There is a moment when the air is just a lil crisper. Smokey fumes curl through the bright blue skies. The tips of the trees appear to be dulling, just a lil. And the word on the street brings a pulse to my heart that makes it skip a beat: Pumpkin Spice is at Dunkin Donuts.
I had thee most perfect pumpkin latte yesterday for breakfast. It was hot and sweet and pumpkin-y. It's the indicator that we are entering into my favorite time of year. The season that I missed out on for 30 years of my life, living in Southern California.
Most the time, when we started back to school in the beach cities, you couldn't even wear your school clothes. It was still too damn hot! There was never a time where I kicked my feet through amber, orange, yellow and blood red leaves. You could go pumpkin picking in your shorts, if you wanted. And there were NO $1 pumpkin patches where I grew up. Although you won't find those much now either. We would pay HUGE prices for a big pumpkin. And never did we go to an actual patch, wandering the vines for the perfect squash.
My dad would get the biggest one out of the "patch" (re: over priced nursery). His job was to make the scariest pumpkin. I would usually make the most interesting face. My sisters more traditional triangle eyes and smiles. Then there is my mom. She would find the oddest shaped pumpkin and then try to make it into something. One year she scored a long, oval, dark green pumpkin, she laid on it's side, and it became a school bus.
Yes...I said a school bus. I don't get my creativity off the wind ya know.
There is just something about the tradition of the pumpkins that represent the fall season for me. Even on my trip to visit, my now wife, for my first October on the east coast, sealed the deal of my moving from my seaside home. We picked pumpkins and carved them, went apple picking. (it was the most amazing thing to pluck a delicious apple from a branch and eat it on the spot) and got fresh cider pressed on the spot. And you could keep things on the porch, cuz it was cool enough!
It was like my own lil autumnal Disney World! I fell in love. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, but to be wrapped in east coast autumn only makes it even better.
No comments:
Post a Comment