Tag Archives: pumpkins

art, German lifestyle, Hessen

A low key Halloween…

Happy All Saints Day, y’all. Bill left this morning for a trip to the USA. I’m sitting here alone with a big bowl of candy, leftover from last night’s lame Halloween. We bought more candy this year, because last year, I was passing out candy alone, and we got cleaned out early.

I’d rather have too much candy than not enough, although now that I think about it, after that big crowd showed up last year, no one else rang the doorbell. So, as it turned out, we did have enough candy… or maybe it was just because I turned out the light when I ran out of goodies.

This year, I think we had five or six kids. One of them wasn’t even wearing a costume and looked really confused when he came up on our doorstep. His mom was standing by, smiling, and the kid just stood there while Bill handed him American chocolate. Another kid was collecting candy with his hands, because he forgot to bring a sack.

It’s not a big deal, though. It’s fun to go through the Halloween ritual every year, even though I don’t really enjoy carving jack o’ lanterns that much. Sometimes we get kids who participate. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes, we go out of town for Halloween, but more often than not, Bill has to go on business trips. Last year, he was in Bavaria and came home on November 1st. This year, he’s going to North Carolina. SIGH…

Anyway, we both carved pumpkins, and I did take some photos…

Last night was kind of fun, anyway, because we listened to music and ate homemade pizza. Naturally, we also drank lots of German beer. It was my favorite weizen, Franziskaner.

I’ll miss Bill while he’s gone, but at least I’ll have a chance to get some creative things done. I suspect this could be a good week for music, for instance. It would be an even better week if my ear would pop. I hate recovering after colds.

By the way… because I was blogging about our trip to Eastern Europe, I never did get a chance to share photos of our recent picture framing. Behold… The top three are prints Bill picked up in Budapest in September. The bottom paintings came from Bulgaria.

The blue windmill is especially dear to me, because I bought it in 1996, when my friend Elaine and I were traveling from Yerevan to Sofia by bus. I think I spent about $3 on the art, but the reframing job was a hell of a lot more expensive than that! 🤭 We bought the other paintings when we went to Sofia in 2024.

Anyway… that’s about all I have to write today. We should have three more prints to hang soon, when our picture framer calls us to come pick up the art we bought in Dresden.

Hope you had a happy Halloween!

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holidays

Halloween 2023 is now in the books…

Ever since we first moved to Germany in 2007, and again in 2014, we’ve noticed that Halloween has become progressively more popular. We’ve also noticed that some areas celebrate it more than others do. Up here in Hesse, we’ve seen more German kids trick or treating than we did when we lived in Baden-Württemberg, but it’s always a crap shoot as to how many will ring the doorbell looking for candy. Last year there were twelve kids. This year there were only five, but it was a little rainy last night. I did get to hear the kids say, “Süß oder Sauer!”

Bill had to go to Bavaria on Sunday, so I was left to handle our crowd of five alone. He did carve a jack o’ lantern before he left, but it was already starting to rot. It’s a good thing today is November 1, because I don’t think it would have lasted another day. It was turning to mush this morning when I tossed it!

He made a classic face for his pumpkin, but I decided to put diamonds in mine. I’m not very good at making mouths on my jack o’lanterns. Actually, I’m not very good at carving pumpkins at all! But we just wanted something to cast an orange glow on a dark night…

I like this photo…
Bill’s rotting jack o’lantern.

We had plenty of candy last night, and lots leftover today, even though I’ve been sneaking it all month. One of the bags Bill bought came with strawberry Twizzlers. I noticed the flavor of the Twizzlers bled into the chocolate candy. It’s not too offensive, though… and besides, American candy is expected to be too sweet and low quality. Some Germans seem to like it, anyway. I would rather have German chocolate myself, except for the odd Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

I turned on the porch lights and lit the jack o’lanterns at about 5:00 PM and kept them on until about 8:00 PM… I thought maybe some of my neighbors were joining in on the festivities, but I guess not… 😀

Anyway, I did my duty. Halloween is over now… My German friend shared this funny video about Halloween in Germany. It’s in English and pretty damned funny. I recommend that you view it.

The kids who were old enough to speak did not say “Trick or Treat” to me… And since I don’t speak German very well, I didn’t say, “Nice outfit. Happy Halloween!”

Maybe if we’re here next year, we’ll hang up some festive orange lights or something. Or take a trip somewhere else. 😉

Today is All Saints Day, so some folks are home from work. In BW, it’s a holiday, but I don’t think it necessarily is in Hesse, where there aren’t as many Catholics or religious people, in general. The weather is crappy, as it usually is this time of year. What a change from a month ago! If I were the type to play tricks on people, I might have used Bill’s rotting jack o’lantern to make a mess somewhere. But I’ve become very respectable in my old age, so I just dumped it in the brown compost bin.

In one week, Bill will be home, and we’ll be packing to go to Armenia. I look forward to it! Because after that, it’ll be time for Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday.

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Pumpkin project!

Yesterday, since it was cloudy, Bill went to the local market to pick up some pumpkins. We have new German neighbors who have small children and they asked us to celebrate Halloween this year. So we obliged, although it wasn’t easy to find pumpkins. Halloween is becoming more and more popular in Germany, especially in areas were a lot of Americans live. Bil had to go to three stores to find suitable pumpkins for carving. The local farm near us was having a corn maze/Halloween fest, so he thought he might get lucky there. But there was nowhere to park! All the kids were celebrating Halloween!

I remember our first year in Germany, back in 2007. We were living in a hotel on Halloween, although it was our last night there, as we moved into our first German house on November 1. The following year, we had people ring our doorbell, but since we didn’t know if Germans celebrated Halloween, we were completely unprepared. Then in 2009, we had to move back to the States prematurely.

In 2014, we came back to Germany and lived in Jettingen. That year, we had candy, although I’m not sure if we carved a pumpkin. A pair of German teen boys in rather lame costumes rang our bell. That was it for trick or treaters. Ever since then, if we’ve been home, we have candy just in case, but we don’t usually bother with jack o’lanterns. Last year, we were Croatia on Halloween, which was a marvelous place to be. Croatia in the fall is glorious, as you can see here.

Anyway, below are some photos of our pumpkin project. I think they turned out okay. Bill is going to go get some American candy, and hopefully our neighbors will ring the doorbell tomorrow night. Otherwise, I’ll end up doing what I do every year for Halloween, and eat all the candy myself. God knows, I don’t need to be doing that! Our jack o’lanterns aren’t very menacing. I’m not that good at pumpkin carving.

We have pretty nice weather today. The sun is out, and it’s not too cold. We probably ought to go out and do something fun, but Bill is still resting up after his bout with COVID. Except for a little fatigue, he’s fine now, and will be headed back to in person work tomorrow. Meanwhile, our sweet Arran continues to improve on the medication he’s getting for lymphoma. Yesterday, he even started jumping on the bed again. The chemo regimen is obviously doing some good for him as he enjoys what will probably be his last fall season. We continue to cherish our time with him and marvel at what a trouper he is. I’m grateful that we’ll be able to enjoy his company for a little bit longer.

Today is also the first day of standard time. Next week, everybody in the States who change the clocks will be moving their clocks back, too. I think if we have to change the clocks, it’s better to do it before Halloween. That way, it’s dark enough for a proper Trick or Treat experience. That’s how it was when I was a kid, anyway.

Anyway, if you celebrate, Happy Halloween!

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