Blog From A Broad

missing the great pumpkin

On Canadian Thanksgiving Monday, I was in the US of A looking at sea lions and buying large amounts of chocolate. As you do. I was a bit disappointed to be away this Thanksgiving, as last year I had my very first Big Turkey Dinner with Paul's family. I was kind of hoping to start a new tradition (I like to call it "Inflict Weird North American Food Items On English People") and have an annual excuse to consume pumpkin pie. Although there were many things Autumnal in the States, I couldn't bring myself to try the pumpkin scones at Starbuck's nor the pumpkin frappucino. I think I'll make a non-Thanksgiving pumpkin pie this weekend, however unorthodox that may seem. I'm crazy like that.



This also brings me to the topic of Halloween. I used to love trick or treating, and it wasn't all about the candy. Running around the streets after dark in costume with my friends was exhilarating. Part of the fun was the build up to the 31st - carving the pumpkin with my Dad (and my Mom roasting the seeds afterwards) and deciding what to dress up as. My Mom used to make my costumes when I was younger; she's quite the seamstress. I can remember being a princess (complete with a tin foil wand and tiara), a leopard, Little Red Riding Hood, Raggedy Ann (my Mom very ingeniously came up with the idea of gluing bright orange yarn to a shower cap to create a wooly wig), a pilgrim (I won McDonald's gift certificates at school in a best costume competition), and a 50's teenybopper. In later years, I was a punk rocker (before the days I started bleaching my hair and got my nose pierced), Magenta from "Rocky Horror Picture Show", and Deanna Troi from "Star Trek: Next Generation" (what can I say, I had the hair for it). I haven't gone to many Halloween bashes in my adult life, so the only costume I can remember from recent years is the fallen angel one from a couple of years ago. Last year I carved a pumpkin and will probably do another this year.



So it's probably going to be a pumpkiny weekend, if I can manage to find some in this part of the world (last year's selection was rather dire). We might be the only people in the neighbourhood with a lit pumpkin in the window and we might only get 4 or 5 trick or treaters again this year, and I'm probably only one of three people in this region who will even go near a pumpkin pie, but it does keep the spirit of a North American autumn alive somewhat.



I'll still pass on the pumpkin scones, though.