Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin

I grew up in a nearly symmetrical family: big brother & big sister; my twin brother and me in the middle; followed shortly by little sister & little brother. The biggest age difference was the six years between my older sister Peggy and "us four little kids." So, as you can imagine, Peg got landed with a lot of babysitting. Now, I could be wrong about this, but she nearly always seemed to love it!

She took us shopping and to the movies, helped us bake cookies and plan parties, played Peter Pan with us and let us jump on the bed, wrote out treasure - hunt clues for us and took us for walks past the haunted house in our grandparents' neighborhood. Not to mention teaching us all the best old childhood songs like "Pony Boy" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop," and playing "Heart and Soul" duets on the piano with us whenever we wanted.

She also had a unique punishment for those times when we were not getting along nicely. The guilty culprits were required to sit on the floor with crossed legs, look each other in the eye, and say, "Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin." We might resist the first time through, but before long our begrudging smirks gave way to giggles and laughing fits: Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin!

I don't know where Peg came up with this magic formula for making kids behave -- I've never read about it in any book or seen it in a movie or known of any other family who subscribed to the "Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin" methodology. But it charmed us every time and remains one of my best childhood memories ever! Thanks Peg!

Happy Birthday to my big sister Peg -- always there for me!

The Rich Pumpkin

Urban Pumpkin ~ Seen in Boston ~ November 2018
The Pumpkin

Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that which o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew,
While he waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.

On the banks of the Xenil the dark Spanish maiden
Comes up with the fruit of the tangled vine laden;
And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold
Through orange-leaves shining the broad spheres of gold;
Yet with dearer delight from his home in the North,
On the fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth,
Where crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,
And the sun of September melts down on his vines.

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin,—our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam,
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

Then thanks for thy present! none sweeter or better
E'er smoked from an oven or circled a platter!
Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter eyes never watched o'er its baking, than thine!
And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!

By John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892)

Friendly Porch Pumpkins ~ Boston ~ November 2018

Painted Pumpkins ~ October 2019
Wabash Landing ~ West Lafayette, Indiana

Pumpkins Old and New

Ten Years Ago

West Philly Pumpkin from Anthony West

Literary Pumpkins ~ Frost on the Punkin

 

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin ~ Memories 

~ Farewell Pumpkin Season 2020 ~

Spice Mix Recipes

Magazine page from an unremembered source,
saved for decades in my recipe notebook.

For a variety of lovely poems
on the subject of kitchen spices
see my recent post

Life of Spice

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A literary blog of connection & coincidence;
custom & ceremony

~A few favorite recipes, in alphabetical order ~
BOURSIN SEASONING
equal amounts of:
basil
dill seed or weed
garlic powder
marjoram
thyme
salt
black pepper

Stir 2 teaspoons of spice mix into
8 oz cream cheese & 4 oz butter


CHAI
1 cup loose dry tea leaves
1 cup brown sugar crystals

2 teaspoons each:
cardamom
cinnamon
cloves
ginger
nutmeg

To serve: boil 2 cups water,
add 1 cup milk & 4 1/2 teaspoons of Chai Mix


CHILI POWDER
Ratio (in whatever measure you choose):
2 cumin
2 garlic powder
2 oregano
2 paprika

1 cayenne
1 onion powder


CURRY POWDER
2 TB ground coriander
2 TB ground cumin

1 TB ground / powdered mustard
1 TB salt
1 TB pepper

2 teasp tumeric
2 teasp garlic powder

1 teasp ginger
1 teasp cayenne pepper
1 teasp ground allspice

Optional in small amounts:

Bay leaves, crushed
Celery Seed
Cloves, ground
Fenugreek
Mace
Nutmeg ground
Onion powder
Saffron


PEG'S JERK SEASONING
2 TB dried minced onion
1 TB onion powder
1 TB sugar
1 TB ground thyme

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspooons allspice

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg


PUMPKIN SPICE
Ratio (in whatever measure you choose):
2 cinnamon
2 cloves
2 ginger
2 nutmeg
1 allspice
1 mace

No, this does not taste like pumpkin,
but it is used to season pumpkin pie filling,
and sprinkle on top of your pumpkin pies

Also, sprinkle on tea, coffee, or cocoa

And, add to any other festive recipes -- such as
Ginger Snaps, Christmas Cake, Figgy Pudding --
that call for a combination of these spices.


