October adventures

Rockville Park wierdness
My friend Jeannie had the day off, so Saturday she, friend Len, and I hiked for 3 hours over at least 1/2 of the perimeter of the large Rockville Park.  Since it was the 27th of October, we found many goulish places being made ready for the park's nighttime haunted walks.  Here is one of a large spider holding a redhaired woman prisoner.

Sprouting Lesson
I was asked to teach the Relief Society women on Oct 11th how to sprout seeds for eating.  Here you can see:  mung bean, lentil, wheat, alfalfa, and other wonderful seeds already sprouted.  They can be used in salads, soups, omletes, bread, meatballs, spegehtti, you name it!  Very easy and good for you since, when sprouted, they have many needed amino acids used in building our bodies.  I supplied information sheets and a plastic mesh for use in either regular or wide mouth canning jars as well as wheat so the women could do their own sprouting.  Several of the gals really have been going to "town" on this knowledge.

Tarek ad Bjorn Barenbroch
In 1993 our family housed Bjron as a German  exchange student for the school year in Rexburg.  He is the same age a Sara.  Last year and now this year he and his first child, Tarek, visited me here in Fairfield for a few days and then went on to visit other friends in the area.  Tarek is teaching his day how to play a marble game our famiy has had for years.  Bjorn is an air traffic controler at the Bremen Air Port in Germany.

                                                                  Dr G's Pumpkin Patch

Politically carved pumpkins

 

For days before Halloween, many in our ward and neighborhood can be found gutting and carving 500 or more pumpkins donated to Dr Craig Gillespie by Larry at Larry's Produce for his wonderful lighted showing of local talent on Halloween.  Several families make carving these golden objects a family home evening project.  I got to gut many sizes of pumpkins for 3 days.  Below is a very large pumpkin that I opened on the side for someone to create a design on the oposite side.  The inside, or guts, of this pumpkin were so very interesting, like a cave complete with mysterious growth, that I just had to take a picture.   I saved the seeds, some for growing pumpkins in my own garden and some for roasting and then eating.

 

 

 

Rows and rows of lit carved pumpkins decked shelving and tables in the front yard of Dr G's home.  Can you see the snake on the ground that I drilled holes into after cutting and gutting LOTS of small pumpkins?  By 7 p.m. it had a head and a tail, but not yet in this picture.

 

 

Costumes and lit pumpkins are the fun of this Halloween night.  The pumpkins are really a sight when seen in the dark.  Since rain was supposed to start at about 6 p.m., tents were erected over ALL of the display.  This is quite a feat:  gutting, carving, placing, getting equipment in place, etc., and Dr G has many helpers.  He also has a pot luck on the night of Halloween for anyone who wants to come with a dish to pass.  He often has about 900 lookers.  Parking is tricky along the narrow Green Valley Road by his home, but the treats are wonderful!