Happy Fall! And How Many Pumpkin Farms, Social Week, and Good News to Come!

Kitten with Pumpkins, McMurtrey’s

How Many Pumpkin Farms

Hello and Happy Fall, everyone! It’s almost the Fall Equinox and I am here for it. How many pumpkin farms can you visit in two days? How many is too many? I don’t think there is such a thing! In the last several days we visited Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm in Snohomish (from which we brought home caramel apples and fresh corn as well as yes, a pumpkin—I also recommend the frozen apple slushies, though I didn’t get one this time around) and then went the opening day of JB Family Grower’s Pumpkin Farm and Puzzle Patch, down the street from our house, where the sunflower maze wasn’t quite in bloom yet, but the corn maze was very high and we also took home a few pumpkins.

: Glenn and I with display at Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm

: In from of pumpkin display and actual fields of pumpkin, JB Grower’s Pumpkin Patch

: In front of Bob’s display (with tiny windmill!)

Sunflowers and Blue sky

On Sunday, we visited with my little brother and went to McMurtrey Farm, where we visited with Jana and her farm kittens (there were two, but only one was camera-cooperative) and checked out the beautiful pumpkin displays under construction, and still gorgeous sunflowers and dahlias. It was a perfect bluebird day.

Then we came home for a roast duck dinner with veggie rice pilaf and new sweet corn from Bob and the caramel apple we saved (enormous perfect apple FYI). Pretty fun! It was even more fun walking around the pumpkin field when I got good news that I can’t share yet…

: Glenn with Farm kitten Mittens, McMurtrey’s

: Mike and I in front of pumpkin display, McMurtrey’s

: Glenn and I under sunflower canopy, McMurtrey’s

Find the kitten!

Social Week with Book Group and Poetry Group

I had just been talking to a friend about how our social habits changed during the pandemic, and how I was so much less social than I used to be. Well not this week! Besides visiting with my farmer friends at the various pumpkin farms, we also had our J Bookwalter Read Between the Wines book club, where we discussed Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars. People were really taken by it, and I noticed this time around (I hadn’t re-read in a little while) the huge Bowie connection in the poems and listened to the songs that were referenced. I was aware of Bowie as a kid, but I think I mostly remember a couple of his later songs, but of course my main crush was Prince, who wasn’t quite as interested in space. Then the next day we had our poetry group, which was wonderful as usual and we talked about submission opportunities and shared poems and Glenn’s gluten-free red pepper and goat cheese pizza, and pumpkin cheesecake, and I ate more than my share of Witch’s Finger grapes (another seasonal favorite!), and we’re even coordinating a pumpkin farm visit and maybe movie get-together. After being so sick back in 2016-17 and then the pandemic, this feels more like my life used to be. Did I mention I have updated my resume and will be job hunting as well?

Good News to Share…Soon

Do you hate when people in the writing world tease good news they can’t share? Me too. That’s why I’m definitely not saying that I got good news that I can share soon, and I have to say that after a period of discouragement with the poetry world, it’s nice to have a little good news in a while, right?

I’ve also been writing more poems and sending out more work. That’s September’s magic—unwrapping new pens, setting up new spreadsheets, a little more motivation to keep going, especially on the days when it’s in the sixties and sunny and the hummingbirds are still busy at the last burst of September blooms. Anyway, happy Equinox and Fall to you! I encourage you to take advantage of the nice weather when you have it, because there’s really nothing better than a day with sunshine and apple trees, not too hot, seeing friends and family. It’s a good time to jump start your writing, submitting, and socializing!