On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
As Hallowe'en progresses, from time zone to time zone, East to West, would you do Ricochet a favor? Pull out your camera or smartphone, snap a picture of one or two of the most impressive/scariest/most creative Jack O'Lanterns in your neighborhood, then post them right here. Heck. We've all had it up to here with politics. Let's have a little fun.
I'm composing this on Sunday evening, the day before Hallowe'en, to be sure to catch the attention of Claire, in Turkey, and Judith, in Israel (I don't know if anybody carves pumpkins over there, but I thought I'd at least give Claire and Judith to comment on Hallowe'en in their parts of the world), but I herewith do my best to get things rolling with a couple of shots I took in our own neighborhood last year.
Happy Hallowe'en, good people of Ricochet!
Boo.
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Apr '11
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
Pagan! Pagan idolater!
(I don't personally have a problem with Halloween, but some of my Christian friends do, in the same way they reject Santa Claus: "False god. False god!" We gently/vociferously mock each other on "Christian holidays" co-opted.)
Anyway, I have a picture someplace taken at my friend's house, of six or seven leering jack'o'lanterns on the bench outside the front door. Lemme see if I can find it....
Oct '10
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
It's an old picture, of me (center), my brother (left) and my best friend (right) back in the early '80s.
Feb '11
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
I've rather taken a liking to Halloween over the years, as it happens to be my birthday. I've met two other working associates over the years with the same birthday and we all agreed that once someone knew of our birthday, they seldom forgot it. I've always enjoyed that thought of remembrance by others. Happy Halloween to all and remember, you don't really know Jack until you know his birthday.
Apr '11
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
I have to admit, I feel a little ripped off at the moment, New Zealand doesn't celebrate Halloween, and while there are movements to start a Halloween celebration here, I don't know how it could ever work, the trouble being, it is spring here... There aren't a lot of pumpkins, it isn't gloomy, it is just plain hard to get into the mood... I miss Halloween...
Mar '11
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
I don't think anyone in Israel celebrates Halloween. I did see a pumpkin (squash, really, just like Claire writes) recipe on an Israeli news website to mark the date, though. And when Thanksgiving comes around, American expats here definitely pine for turkey and cranberry sauce.
Edited on October 31, 2011 at 12:03pmRe: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
How about a picture of my little punkins yesterday after we ditched the neighborhood Halloween Parade (which involved so much standing around that my husband and I jokingly called it "Occupy Del Ray")? An Octopus and a Cheeseburger. On a seesaw:
Mar '11
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
Unfortunately, when I enrolled my children in pre-school I did not realize the classrooms were located in a biological weapons factory with lax safety standards. Since matriculation our family has befriended every known viral species and it looks like we're ready for another go. As of 4:30AM, our Tiger has the flu. No word yet on the Flamingo.
Needless to say, there will be no pumpkin pictures. More devastatingly, no almond joys for Papa.
Dec '10
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
Casey: Unfortunately, when I enrolled my children in pre-school I did not realize the classrooms were located in a biological weapons factory with lax safety standards. Since matriculation our family has befriended every known viral species and it looks like we're ready for another go. As of 4:30AM, our Tiger has the flu. No word yet on the Flamingo.
Needless to say, there will be no pumpkin pictures. More devastatingly, no almond joys for Papa. · Oct 31 at 6:57am
Aw, Casey. We'll happily forward some orphaned Almond Joys. The Chauvinist household had your experience many years ago when the eldest contracted strep. Bummer.
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
Sharon's right: Halloween isn't celebrated here in Israel. We do, however, celebrate Purim in March, which is the big dressing-up holiday. My family and I were just in California for vacation and took the opportunity -- as it was right before Halloween -- to stock up early on Purim costumes (the nine-year-old boy will be a pirate, the five-year-old boy will be Woody from Toy Story, and the five-year-old girl -- ever the iconoclast -- will be Buzz Lightyear).
We went to visit some friends of my California family's who have decked out their whole house for Halloween. The kids, who had never heard of Halloween before this month, were in awe. They were each handed enormous bags of candy when they walked in the door, so they are solidly pro-Halloween now.
I was happy too, because I was given a giant bag of candy corn. I LOVE candy corn, and hadn't seen any for over a decade.
When we went to Disneyland, my kids noted with interest that Mickey's head at the entrance to the park was made out of an enormous pumpkin.
Oct '10
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
Lignières, Switzerland, 2011-10-31. When I moved here in 1991, nobody paid attention to Halloween at all. In the 1990s it began to appear, pushed mainly by big retailers seeking to move festive death-related merchandise. In twenty years, I've never had a trick or treater show up at the door.
Aug '10
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
This and many more at geekosytem.
Dec '10
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
But do they come from sincere pumpkin patches? Linus wants to know.
May '10
Re: On the Eve of All Hallows, Or the Ricochet Pumpkin Patch
A friend of the family, Lauren, did this over the weekend. She said it took her 2.5 hours: