Ask And You Shall Receive (or faint...)

Just when I thought I was going to have to resign myself to the fact that Halloween 2008 was going to be pumpkinless, today the parents of a couple of my students came bringing me a "little" present:

Apparently they have a relative who has a more or less wild pumpkin patch in a plot next to his fields. They don't have much use for them, so they give them to whoever wants them.

They asked me if I wanted more. I told them I could probably be talked into it. ;-)

Yes, sometimes miracles do happen.

UPDATE: Here is the Jack o' Lantern I (just) made from the pumpkin in the above pic:

As you can see, I made use of the warts. :-)

I didn't have enough time to carve the second pumpkin, which is about the same size, so I hope to do it tomorrow.

Update Two: Here is the second pumpkin, post-carving. As you can see, it's not quite as "pretty" as the first, so I went a slightly different direction theme-wise:

Still, when the lights go out and the (Yankee) candle is lit inside, you have to admit the effect is pretty good:



Oh, and by the way; this was my Halloween costume this year:



It was one of the things I picked up for a discount at the Carrefour in Makuhari. I'd say it was a success. On Halloween I put it on and walked around Ye Olde Academy...and seriously freaked out a lot of kids (and not few teachers). The high point was when I heard a bunch of Grade 9 students in choral practice. I waited till the song was done, stepped into the doorway facing them, and was greeted with a lovely chorus of shrieks.

Now THAT'S what I call Halloween! ;-)