-law M's birthday and my friend P's birthday.  Happy birthday to you both on All Saints' Day.

Cool Pumpkins

You may remember my gardening  post  from August this year?  Well three and a half of the pumpkins survived. One was slightly chewed by slugs so we cut the bad parts away and used the good flesh to make a pumpkin pie.  That was a few weeks ago.  The other three pumpkins were harvested at the same time and have been sitting on top of the fridge waiting for this weekend.

We had pumpkin soup on Saturday from one of the carved pumpkins and I found a recipe on-line which Paul adapted and used to make Pumpkin bread yesterday (he'll be adding it to his bread website later - see my sidebar for the link).  The bread is actually more like cake but was a lot tastier than the soup - I preferred the butternut squash soup we made last weekend. 

Last night we had about five different groups of 'Trick or Treaters' - the little ones came first in splendid costumes, their parents hovering halfway up the drive.  Our last group were some boys of about ten or eleven years old.  We had put the smaller of the two carved pumpkins near the front door with a lighted tea-light inside to guide the way - after the boys had taken two or three sweets from the bowl one of them said  to me 'Thank you, Happy Halloween - I like your pumpkin - it's small, but cool!'

Later it was lovely to sit in the light from the pumpkins and other candles with a glass of wine and Downton Abbey on the television.

We've saved the seeds from the pumpkins and the butternut squash to see if we can grow some more next year.

It's Halloween!

Whilst I was speaking to a friend on the 'phone a couple of days ago there was a knock at her door and her husband went to answer it; he came back to say it was 'trick or treaters' who were calling early because they were flying out to Teneriffe on Saturday! Does anyone else think this is slightly bizarre?


Anyway I have a bowl full of little packets of chocolate buttons for all the little witches, elves, ghosts and fairies who may call. The bigger ones wearing scream masks, Dracula teeth or with hatchets in their heads will have to swallow their 'street cred' and manage with buttons too - if there are any left from the first round of little ones of course!

I've dug out my 'Scottish Play' tea towel from the bottom of the drawer, not used all that often, but quite apt for today I think.

However you spend Halloween, have a great time!

The Pumpkin

I thought, seeing as it is Halloween, I would trace the journey of a pumpkin from the farmer's field to its final destination. I've only noticed these fields of pumpkins over the last few years and it seems that more and more pumpkins are grown here in the UK. It's not a sight I'm used to but they do look wonderful.

So let's follow the pumpkin from the field where it is picked and taken to storage perhaps and then to a distribition centre; most of the pumpkins will end up in our supermarkets. Some, like the one below will end up at a farm shop, I'm guessing that these ones came straight from field to shop but I could be wrong.

Well, let's purchase the pumpkin and take it home and see what we can do with it. Last year I made 'Spooky Soup' with the flesh of the pumpkin whilst Paul hollowed out the pumpkin to make a 'scary' face . I expect we will do much the same this year.

So, tea lights in the pumpkin face, warming soup ready and a huge bowl of lollipops for the little trick or treaters.

I think we may be ready. Have a good Halloween!