Pumpkins!!

Pumpkins, anyone? We decided to go to a local pumpkin fest after Kristin saw some crazy pictures from the fest online. We wanted to see us some sculptures of things made out of PUMPKINS! And boy, we weren't disappointed. We saw a spaceship, rockets, various zodiac signs (cancer the crab, leo the lion, pisces the double fish) plus aliens, the solar system (no Pluto), and a frog. But that sure wasn't all- we also saw the winners of the biggest pumpkin contest, and enjoyed seeing the largest variety of pumpkins and gourds either of us had ever seen. Lucy came along and enjoyed everything at breakneck speed, at the very end of whatever length of leash we gave her.

(Above, Left) LOOK OUT! THERE'S A SNAKE ABOVE THE ROAD! This bizzare-o sculpture was seen enroute to the pumpkinfest. It's hard to tell, but this sculpture was cantilevered over the intersection. The snake was about 30 feet long. And weird.
(Above, Right) One of the really cool things about the pumpkin fest was that it was held on the grounds of a local castle. This view was after we had already walked past several hundred feet of carefully trimmed boxwood bushes, precisely planted flowers, and bubbling fountains. We didn't go in, but the castle looked immaculate outside, and the grounds were a real treat to walk around in, even if there wasn't a pumpkin fest going on.

(Above Left) A tuckered-out Lucy enjoys the car ride home- and a chance to take a much-needed dog nap. Note her pumpkin shirt. She decided that a pumpkin fest would be the perfect occasion to look like a jack-o-lantern. She got a couple smiles from grown ups. Kids always seem a little worried when Lucy has a shirt on. They inevitably ask their parents: "Mom why does that dog have CLOTHES on??" We never hear the response, but I assume they just quietly tell their children we're crazy. I think most Germans don't understand the novelty of putting a T-shirt on your dog. It's not logical, or something. It seems to make a few mildly angry. But we've never been told we shouldn't do that to our dog, and Germans won't hesitate to tell you if they think you're messing something up, so I think we're safe.

(Above Right) a tree-lined path on the palace grounds. Fall colors make it even more pretty.

(Above Left) We're not sure why, but there was a garden on the grounds dedicated to fairy tales. Germany has a good history with fairy tales, being the birth place of the Grimm Tales and Mother Goose. The castle seen here, if you couldn't tell from the really long braided hair hanging out the window, is Rapunzel's castle.

(Above Right) Kristin had to take a shot of this larger-than-usual garden gnome found in the fairy tale garden. Kristin immediately named him "David," after the "David the gnome" cartoon she watched as a kid on Nickelodeon. Aren't gnomes fun?

(Top Left) Moon men and moon rover powered by mini-pumpkins.

(Above Right) This rocket looks like it's taking off, but Lucy isn't scared at all.

(Bottom Left) Boxes and boxes and boxes of pumpkins available for sale. Tons of varieties, and plenty of mini pumpkins for sale, in case you feel like you can make a better space man and moon rover in your own front yard. We bought two special varieties, notable for their weirdness. One was all-green, which I intend to transform into Frankenstein a little closer to Halloween. Kristin got an ugly orange and green pumpkin that didn't look ripe but is.

(Above Left) Pumpkin man with some sort of birthday cake, maybe. We weren't sure about a couple of these sculptures...

(Above Right) I pose with a very tall active volcano made of pumpkins. It even has pumpkins seemingly bursting out of the top!

(Above Left) Pumpkin rocket

(Above Right) A couple of aliens and an ornate pumpkin UFO

(Above Left) How many varieties of pumpkins ARE there? I was surprised to see that most of the varieties originally came from the good ole USA. A lot of gourds came from Africa.

(Above Right and below) More weird sculptures, with the Rapunzel castle in the back.



(Above Left) It's not easy being ORANGE? A frog made of pumpkins.

(Above Right) An adorable picture of Kristin with her furry child.

(Above Left) Kristin's next to the first prize winner for the largest pumpkin

(Above Right) I'm pretty impressed with the third place pumpkin. What the heck do they use for fertilizer??

(Above Left) Lucy wasn't very interested in pumpkins, and was more interested in seeing the other dogs there. We even saw another schnauzer there. None of the other dogs had dressed for the occasion.

(Above Right) Lucy and I take a rest, while Kristin does some work behind the camera.

(Above Left) Pumpkin streudel=YUM! There wasn't an item on the menu that didn't have pumpkin in it. The streudel was just like a normal streudel, though. Just a few tiny bits of pumpkin thrown in to call it a pumpkin streudel.

(Above Right) Pumpkin soup! Garnished with crushed pumpkin seeds and pumpkin oil, was DEE-LICIOUS! I thought it tasted like a mix between cream of potato and cream of corn soup, and Kristin thought it tasted like "Yuck".

(Above, Left and Right) They even made wine out of the stuff! Don't adjust your monitor- that really is ORANGE wine. It kinda tasted like champagne, with some orange kool aid and something else, like dead leaves, mixed in. As you can see by my facial expression, I wasn't impressed.