ROASTED SWEET POTATO SEASONING
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt use less if using table salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

This amount will season will season
3 large raw sweet potatoes,
peeled & cut in chunks & tossed in 2 TB olive oil
bake on a cookie sheet, for 30 minutes at 425 F


TACO SEASONING
6 TB cumin
4 TB garlic powder

3 TB each of the following
paprika
onion powder
salt
pepper
sugar

2 TB each
red pepper flakes
oregano

A Seasonal Tin for the Pumpkin Pie Spice

A Vintage Candy Tin,
perfect for storing the Chai Spice
~ Thanks to Megan for both the tin and the recipe! ~

White Pumpkins

A few days ago, I finally cut up my little white pie pumpkins that I've been using since October in various Martha Stewart decorating schemes around the house. As you can see in the above photograph, from Halloween to Thanksgiving they were out on the front porch. Look closely and you can also see Beaumont just inside the door, watching me take the picture: Meow! May I come outside too? No!

After Thanksgiving, I brought them all inside to sit demurely underneath one of our Christmas trees for a few weeks (we ate the orange ones up right away). Since then, the white pumpkins have spent the rest of the winter, along with the 50 lbs of grapefruit from the high school band fundraiser, in our sunroom, where the temperature is just right for storing fresh fruit. However, March has arrived, we're down to a mere four grapefruits, and the sun room is getting warmer by the day, now that the sun has begun to shine again.

At last, I was forced to admit that the white pumpkins have seen their day. A couple had to go straight to the compost heap, but all the others were in perfect shape. Gerry hacked them open with a machete / Houdini knife, and we scooped out the seeds for roasting, then pureed the rest. In fact, this very evening, we are having pumpkin - blueberry cake, a very healthy dessert, made with graham flour and frozen blueberries from last summer. Remember?

Wish you were to have a slice, along with some Earl Grey Green Tea and a little poetry:

Pumpkin Eater
I'm no trouble.
Honest to God I'm not.
I'm not

the kind of woman
who telephones in the middle of the night,
-who told you that?-
splitting the night like machete.
Before and after. After. Before.
No, no, not me.
I'm not

the she who slings words bigger than rocks,
sharper than Houdini knives,
verbal Molotovs.

The one who did that-yo no fui-
that wasn't me.

I'm no hysteric,
terrorist,
emotional anarchist.

I keep inside a pumpkin shell.
There I do very well.

Shut a blind eye to where
my pumpkin-eater roams.

I keep like fruitcake.
Subsist on air.

Not a worry nor care.
Please.
I'm free for the taking
as the eyes of Saint Lucy.
No trouble at all.

I swear, I swear, I swear...

poem by Sandra Cisneros (b 1954)
American / Hispanic Writer
from her collection Loose Woman: Poems (1995)

White Pumpkins & Pink Poinsettias

Plastic Pumpkins

Guess who got to come up from the basement this morning, to be fitted with a new light bulb and placed near the window to brighten up a gloomy rainy overcast eerie pre-autumnal day? Yes, you guessed -- the big black and orange Halloween pumpkin - cat yard lamp that my friend Cate gave me back in 2002.

She and I and my in - laws, Ron and Rosanne, were meeting to enjoy a cup of our favorite pre-Halloween coffee (pumpkin spice!) at one of our favorite spots, the Restaurant School Coffee Shop in West Philadelphia. Cate had rescued Pumpkin - Cat from a yard sale, and brought it along to sit proudly on its own chair and draw lots of attention at the coffee shop! I wonder if whoever put that cat in a Philadelphia yard sale would be surprised to know that it now celebrates the season year after year in Indiana!

I also have some smaller plastic pumpkins that my father - in - law Ron and I were pleased to purchase at Walmart one year, on the day after Halloween for seven (7) cents each! One day last winter, I had just bought some new round cookie sheets and before taking them to the basement, where I have some pantry shelves for excess baking supplies, I piled them up with other things that needed to go downstairs -- a couple of the plastic jack - o - lanterns, Mardi Gras beads, Christmas bows. As I set them on the shelf, I thought, "Voila -- Still Life!" So many favorite holidays, all present simultaneously!


Some years Pumpkin - Cat stays out until Christmas!
Keeping watch from the Roof - top!
P.S.
~ 2011 ~

~ 2013 ~

Misty Morning Pumpkin Bales

Pumpkin Bales
Photographer Jay Beets says,
"Tilt screen up . . . lean back . . . color gets better!
I liked the color the hay cast this morning . . . that pumpkin hue!"
Autumn

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like Silence, listening
To silence, for no lonely bird would sing
Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn,
Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn;—
Shaking his languid locks all dewy bright
With tangled gossamer that fell by night,
Pearling his coronet of golden corn.

