The rain continued through the
night and became a bit more scattered after sunup. Linda asked if we needed our raincoats as we
went for breakfast and I said “No. I don’t think so”. Well, we found out why I was never a
weatherman. When we were ready to leave
it poured. We drove through rain until
reaching the WV boarder. Then the skies
cleared and the drive to our next stop was a breeze.
Our next stop was Circleville,
Ohio, home to the Pumpkin Festival and hometown to our friends Pat and
Ray. We met Pat and Ray about
thirty-five years ago when they lived next door to us in Somerset, KY. We (I should say Linda and Pat) have always
kept in touch and remain close friends. I
believe they were each other’s support group when the hubbies drove them up the
wall. While Ray and I didn’t keep in
close touch we shared a mutual ability to give the girls something to
discuss. You could say we were a driving
force in their long term friendship! |
| Pat and Ray |
Pat loves to cook and supper was
a grand portion of Swiss steak, mashed taters, tossed salad and for desert what
else but fresh baked pie. Yes you
guessed it… pumpkin pie. Hey, after all this is Circleville, Ohio home of some
of the largest pumpkins in the world.
 |
| A stain glass official logo of the Pumpkin Show Pat won at a silent auction |
They took us to see a pumpkin
patch just on the edge of town. In this
patch were four pumpkins. The largest is
named Lilly. Why a name like Lilly
instead of Bruno? Well, it turns out that
all pumpkins are female. It takes a male
and female plant to produce and only the female plant grows fruit. Lilly came from a seed planted last May and
is now estimated to weigh 1300 pounds!
She will continue to grow at the rate of 30 to 40 pounds a day. By the Festival on October 21st
she could weigh in at nearly a ton. She has to be tended to daily from May
through October. She must be kept in the
shade to keep the sun from cracking her skin and the vine supported so it doesn’t
pinch or break as the pumpkin grows larger. There are lights kept on her at night so she
“thinks” it’s still daytime and continues to grow around the
clock. This is serious business in these
parts. I believe Charlie Brown would
find this to be a sincere pumpkin patch and the Great Pumpkin will rise up on Halloween.
 |
| Even the water tower is a Pumpkin |
Ray himself has grown pumpkins
that have topped 800 pounds. Last year’s record breaking pumpkin weighed in at
1,964 pounds. That’s only 36 pounds less
than a ton! All the pumpkins entered in the festival are from a 25 mile radius
of Circleville. During the festivities
this town of about 13,000 people will swell to over 100,000. Maybe next year Linda and I can be one of the spectators. Check out this link to get the real story of
the Official Pumpkin Show website.
The evening was spent reminiscing
the year we lived in KY and how the families have grown, with our boys all
grown up and having kids of their own.
Time doesn’t stand still.
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