Autumn’s Magical Moments Spin Around Pumpkin Fantasies

Sitting Indian-style on the soft, sand-colored carpet near a blazing fire, the bearded and mustached professor studied the seven cards in his hand. His eyes twinkled mischievously.

I watched him as he lifted the wire-rimmed glasses from the bridge of his nose. “This is nice,” he said as he inhaled long and hard the scent of burning wood.

If I were a gambler, I would have bet that this bearded and mustached FSU professor assumed that he would win this hand.

“Can you do better than this?” he probed with his bare eyes as he laid his cards across the coffee table.

“Not with this hand,” I said. “Should we play another one, or are you hungry?”

“I’m starving!” he replied.

In the blink of an eye, we transformed the purpose of the coffee table. The game supplies were stowed away in a nearby armoire. He watched as I dressed the glass top with a tapestry runner and rich autumn touches.

It was encouraging to have a gentleman friend who tolerated my whims and didn’t mind sitting on the living room floor, even though there were comfortable Chippendale chairs in the dining room.

“Hmmm … pumpkin soup baked in the shell. What a novel idea!” Then, with an almost theatrical and dramatic gesture of raised arms and an exaggerated inhaling of his nostrils, he continued his brief soliloquy. “So this is what smells so d-i-v-i-n-e! I’m glad to see that you’ve put our pumpkin-patch catch to good use … ” he trailed off as he bent his sturdy frame to smell the roses in the large pumpkin flower arrangement that graced the nearby antique buffet.

“Yes!” I answered. “I’ve been carving, roasting, baking and stuffing pumpkins all week. What a stroke of brilliance on your part to plant those seeds in your garden last summer!”

“I figured I would try my luck with pumpkins this year,” he said. “Here, let me carry that for you.”

He stepped down into the sunken living room and set the hot pumpkin tureen onto the short dining table while I changed CDs.

Moments later, as Pavarotti’s music bellowed softly in the background and I ladled the fragrant soup into the handcrafted pottery bowls, the bearded and mustached professor leaned forward with a misty sparkle in his eyes and whispered in a barely audible and raspy voice, “Marry me!”

“Oh, stop!” I responded, shaking my head from side to side. “You are irresistibly eccentric, but I cannot marry you.”

“Well live with me then!” he said with a hearty laugh.

“No way!” I replied.

“Well, why not?” he asked.

“Because I’ve far too much inner work to deal with right now,” I said. “Maybe in 10 years.”

Then it happened! Sometime between that moment and when the spent logs turned to cooled ash, there was a fiery and luminescent quantum leap over the fertile garden of my imagination. It was then that I realized that in some ways, I was no different than a pumpkin growing in a pumpkin patch.

Create A Pumpkin Flower Arrangement

For a casually chic and smile-popping display, the whimsical juxtaposition of jaunty autumn blooms artistically stuffed inside a hollowed-out pumpkin is always in good taste.

Select a pumpkin of any size you fancy. Ideally it should stand upright.

Wash, scrub and dry the exterior of your pumpkin.

Cut a circle into the top of the pumpkin, just as you would a jack-o’-lantern.

Clean out the inner pulp. Rinse and scrub. Save the seeds to roast!

Insert a block of florists foam or potting soil inside the pumpkin.

Then add stems of your favorite autumn blooms and greenery.

Camouflage the foam or soil with Spanish moss or hay.

Finally, swathe your arrangement with autumn ribbons, rustic vines or country raffia.

© 2006 Kathi Dameron, Kathi Dameron and Associates

This article originally appeared on October 25, 2006 in the “Entertaining with Kathi” column of the Northeast Chronicle, a Florida newspaper.

Note To Publishers: You are free to publish this article in your e-zines, however, please keep copyright and resource box intact. Thank You!

Kathi Dameron is a free-lance writer, blogger and consultant who is available for writing assignments, speaking engagements, and food and entertaining workshops. The Entertaining With Kathi column is available to newspapers, magazines and digital media for syndication. Entertaining With Kathi Cooking Class inserts, show scripts and customized content-rich advertising opportunities are available for purchase. For information contact Kathi directly at 850-422-3599.

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