Where are the songs of Summer?—With the sun,
Oping the dusky eyelids of the south,
Till shade and silence waken up as one,
And Morning sings with a warm odorous mouth.
Where are the merry birds?—Away, away,
On panting wings through the inclement skies,
Lest owls should prey
Undazzled at noonday,
And tear with horny beak their lustrous eyes.

Where are the blooms of Summer?—In the west,
Blushing their last to the last sunny hours,
When the mild Eve by sudden Night is prest
Like tearful Proserpine, snatch'd from her flow'rs
To a most gloomy breast.
Where is the pride of Summer,—the green prime,—
The many, many leaves all twinkling?—Three
On the moss'd elm; three on the naked lime
Trembling,—and one upon the old oak-tree!
Where is the Dryad's immortality?—
Gone into mournful cypress and dark yew,
Or wearing the long gloomy Winter through
In the smooth holly's green eternity.

The squirrel gloats on his accomplish'd hoard,
The ants have brimm'd their garners with ripe grain,
And honey bees have stored
The sweets of Summer in their luscious cells;
The swallows all have wing'd across the main;
But here the Autumn melancholy dwells,
And sighs her tearful spells
Amongst the sunless shadows of the plain.

Alone, alone,
Upon a mossy stone,
She sits and reckons up the dead and gone
With the last leaves for a love-rosary,
Whilst all the wither'd world looks drearily,
Like a dim picture of the drownèd past
In the hush'd mind's mysterious far away,
Doubtful what ghostly thing will steal the last
Into that distance, gray upon the gray.

O go and sit with her, and be o'ershaded
Under the languid downfall of her hair:
She wears a coronal of flowers faded
Upon her forehead, and a face of care;—
There is enough of wither'd everywhere
To make her bower,—and enough of gloom;
There is enough of sadness to invite,
If only for the rose that died, whose doom
Is Beauty's,—she that with the living bloom
Of conscious cheeks most beautifies the light:
There is enough of sorrowing, and quite
Enough of bitter fruits the earth doth bear,—
Enough of chilly droppings for her bowl;
Enough of fear and shadowy despair,
To frame her cloudy prison for the soul!

Thomas Hood, 1798–1845

MORE AUTUMNAL POEMS
on my current Fortnightly post
"September Travels Slow"
on
The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A fortnightly [every 14th & 28th]
literary blog of connection & coincidence; custom & ceremony

Superbowl - o - Lantern

Suggested Superbowl Reading:

"How to Watch Football if You Hate It"
by Duo Dickinson
Thanks Duo! Your article inspired me to change my profile picture for the Superbowl Weekend. Though I would never go so far as to say I hate it, not anymore, I must admit that my interest in the game does not extend too far beyond a couple of kickers:

My Sons ~ Ben & Sam
P.S. For those who have asked . . .
Believe it or not, I've had the pumpkin since Halloween! In fact, I saved two pumpkins because I wanted to carve a "Turkey - o - lantern" at Thanksgiving and a Christmas - tree pattern at Christmas, but then I never got around to doing either one.

Luckily, the pumpkins have stayed fresh out on our back porch, so I was determined to carve one for the Superbowl (though not nearly as elaborate as a couple of years ago when Ben carved an Eagles' helmet). If the remaining pumpkin stays firm for another week, I will carve a heart in it for Valentine's Day ♥.

Philadelphia Eagles Jack - o - Lantern
Carved by Ben McCartney
Halloween 2009
P.P.S. And for those who have asked about the tree, if Football Season can last til February, then so can Christmas! Right? My goal is to take it down by Ash Wednesday, at which time I shall give up all Christmas decorations for Lent. It's a hard sacrifice!

Valentine - o - Lantern

Comic Strip

Contemporary writer, reviewer, and artist of many kinds, Curtis Cotrell (also my old friend from James Joyce Quarterly days), has composed a cleverly titled poetry sequence, "Comics Trip," an alphabetical ode to an entire generation of cartoon characters and superheroes. What a nostalgic trip it was just to sit down and read through the wealth of cartoon imagery he has organized in these poems! I also like the way that, like the Liverpool poets, Cottrell weaves in serious current events:

The Great Pumpkin
Good grief! A pumpkin
Has taken root in my yard:
Washed up by the flood
From Hurricane Katrina
Just in time for Halloween.

social commentary:

Nancy
Nancy and Sluggo,
Quite an unlikely couple.
Right way and wrong way
Or is it a class conflict
Culture assimilation?

creative existentialism:

Green Lantern
Imagination
Focused through alien lens
Brings the ring power.
You are only limited
By the freedom of your will.

an aesthetics of common decency
(in manner of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
and startling imagery:

from Plainclothesmen
Hawk nose and square jaw,
A grotesque hieroglyphic
Of law and order:
Law of commercial design;
Art of sequential order.

