October 6th, 2012

Good morning, everyone! I feel like I should still be sleeping, but I have to go and help build the set for my school's fall play, so I'm awake. It's a beautiful morning, but it's cold. The weather has been fluctuating wildly the last couple of days - first in the 80s, then the 40s. I guess we know for sure that we're into Autumn! One of my family's annual traditions is to go to Pumpkin Fest, an event that our town puts on. In past years, they have had pumpkin-pie-eating contests, a race for the grade-schoolers, pumpkin decorating contests, and more. Unfortunately, some of those events have since been canceled, but it still makes for a fun day. I'm hoping mom will let me get some gourds like last year. If so, I'll dry them. One can never have too many dried gourds! They make excellent altar decorations, and most of them will turn into natural rattles as they dry. You can keep them pretty much until the end of time, provided they don't rot before they dry completely. I find that smaller gourds dry out better, so if you plan on creating your own such gourd shakers or decorations, choose vegetation about (or a little smaller than) the size of your hand. Also check to be sure that there are no soft spots, or places where mold is already growing. Pumpkins are great decorations too (although they don't dry out very well; not even the mini ones), and they present all sorts of options: painting, carving, stacking, etc. One can also just leave them plain, if a more natural look is desired. Personally, I love to carve the pumpkins, and spend quite some time looking for innovative patterns that won't be ridiculously difficult to manage. Mine tend to be more secular, as I don't think my parents want a pentacle pumpkin sitting on the porch, but magickal sigils and symbolism can be used as desired. Here's my pumpkin from a few years ago, a design that I still enjoy: