Poe-Faced Pumpkin

 Another Halloween, another hollow wee'n!

This year - or rather last year's pumpkins gave us a surprise harvest around Easter-time (Autumn to anyone visiting from Upover) - two surprise pumpkins, growing secretly behind the garage in a bucket of discarded matter - some clay, some dead vegetation, some pumpkin bits not intended to have seeds in. But regardless, two lovely large fruit were found hiding under the vines and leaves - a pumpkin parthenogenesis!

I stored both IN the garage - now rodent-free for nearly two years (touch wood), and we ate one a while back - it was okay. Slightly more yellow than orange inside, and a bit watery. The second I saved for longer - I saved for this year' Halloween.

The rest is a familiar tale. I went in with no concept, so opted to Jet Jr again, and as usual he stumped for a traditional 'happy' Jack - no sinister eyes or baleful fangs. The whole thing took maybe 40 minutes - not bad, really. And then Junior gave it a name (all Jack-o-Lanterns need names, it's The Law).

Presenting: "Dreary"

"Dreary?" I asked J.J. "Oh - as in, 'Once upon a midnight dreary...'?"

He hadn't thought of that (although he does know a bit of Poe from school), and so after a quick Google and a side-quest to a YouTube reading by Vincent Price, we settled on the Ed Wood/Forrie Ackerman-like 'Dr Eary' 

And on posting this I've realised that the Simian family have been at this carving lark now for TEN YEARS! Hooray us.