Icon of action:
Car curves around a corner;
Tracy dodges past,
Swasticated arms and legs,
Coattail signifying speed.

A reader complains,
"Your villains are so ugly!"
Popular phrenology
Characterizing affects.
There's nothing cute about crime.

retro recollections:

Beany and Cecil
The big seasick sea serpent
Had buttons for eyes.
They began as hand puppets
Before they became cartoons.

and last but never least -- my favorite! -- the intertextual pun:

"Et tu, Bluto?" exclaims Popeye!

My Heroes: Pirate & Batman, Halloween 1997
For more Comic Strip Heroes, see
the latest post: "Happy Batday"
on THE FORTNIGHTLY KITTI CARRIKER
my fortnightly literary blog
of connection and coincidence

Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny*

Pumpkins Grown by Gerry in our Garden!

" . . . every pumpkin in the field,
goes through every point of pumpkin history."

Ralph Waldo Emerson
from the essay
"Nominalist and Realist"

I like the way that this one has re-situated itself amongst the oregano!

*Theory of Recapitulation

As Martha Stewart Says . . . Good Things

Some of my favorite Good Things for Fall: Halloween fruit bowl, green tomato harvest, scented candles, and Salsabol with roasted pumpkin seeds!

1. Frasier Fir Candle by Thymes

2. Halloween Memories Bowl by Bethany Lowe

3. Salsabol by Michael and Tom

4. Pumpkin Pie Candle by Colonial Candle

5. Late tomatoes and eggplant from Gerry's vegetable garden.

*****

excerpts from the poetry of
Mary Oliver

All my life
I have been restless --
I have felt there is something
more wonderful than gloss --
than wholeness --
than staying at home.

I have not been sure what it is.

*****

every year
the hatchlings wake . . .

and love the world.
Is it necessary to say anymore?
Have you heard them singing in the wind, above the final fields?
Have you ever been so happy in your life?

*****

of course
loss is the great lesson.

But also I say this: that light
is an invitation
to happiness
and that happiness,
when it's done right,
is a kind of holiness.

*****

in this world I am as rich
as I need to be.

*****

Look! for most of the world
is waiting
or remembering --
most of the world is time
when we're not here,

*****

Look, I want to love this world
as though it's the last chance I'm ever going to get
to be alive
and know it.

from the poems
"Whelks," "Goldfinches," "Poppies," "Winter,"
"Hummingbird Pauses at the Trumpet Vine," and "October"

Must - See Christmas Movies

Once again, "through a child's eyes!"

Imagine seeing all of these movies for the first time!

First Christmas Movies for Ellie (2021):
Learning all about Frosty & Rudolph!

So, what are the must - sees?
My son Sam says:

1st tier:
1. The Christmas Story (BB Gun)
2. A Child's Christmas in Wales
3. A Christmas Memory (Truman Capote)

2nd tier:
1. Elf
2. Christmas Vacation
3. The Snowman
***************
My friend Burnetta says:

1. It's a Wonderful Life (of course)
2. Home ALone
3. Elf
4. A Christmas Story (BB Gun)
5. Love Actually
***************
Burnetta asked for my list . . .
"Just 5 or ten that you watch each Christmas?"

No problem! I love watching Christmas movies
and talking about Christmas movies!
Not surprisingly, we share some of the same favs!

The ones I can’t live without — also love the books:

1. A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote and narrated by him, so you actually hear his voice. Priceless!

2. A Child's Christmas in Wales — Denholm Elliott’s excellent rendition, both for listening & viewing
[Audio only, narrated by Dylan Thomas himself!]

3. The House Without a Christmas Tree by Gail Rock
[More on my book blog]

4. The Snowman
***************

For old - time classics, I would pick
1. Miracle on 34th Street
2. White Christmas

and for contemporary classics, I think I would go with
1. Christmas Vacation
2. Home Alone, 1 & 2
3. A Christmas Story (BB Gun)

See my comparison of "Child's Christmas in Wales"
with the BB Gun Christmas Story:
"A Little Touch of Eternity"
And in their own category:
All the Dickens' A Christmas Carol / Scrooge movies
***************
Q: Ten movies that you can watch over over, never get tired of watching, or that feed your soul?

A: Easy, I would pick all Christmas movies!

