Well, it’s not exactly zombie-ish, but you get the idea.
I’ve always been a fan of pumpkins. They were the basis for my favorite childhood dessert at Thanksgiving, with whipped cream, of course! I will buy a bakery pie in a pinch, but I prefer the homemade variety. When I got old enough, carving pumpkins was an annual Halloween festivity, followed by the bets to see how long it took for them to look like zombies.
Pumpkin carving has gotten quite elaborate in recent years. People are carving actual works of art on these gourds.
I’m betting this took a little longer than mine usually do.
Not only has pumpkin carving gotten more creative, but so has pumpkin growing. A few years ago, Japan gave us square watermelons. A farmer in California replicated the cube-shaped melons, then went a step further and made heart-shaped melons. This year, the same farmer, Tony Dighera, produced “Pumpkinsteins” .
My favorite pumpkin-related activity, besides carving them (or eating them), is watching “Punkin Chunkin” on the Science Channel. It’s like a game show and reality TV, but a hundred times more entertaining. And educational: my kids have learned the difference between catapults and trebuchets, and my oldest has even built small models to hurl things across the yard. This year he and my husband built a larger model, with the plan to hurl this year’s jack-o-lanterns once they become zombies. The youngest and I will watch from the sidelines, eating pumpkin pie, of course!