Can You Hear the Punkin People Laughing?

I know that this is pretty much a family blog and so I'm not interested in drawing strangers into it's sphere of influence (pretentious aren't I?), but I'm still having the hardest time trying to figure out how to get going here. I think it's a little like the artist who stands frozen in front of the huge, blank, white canvas, unable to make that first mark. I think all of us have these kind of moments. Fear of failure, rejection, fear of being the boring guy that everyone loves to avoid......how many ways are there to overcome this kind of anxiety? There must be some tried and true methods and one day, maybe I'll do a little research and tell you what I've found, but for today, maybe I shall be happy enough to quietly sidestep into this post, as I've done here.

The marks have been made and they all lead back to one thing. They take me back to the weekend, they take me back to the sound of Liam, happily announcing from his place beside his Pappa, "the punkin people are lauging" and followed by his little example giggle! So adorable and so wonderful how he insists always on sitting by Pappa. And those brush strokes that are the colors of my memories, take me back to the sensation of little Elsa, reaching up with chubby baby hands to pat my cheek as I snuggled her close and absorbed her sweetness. Surely moments of pink and gold amidst the feelings of love.....we were wonderfully blessed by spending time with Kim and Oliver and Liam and Elsa.

One of the nearby towns decorates every Fall with 'Pumpkin People' which are really just scarecrows with pumpkins for heads. But not just one or two, here and there, but large groups, with themes, and all over town. There was a Transformers group, and a wedding party, and the standard scarey Halloween bunch, and knights and horses and robots and moms shopping for groceries.... and Liam wanted to stop and see every one. And some were too scarey, but some were ok, and I think we stopped to see a lot of them and soon even the scarey ones weren't so bad.

There's a beach near our house, covered with the most fascinating collection of rocks that have speckles and streaks and crystals of color. We spent a couple hours there, filling our pockets and a rather large plastic bag with tiny treasurers. Liam didn't collect, but he threw rocks and he threw more rocks and then even more rocks. I don't think he stopped the whole time we were there and he had a ball because for a change, no one was telling him not to throw rocks. Apparently that's one of his favourite things to do right now. Who knows, maybe he just amazes himself with the prowess of his throwing arm and it makes him feel like he's strong!

And then the weekend was over, and they had to leave, and the house seemed so quiet. But November is coming and Elsa's birthday and we plan to be there for cupcakes and baby hugs and little boy wrestling matches.