Porch pumpkin poppycock

This morning, as I braved the rush hour traffic on the way to the doctor's office for my annual physical, I wondered why those darned early-bird road construction guys can't wait an hour to set up their orange cones and smush everyone into one lane--all while sipping coffee and gobbling donuts. As it happened, it didn't really matter that my blood pressure was sky high because my appointment isn't until tomorrow. How did that happen? It says Tuesday right here on my calendar. Well, no matter. Tomorrow I'll leave earlier and take an alternate route to avoid what is sure to be another day of cones with coffee and donuts.

Yesterday I finished the red hat doll and made a new version of the snowman hat.The hat is just plain cotton fabric that's been painted and sealed. It has nice stand-upness. The only problem is it's almost impossible to sew through, so I'm going to have to glue it onto his head. No big deal. Gluing is much less time-consuming than all that stitchin', not to mention....so much less painful for the snowman.

Fall is on the way here in Connecticut and I've decided to do my own version of a foliage color tracker--just like those big-time TV weathermen.

Here's today's view from my back deck. See that one tree with just a hint of orange? Soon this hillside will be awash in festive fall colors, so stay tuned.

Something you non-eastcoasters might not know is that folks in New England are really big porch-pumpkin people. We just can't let a Fall go by without putting a big ol' pumpkin on our front porches. I'm not sure how this all got started. It may well have originated with the pilgrims...

Here at the condos the Porch Pumpkin Olympics are well underway. Medals will be awarded in several categories: 1) first-on-a-porch pumpkin, 2) biggest pumpkin, 3) best-carved pumpkin, 4) most real-looking artificial pumpkin, 5) pumpkin with the most endurance (last one to rot), and (6) first pumpkin to be stolen and smashed in the street.

I was sure I had won first-on-the-porch with my cute little artificial pumpkin, cleverly color-coordinated and arranged next to my real mums, when I noticed my next-door neighbor had eeked me out.

It must have taken some real muscle to get this big boy up on the porch.

Meanwhile, I noticed that porch poker lady is sadly lagging behind.She's got some nice mums in that pedestal planter, but no porch pumpkin. Obviously I have the upper hand. I wonder is she's still got game?