Anne Mitchell Illustration

When the Frost is on the Punkin

  

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here—

Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;

But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

1849-1916

When I awoke to find our porch pumpkins covered by an early snow recently the phrase "frost on the pumpkin" came to mind.  Where I had heard it was a mystery to me but no more.  The second stanza from James Whitcomb Riley's poem is listed above.  You can find it in its entirety here.

Speaking of pumpkins, we were off to Arizona again for a project that will be revealed next year.  While there, we checked out the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree.  The free event runs for approximately two weeks at the end of October and features pumpkin carvings by Ray Villafane and his talented crew.  I highly recommend this event with its extensive displays.  I overheard Ray saying that he carved several of the pumpkins three times due to the effects of the heat.  His website can be seen here.

Ray Villafane at Enchanted Pumpkin Garden 

Black Cloud, Carlos Amorales

Flying in and out of Phoenix gives us the opportunity to visit the wonderful museums the city offers.  The Heard Museum is not to be missed and was enjoyed on a previous trip.  This time we explored the Phoenix Art Museum.  The unique museum welcomes you with Carlos Amorales' Black Cloud.  Entrance walls are covered with 25,000 black paper butterflies and moths.  It is a stunning sight.

Frida Kahlo's painting The Suicide of Dorthy Hale (1939) and You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies by Yayoi Kusama were highlights for me.  "Fireflies" is an installation you enter and it will leave you changed upon exit. The Phoenix Art Museum offers something for everyone. It and the Heard Museum are treasures and I encourage you to explore them if you can.

The Suicide of Dorthy Hale, Frida Kahlo 1939

  

You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies, Yayoi Kusama

October is just a memory now, but a fun one.  It is Thanksgiving Day and I am thankful for not just good friends and loving family, but safe travels, museums, talented artists, pumpkins, humor, and flight attendants that dress up as witches on a Halloween flight.  Happy Thanksgiving.

And they played "Thriller" as we disembarked.