Notre Dame football wins again, My pumpkin harvest, a gorgeous Fall Sunday!

I think I said from the beginning that I'm not much of a football fan, but things have changed since my son left in August to begin his first year/freshman year there.   Suddenly, I care about how the Notre Dame football team is doing (which is also easy because they are now 6-0).

Caring about Notre Dame football now is kind of a necessity, though.  I don't care about the Eagles, the Philadelphia team, at all, but it doesn't seem to bother anyone if I don't know or care about the Eagles. Not caring about Notre Dame football, when you have a child who goes there,  seems to suggest that there is something mentally deficient with you.  Apparently there are lots of Notre Dame football fans out there, because having a son who goes there seems to make people think that you know a lot about the football team, and that you really care about the team.   So, I have been either watching the game live, or, like I did last night, taping/recording the game before we leave, and then watching it when we get home.     And, while I haven't learned the names of most of the players (okay, I think I know 3), I am starting to think some look familiar, and one guy I think I remember seeing on campus.

My greatest fascination with watching the game last night, though, is that while they are in the same time zone as we are, the sun sets at least 45 minutes after it sets here in Philadelphia.  I noticed that in August--it was still pretty light on campus at 9 in late August, but in Philadelphia, it had been getting dark around 8.   They had some aerial shots of the stadium at 7:15, and it was still fairly light there, but it gets dark here around 6:30.   So, I guess that shows you why I only know the names of 3 players.    

On Friday, I brought in my pumpkin harvest.  Here it is:

Now, lest you think this is pathetic, let me remind you that we didn't plant the seeds until July 14th, we got an attack of Powdery Mildew (PM--google it), and this was our first year.  I am thrilled.  Things I have learned:

1. Plant earlier.
2. Spray with a fungicide to avoid PM.
3. Consider planting a bee-bringing plant near to attract bees (although I really don't want the bees           there if I am there) , because they are really crucial to pumpkin growing. I had several egg-sized         pumpkins that I had to give up on because the"growing season" is over here in mid-September.

Overall, I am thrilled.   I don't know what I will do with them, but I may just leave them in a basket.



Today is a gorgeous fall Sunday.  Yesterday was lousy--cold rain, overcast...one of those days you just can't get warm.  Today is the opposite.      Years ago, I gave up decorating with real pumpkins.  I always bought 6-8 of them, and by Halloween, they had been eaten by squirrels. Instead,  I bought a ton of these fake pumpkins at Target's 90% off Halloween clearance sale.   These pumpkins were between .90 and 1.49 each for the largest ones, and they don't rot, and the squirrels can't eat them.  While nothing beats the look of fresh pumpkins, luckily these are hard to tell are fake, and nothing is worse than the sight of a squirrel-eaten decaying pumpkin.

   Not the greatest picture with all the shadows....I just mound the pumpkins up at the bottom of the maple tree.   Also, you might not be able to see the pile of fake pumpkins on that green chair on the right--I trash picked the chair, and put some pumpkins on it, and people always tell me how festive it looks!   The pumpkins were purchased for a total of $2.70 5 years ago, and the chair was free--not a bad look for the fall.