 |
| Sizing up the job. |
Zoe and I went shopping together, looking for three pumpkins.
On the sidewalk by the Northland Village Mall we found two huge crates filled with pumpkins.
Zoe's job was to select the pumpkins.
On the sidewalk by the Northland Village Mall we found two huge crates filled with pumpkins.
Zoe's job was to select the pumpkins.
 |
| Spooky Mickey |
We came home with two large pumpkins, one for me, one for Zoe, and one small one for Tonia.
When we got home, Zoe went to the internet to find examples of how other people have carved pumpkins.
 |
| Putting the design onto the pumpkin. |
She studied the images for a long time. We saw ones where people have cut away the hard skins and carved it in more detail, sometimes of human faces, sometimes of horrible creatures.
The one pumpkin carved with an image of Mickey Mouse was the one she liked best.
When the top of the pumpkin was removed and the room was filled with the earthy scent of pumpkin seeds and the scent of the strings that circle the seeds inside of the cavity, that is the moment Zoe pulled up the neck of her T-shirt and hid her nose in its binding.
She has a heightened sensitivity to smell and the odour of the pumpkin was making her involuntarily gag.
 |
| So much goop to pull from the cavity of the pumpkin. |
“Do you want to go to the other room? I can clean it out for you.”
No.
She wasn’t missing a moment and soon the t-shirt came down and we struggled to get remove the insides and get to our real job – getting faces on our pumpkins.
She was happy with her finished project.
 |
| We took the seeds out of the house to reduce the smell. Next year we may tackle drying them out and baking them. |
She told me that I could take mine home if I wanted to.
I told her I would leave it at her house for a few days and then that mine was destined for a pot of curried pumpkin soup.
Arta
What a huge pumpkin! I love the recipe for pumpkin soup that is in Charise's cookbook, I forget the name. Wish I were there to eat the soup.
ReplyDeleteZoe, I carved my first pumpkin this year. The hardest part was how one of the tools that was really easy for me to use, I accidentally broke. Also, at the start it smelled horrible and the inside looked horrible before I scooped all the insides out.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was carving a cat, but the ears looked like eyes and were at eye height, so I decided to turn it into a face, so I finished up the eyes and then made a circle mouth; however not much oxygen could get in so at the back I opened up a rectangular area to get more oxygen in. I needed oxygen in there so candle in the pumpkin could burn for much longer.
You have a really nice design for your pumpkin. Did you put a candle inside?