Saturday, October 25, 2008

"Let's Meet At.."


...at the annual Sycamore Pumpkin Festival!

Oh my gosh...for a lifetime, it seemed,
it was an October tradition my family to gather in Sycamore
for the weekend of Pumpkin Festival.
(The link above has all kinds of interesting info, if you have time.)
The arts and crafts fair would be on Saturday and Sunday...
And the big parade
...attracting over 100,000 visitors...
would culminate the festival on Sunday.
Anyone
who had moved away from home
would be back in town for the celebration.
There were carved pumpkins on the courthouse lawn,
pumpkin pie eating contests, carnival rides, vendors along the streets...
fireworks, family reunions, sloppy joes, caramel apples,
10K runs, politicians campaigning, leaves crunching,
antique shows, excited school kids,
painted faces,
a "down home" flavor everywhere you went.
The crispness of Fall was is the air...and life was totally good!

I miss autumn celebrations in the midwest
and
warming up by crackling fires at night...
It was so comforting and fun for all of us to be together.

This post is dedicated to all friends, colleagues,
and former students,
who are in town this weekend for the celebration!
I will be thinking about you!

"The nice part about living in a small town
is that when you don't know what you're doing,
someone else does."
~Unknown

10 comments:

Teri said...

A very sweet memory and wonderful painting to go with it.

Julie said...

Oh gosh...makes me want to cry! Such a sweet and happy time...just thinking about the crackling fall campfires make me feel all warm inside. Your painting is lovely!

MuseSwings said...

Sorry you had to miss this one - it sounds like a wonderful time. Your "smalltown" quote is perfect. I lived in a small town for a while. None of my friends or I could get away with anything. Word traveled from mom to mom very quickly!

Anonymous said...

Margaret,
Is that a picture of you at a previous festival? It is always nice to "meet" our friends at EDM. Your pumpkins are lovely - I think Halloween leading to Thanksgiving leading to Christmas has to be my favorite time of the year.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

A beautiful painting to remember your roots. It sounds like a little homesickness in your words. Maybe you need to bake yourself a pumpkin pie.

Stephen Hall said...

You left some wonderful and inspiring comments on my blog, I thought I would drop by and take a peek at what you are up to and Wow! You do some fabulous things. I love the spiritual essence in them. I'm coming back if you don't mind for a longer look. Now I'm even more flattered by your comments!

marianne said...

Wonderful watercolor!
Lovely post!

Unknown said...

I just bought our pumpkin today ... or at least the one we are going to carve. And just in time for some dry air (we don't get cold air down here ... or not that cold).

Christie said...

Thanks for the memories -- though I've lived in Hawaii since the early 80's, I hail from a TINY (pop 250) Illinois town near Moline. Love the quote, it's so true!

Margaret Ann said...

Yep, Shirley that is me!

Thanks for all your really sweet comments! :)

Christie...you win the prize for livin in the smallest town...250! WOW! You really had to watch you step I'll bet! LOL :)

Thanks Steven...Your blog rocks! :)