Recently, a friend of mine moved from Chicago to California. Yeah, everyone tried to talk him out of it. But, it was a great professional opportunity. Despite the obvious reasons against CA, Midwesterners just do Autumn so much better. Case in point – he was quite disappointed when he took his kids to get pumpkins. The closest ‘patch’ was a parking lot. (Pause) Linus would totally question the sincerity of that location.
Still, it made me ponder the positive potential of pumpkin posting.
personal pumpkin tendencies
- My mother-in-law makes the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever tasted. It’s her crust – thick; not too flakey.
- A local bakery makes a perfect pumpkin bread. I look forward to it every Fall.
- Not a fan pumpkin pancakes.
- I’m not a big pumpkin carver. I do great prep work. I can clean out the inside of a pumpkin better than Lucy herself. For some reason though, I just don’t have the patience to carve the damn thing.
- As an alternative to carving, I have a floral arrangement placed inside. No snide comments, okay. Ceramic pumpkins work best. Real pumpkins tend to mold quickly. That’s, like, totally gross.
Random patches
A pumpkin is a cultivar of a squash plant, most commonly of Cucurbita pepo, that is round, with smooth, slightly ribbed skin, and deep yellow to orange coloration.
The word pumpkin originates from the word pepon, which is Greek for “large melon”. The French adapted this word to pompon, which the British changed to pumpion and to the later American colonists became known as pumpkin.
The term pumpkin has no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. That’s kinda harsh. I’m sure Linus would completely disagree.
All pumpkins are winter squash and native to North America.
The Belgian man set a world record with a super squash that weighed 2,624.6 pounds. The North American record is 2,261.5 pounds.
color me pumpkin
- The color of pumpkins derives from orange carotenoid pigments.
- An unripe, giant pumpkin begins life a bright yellow color. As it grows, it gradually turns a pale yellow, and finally some shade of orange. There is also a variety that ripens to yellow.
- Casper and Baby Boo are the most common white pumpkin varieties. Very appropriate, eh?
- A Blue Pumpkin is often referred to as Australian Blue Pumpkin, or Jaradale. However, it more closely resembles a Turban squash than a true pumpkin.
- There truly are red pumpkins. The best known, yet hard to find variety is “Rouge D’Etant”. There is also a variety called “Cinderella”. That’s kinda’ fun. Though Sally probs has something to say about that.
parting pumpkin seed
Fun fact – Actually, it’s a stupid tidbit. Every time I watch the Charlie Brown Halloween Special, I fall asleep. No idea why, but I do. The DVD cartoon is like 23 minutes long. How is that possible?
Halloween is next week. So, my timing is spot on. But according to Linus, it’s all about “publicity“.
Good grief! I’m doomed.
