Our House is a Disaster (But We Don't Mind a Bit)

Several hundred people overflowed our house yesterday, breaking all previous attendance records for the Pumpkin Carving Party. We plowed through the mac 'n' cheese & lasagne in record time. The peanut soup, corn pudding, and gumbo were much sought after by loyal fans. Many, many bottles of wine came through the front door, and there wasn't much left over at the end, my friends. Colleen, David, and Mikala compared their three pie crusts and after much deliberation decided: they're totally different -- and all delicious! Miss Crisco 1964 (Mikala's mom) concurred. We managed, amidst the chaos, to collect $177 for the Campaign for Change.

But it really was all about the carving, after all. It was such a beautiful day, we started outside this time.

We had a fair amount of treehouse action at the beginning -- at one point Simon's entire soccer team was up there, having shipped a large supply of brownies, cookies, cupcakes, chocolate drizzled pretzles, and red and blue popcorn balls up in the basket. Later Irene the Goth Bride took over the hoisting of sweets. We finally shut the treehouse down after Sarita fell off the ladder. She was a little bruised, but still cheerful. Sorry, Sarita!


Something about this big-mouthed pumpkin made me very happy. And the arty cubist one too:


People got into the Obama stencils in a big way:



Bryan (wearing the most awesome T-shirt) brought over the pumpkin that got run over by a garbage truck in the alley a month ago, but somehow continued to grow:

Is this a self-portrait, Simon?


Yes. It's the Electoral Map, in Jell-O. Tieran, you rock.


The fabulous Beaconettes were a marvelous addition to the festivities. We loved their rendition of "Mr. Sandman" -- instead of "Mr. Sandman, send me a dream," it was "Christine Gregoire, widen your lead." When the crowd demanded an encore, they admitted that they had prepared one more -- a satirical version of "Dona Nobis Pacem" about Sarah Palin -- but that when they rehearsed it they realized it didn't feel right to do that to "Dona Nobis Pacem." So we sang it straight instead -- which was totally lovely, and gave at least one participant goosebumps.


Finally, it got dark enough to light 'em up.


Check OUT that Obama pumpkin. Nice work, Trina!


As things were winding down, Daniel and Jenny discovered our "Rise Up Singing" book on the piano, and serenaded us with (among other things) "I Shall Be Released" as we wandered around dazedly collecting the empties and assessing the damage.

Thanks to everyone who came!

P.S. We also wound up with two blue crocs, one yellow croc, and a white furry sweater. Any takers?