Pumpkin Patch

Fall is such a fun time of year.  The colors of the changing leaves are such a beautiful mix of green, orange, yellow, red and brown.  Even though the weather is still warm during the day, the nights are beginning to chill down.  The first of October marks the opening days of corn mazes, hayrides, and pumpkin patches.  I have always loved big orange pumpkins.  Years ago before orange pumpkins were at every grocery store and roadside stand, we used to drive two and a half hours to Asheville to get an orange pumpkin every October.  Back then, almost all of the pumpkins around Charlotte were yellow...which just wouldn't do! 

I remember once when the boys were about five and one, we took them to a pumpkin patch.  There's no cuter photoshoot opportunity than children against a backdrop of orange pumpkins.  I took lots of pictures of them climbing among the pumpkins that day.  It was years before the invention of digital cameras, and cameras used rolls of film.  Somehow the roll of film was removed from the camera, got mixed in with a load of dirty laundry, and made a trip through the washing machine.  I was devastated since the pictures couldn't be replaced.  Although I wasn't at all hopeful, we sent the roll of film to be developed.  Although the pictures weren't great, they did survive.  I still smile when I look at those pictures of long ago.  They remind me of the sudsy bath the film endured.  More importantly they represent a fun day spent with our sons...a special memory frozen in time.

Friday we took our three grandchildren to a pumpkin patch about four miles from our home.  They each wanted to pull their own red wagons to gather pumpkins. We also trekked through the corn maze...forging our own path.  Our granddaughter is a fearless explorer at heart.  She led the way as we tromped through the corn stalks.  Along with the corn maze and pumpkin patch, there were chickens, pigs, goats, cows, a donkey, pony, and a horse. 

Picking pumpkins was interesting.  My grandchildren are just as particular about their orange pumpkins as their Grandma Laney.  We put pumpkins in their wagons, only to replace them a few feet down the path when a better one was found.  Our oldest grandson, who's three, was upset that the pumpkins didn't have faces.  I guess he thought they grew that way.  Being a grandparent is such a blessing...fun without the responsibility of parenting.  The love in my heart for those three precious little ones feels no different than what I feel for my own sons.  It's amazing how the wellspring of love never goes dry; it continues to bubble forth with each addition into our lives.

On Friday, I captured the memory of another special day at the pumpkin patch with our entire family, both in pictures and in my heart.

Copyright 2011 Charlotte Laney