Sandy's Halloween Pumpkin

 Hullo... tomorrow is Halloween and I thought I would carve a pumpkin... for Jerry & Ben's Halloween Contest of course!

Step 1 - get pumpkin and lay tarp on floor...

Step 2 - gather pumpkin dissection tools...

We used to have a pumpkin carving kit with very fine blades/saws but... they broke a few years ago... so we using a selection of knives today.

Step 3 - Decapitate the pumpkin...

Step 4 - Disembowel the pumpkin...

Ummm... I think I'll let my assistant Igor take care of the disemboweling... it's a messy job.

There we are... we are going to save some the seeds for planting next year... you never know... they might be viable seeds.

Yup, it is disemboweled...

Now... a blade... I need a blade...

Step 5 - Begin to carve the pumpkin face... first... an eye...

We are free-pawing the carving this year...

And... decided that it needed a third eye... cause it's a Triclops Pumpkin!

Step 6 - find a tealight and...

It's alive!!!! 

Ahhhh... it's really alive.... let me go!!!

Run... quick... ruunnnnnnnn!!!!

Halloween Mail!

 I received some mail last week! I like getting mail!

First up is a hand-made Halloween card. It is a brilliant design!

It's from my pal Droopy! He always makes such cool hand-made... or should I saw, pay-made cards!

Thanks Droopy!

Next... a postcard and... I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's from the Tate Modern in London!

Which means it's likely from my pal Beanie Mouse & Co.

Yup... it's from Beanie... experimenting with some sepia ink and the italic dip pen. I think it looks so good because Beanie has such good Penmouse-ship!

Thanks Beanie! I like getting mail and... I get more mail than my human!! Which is super cool!

Halloween 2020

Hello! Paddington Bear here! Yes... it is really me!

Famous hat and coat....

As well as trademark Paddington Bear (PB) boots...

OK... it's not really Paddington Bear... it's me... Sandy Bear with my 2020 Halloween costume! I got all these bits second-hand... Pretty good I think!

And with Mr. Pumpkin Head...

Except, I need a few more accouterments...

Let's see... I need a suitcase... and a tag... and a jar of orange marmalade, of course....

"Please look after this bear, Thank you!"

And for the final installation...

Some Berries...

Ah-hem... yes, another blog stuck in draft mode for weeks... after our little foxglove foray

Along the way we found some red huckleberries.

They are a tiny bit tarter than regular blueberries or huckleberries... but still yummy.

Hmmm... those are odd plants... and I have yet to figure out what they are.

They look cute but... our plant book is not helping us right now.

I could almost think nettles or mint but... we are stumped.

Ah well...

Still some salmon berries out... a slightly different colour. I wonder if they taste any better?

Ummm... you first?

Still not really palatable!

Here we have some St. John's Wort... they are also a good medicinal plant. Gramma would steep them in linseed oil and use for sunburns.

Oooh... the wild blackberries are coming along (this was probably a July adventure!).

And we are not at another little dammed lake. A lot of these little lakes were dammed for the coal mining industry...

See... dam...

With an overflow spillway...

This must be a great place to take dogs for walks.

There's even a picnic area and an outhouse up here...

But we found some garbage on the ground... even though there is a garbage bin over there. Grr...

Although... because of Covid they recommend packing out all the garbage. Which I guess we will do...

And then... our post-hike brownie! I like this new habit....

Oh... and ages ago, little fox had asked if that cherry tree (which was blooming in the spring) ever got cherries... well, the answer is yes... little tiny ones.

The birds seem to like them....