Having felt overworked, overwhelmed and over the hill for the better part of the last couple of weeks, it was delightful to wake up last Friday morning feeling downright invigorated. Much of it can be attributed to the fall weather and looking forward to all that it means- Halloween, kids and candy, pumpkins - with Thanksgiving and toasty evenings in front of the fire to follow shortly. Although I spend lots of time with my family year ‘round, we are starting to enter that time of year that’s especially rich with traditions and special family times. One of the advantages to being a grandma is that you not only get to enjoy those traditions yourself, you get to watch your grandkids become part of those traditions.
I went with my daughter and my four grandkids – ages 2 to 12 – to pick out pumpkins last Friday. Now I’ve seen pumpkins out front at local Wal-Marts and in grocery stores and other various places, but I am telling you that those might as well be plastic pumpkins as far as I’m concerned. It won’t be the RIGHT pumpkin unless you go out and hunt for a pumpkin that just calls out your name. Where I live that means you either go to Bonnie’s Punkin’ Patch or you go out in a field and pick one yourself. Our family happened to do both this past week!
Bonnie Rausch is the proprietor of Bonnie’s Punkin’ Patch and she is as fine a gal as you are likely to find. Her husband “Dan the Punkin’ Man” is gone now, but the place they built together still stands as a landmark here at the outskirts of Winamac, Indiana. Their kids and grandkids help her maintain the place and when you arrive, you just can’t help but get all fired up with enthusiasm about all things autumn. My daughter Trish always picked out her Halloween pumpkins at Bonnie’s and now she takes her kids there to pick out theirs. I must say that I don’t think there’s ever been a time they’ve gone to Bonnie’s that they haven’t dragged me along with them. And I must also say that I’m doggoned happy about that. We’ve picked out pumpkins in dry weather and in rainy weather, in warm temperatures and in downright frrrrrreezing temperatures – and in lots of weather somewhere between the two. While I might admit to grumbling a bit when the weather has been especially gnarly, WHATEVER the weather, bypassing Bonnie’s and buying a grocery store pumpkin has never even come up as an option.
Watching those kids at Bonnie’s look over each and every pumpkin, pick up this one, put it down and go try out another one – and seeing the smiles on those precious faces when they realize they’ve just found “The One” – well, I guess that’s what those credit card commercials would call “priceless.” Also you just can’t leave without looking around at Bonnie’s many knick knacks, autumn gourds, flowers, husks, homemade jams, and handmade crafts. It’s fun just to hang out at this special place for awhile. This year Bonnie showed my grandkids Emilie and Patrick how she makes ornaments out of corn cobs. Of course Bonnie being Bonnie, she ended up giving them each an ornament and she gave Charlie a sweet little “chalkware” pumpkin guy. Will and I ended up with a string of cats and pumpkins and Trish picked out some beautiful mums!
Going to Bonnie’s with my family got me in the mood to create some good old fashioned Halloween art! And even some new-fangled Halloween art! It puts a smile on my face even just to write about it. I've shared a few photos of our most recent expedition to Bonnie’s Punkin’ Patch! I’ll also add a couple of simple Halloween themed collages I’ve whipped up as a prelude to my full out Halloweenarama session that I’m planning for this next weekend! I’ve noticed some really great Halloween art here on the Outsider Artists site done by some of the other artists. I am trying to make up my mind which collage sheets to order from here for myself. There are at least four I just don’t think I can live without so I will be doing some ordering after I post this. In addition to the collage sheets, there are some great seasonal ACEOs and cards made by some of the other artists, too! I’m embarrassed to admit I have yet to get any of my own Halloween or fall art up yet this year. Well what can I say? I just got invigorated Friday!! Here’s wishing you the same wonderful feeling of exhilaration and excitement that I’ve been blessed with this week!
Deborah~ http://deborahbohm.blogspot.com/
OH MY GOSH!!!! I love love love this Deb!!! What a fantastical Fall Post made me smile and laugh and get real darn excited about creating! But then you do that to me you truly are such an inspiration!
XXXOOOO
Becky
Posted by: Becky | Tuesday, October 06, 2009 at 03:56 PM