This is the first year in several years that I have opted to forgo Halloween decorations outside altogether. Call me the Scrooge if you wish (wrong holiday though), but I couldn’t find any reason to get excited about Halloween. The world is a scary enough of a place as it is right now so I don’t feel compelled to celebrate ghosts, goblins and things that go bump in the night this year.
In fact, not even the giant motion-activated, talking Halloween figurines at the local home-improvement warehouse were enough to get me excited. But I did find the price tags on these giant creatures to be a bit frightening. Does that count in terms of Halloween scares? Beyond Halloween decorations, I will note that it was also hard to find real pumpkins this year.
Back in the spring, I planted pumpkin seeds thinking that maybe — just maybe — I would have actual pumpkins growing in my garden by late fall. A plant sprung out of the ground a few weeks later that eventually grew in length. It produced many flowers that bloomed for months but never created a single pumpkin.
Maybe there is a hidden trick to growing one’s own pumpkin patch? As it stands now, it would appear that I’m apparently doing something wrong. I guess I’ll try again next spring. While some people get excited about Halloween, I am not to be counted among that crowd.
Instead, I’m more of a realist. Honestly, Halloween is a reminder of what follows in November and the changing seasons that are ahead. Longer nights .
