Punkin' Pickin'

Since Kelly has been around it has become a 'tradition' to hunt for, bag, and emboss an unsuspecting pumpkin. Something to do with her Belchertown country back-woods upbringing, I think.

We struck north on our hunt.


No shortage of scenery on this brisk, windy October day as we drove up through Sunderland.

Always loved how the Sugarloaf and Toby mts. suddenly jut out above the flat floodplain of Sunderland.


There was also no shortage of pumpkin stands, either.
We decided to give last year's pumpkin supplier, Laurenitis Farm, some return business.

We pulled in to their nice looking stand on Rte. 116.


Apparently they were big on mums as well as other fall-farm-fare.

After careful deliberation and thorough comparison we decided on our respective pumpkins.

Coming back down Rte. 116, we came through Amherst.

We could use a snack to tide us over until dinner, so we stopped in at Antonio's Pizza for a slice.

They have a wide variety of pizza by the slice, and I mean variety. If you can eat it they've probably made a pizza out of it. Antonio's is famous around here, especially among the college crowds that cram the restaurant and sidewalk after the pubs close.

I know this is true, as they have a camera out front, aimed at the sidewalk.

Video is fed to MassLive, 24/7, via this "Campus Cam".
http://www.masslive.com/campuscam/

We then made a couple stops at the Hadley mall for supplies, and headed home.

After dinner, we began the gruesome business of carving out pumpkins.

Like most things in life, the time and care put into the carving, equaled the quality of the carving. Chris was done first. I churned out a satisfactorily scary pumpkin head. Kelly pulled out all the stops with hers this year.


A couple of 'tea lights' or tiny candles, and the job was done.