The first pumpkins of the season have arrived at my local grocery store. Little albino mini-pumpkins, mounds of decorative oddball gourds of every shade and degree of warty bumpiness, oodles of different shapes and colors of squash. And one little bushel basket of sweet pie-sized pumpkins.
Oh, yes, fall is here!
Oh, and just to get further into the mood, here’s a link to a childhood book that I absolutely adored, The Witches’ Catalog. Now, if only I had bat fat and flea tears to rub my order form with, and a hollow tree to hide it in… *grin* I always wanted to order two pet dragons: one small enough to fit into my cupped hands, who would live indoors with me, and one about the size of a horse, big enough to ride, who would live in the backyard. I never could settle on what colors I wanted, though!
It’s time to think about making pumpkin bread and apple pie, to mull cider and wine, to reminisce about Halloween preparations from my childhood, to make ghost-shaped sugar cookies with Mom’s recipe, and to decide how I’ll celebrate both modern Halloween and my personal Samhain, the new year holiday celebrated by many of the earth faiths.
The veil between past and present is thinner this time of year. Like the mysteries popping up through the grass in springtime and the joy of planting, there’s magic sparkling in the deepening shadows, in the chill in the air, in the harvest and in the preparations individuals, families and communities make for the coming winter.