1. Christmas Vacation
2. Home Alone (1 & 2)
3. White Christmas
4. The House Without a Christmas Tree
5. A Child's Christmas in Wales (starring Denholm Elliott)
6. "The Dead" (starring Anjelica Huston, Anjelica Huston,
based on the short story by James Joyce)

7. The Snowman (animation, intro by David Bowie)
8. Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" (1966)
9. Miracle on 34th Street
10. A Christmas Story (BB Gun)

And more:

11. The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas (1973 animation,
narrated by Tommy Smothers, Barbara Feldon, Arte Johnson)

12. A Charlie Brown Christmas
13. Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
14. "A Muppets Christmas Carol"
15. The Musical "Scrooge" with Albert Finney
16. Scrooged
17. Peter's Friends
18. Nutcracker ~ 1986 ~ Maurice Sendak ~ NWP Ballet

And for Thanksgiving:

1. Home for the Holidays
2. Hannah and Her Sisters
3. What's Cooking
4. Planes, Trains and Automobiles

***************

And last but not least,
some festive snacks to serve
while watching all the best Christmas movie!.

I recently came across these cute cookie
decorating ideas in my Old Lap Top Files

While we're ranking movies,
time also to rank desserts.

Sam felt bad for putting Xmas pudding & mince pies last,
but no! — our feelings will not be hurt!

Sam’s Results:

1. Green fluff
2. Trifle

3. Pumpkin bread (w choc chips)
4. Chocolate pecan pie

5. Pumpkin pie (crust-less)

6. Puppy Chow
7. Chex Mix

8. Christmas pudding
9. Mince pies

PS
Ben & Cathleen are allowed to omit green fluff entirely
& include orange slice cake instead.

Living the Pumpkin Life

Just kicking back the night before
Thanksgiving, living the pumpkin life.
Thanks to Chantel & Christina
for posting these charming Pumpkinheads
by artist Cassie Bourque

Orange to Red

Pumpkin Landscape
by Alida Akers ~ more on Flickr

Spontaneous me, Nature,
The loving day, the mounting sun,
the friend I am happy with,
The arm of my friend
hanging idly over my shoulder,
The hill-side whiten’d with blossoms
of the mountain ash,
The same late in autumn, the hues of red, yellow,
drab, purple, and light and dark green . . .

Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892)

Aidan captures the essence

Favorite plaid pillow sham

Surprise photo taken by my phone
in the pocket of my red jacket

Autumn Harvest
by Claire Spencer (1937 - 2025)

And thus the gorgeous orange holidays give way to red . . .
Look! December even has red hair!

December by Eugène Grasset (1845 – 1917)
Featured previously: March

What if God was One of Us?

A Trick or Treat Parody of Christ at Heart’s Door
Original by Warner Sallman

How could we have ever doubted?
Of course, Jesus Loves Halloween!
Hmmm, could this explain the whereabouts of the plastic orange
jack - o - lantern that went missing from my front porch last week?*
One Of Us

If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with him
In all his glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?

*And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that
you would have to believe
in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints
and all the prophets (*)

Trying to make his way home
Back up to heaven all alone
Nobody calling on the phone
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome(*)

Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

sung by Joan Osborne
written by Eric Bazilian

*Gerry says, "That's why I said 'Sweet Jesus' when
you told me that the pumpkin had been stolen." Haha!

Orange Gumdrop Cake

Ben's Favorite

Cream together:
1 stick butter
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c buttermilk
1 1/2 c flour

Then add:
1/2 pound (1 1/2 c) orange slice candy
(chopped into small chunks and tossed in 1/4 c flour)
4 oz (2/3 c) chopped dates
3.5 oz (1 1/3 c) coconut
1 c pecans or almonds (optional)

Bake 1 hour ~ at 300F ~ in 3 mini loaf pans

Besides being one of Ben's most requested treats, another thing I like about this recipe is that you can use pecans or almonds -- not necessarily noteworthy except for the sweet story that goes along with it. I love that moment when you pull out a recipe card with its very own signature story that brings it all back.

One Christmas I had made a batch each way and put them in holiday baggies, marked "A" or "P." When our friends Pat and Alan stopped by for just a moment in the midst of holiday errands, I handed them one of each flavor, totally forgetting to mention what the letters meant. I remembered awhile later and gave Pat a call to say that one contained almonds, the other contained pecans. She said, "No worries! I just assumed the initials stood for Pat & Alan. That worked for us!"

Another option ~ mini pumpkin breads:
don't forget the chocolate chips!

Bread Machine Success:
just add gluten; works like a charm!

It takes a village!

Christmas Countertop

Christmas Stovetop

Amazing homemade peanut brittle
from Aaron & Pam

HAPPY HOLIDAY BAKING TO ALL!