The Sauna Part 101

Sunday morning dawned as another beautiful fall day with sunny blue skies and milder temperatures. Jon would be heading back to Jersey tomorrow for a few days and today would be our last chance to spend the day together for a little while.

“Morning, love” I said, nuzzling against Jon’s chest.

“Mhhhmmnnn” he purred back in response.

“I have an idea for something we can do today, if you’re up for it” I said solicitously.

“What have you got in mind, wife?” he asked, eyeing me skeptically.

“I was thinking we could go and have a nice brunch at a place I know and then maybe take a drive out to Pumpkinville and pick out some pumpkins?” I suggested.

“Pumpkinville? You’re kidding, right? Is there really such a place?”

“Oh, indeed there is! There’s also a cider mill on the way too. It’s really more for kids, but it’s always fun to go there. Maybe next year we can bring the kids too. What do you say?” I asked enthusiastically.

“Sounds like a plan” he answered, stretching lazily.

“Well, c’mon then. Up and at ’em!” I teased, and proceeded to start tickling him until he woke up sufficiently.

After a quick shower, we were dressed and headed off for breakfast on the bike. We decided we’d stop back and get the car after brunch since we had to come back this way anyhow and it was too nice a day not to take advantage of the opportunity to ride the bike. We bundled up and rode out to the Hamburg Grille for a bite to eat and I introduced Jon to the chef there, Paul, who I’d come to be friends with since my office was next door.

Paul was excited to have a celebrity like Jon at his restaurant and we got the royal treatment. We were also early and made it in before the church crowd started arriving, so he offered to make us anything we wanted that wasn’t at the buffet. I was content with the quiche, one of my favorite things anyway, and Jon wasn’t picky, just hungry. Taking matters into his own hands, Paul decided to surprise us with his own scrambled egg masterpiece and as a special favor to me, he brought us two ramekins of pumpkin crème brulee.

We ate a very hearty breakfast, needless to say, but I made room for the special dessert as Paul knew I loved anything with pumpkin. Jon raved about the eggs, which were spicy and filling, and Paul appeared quite pleased. He sat down and joined us while we finished dessert and was anxious to learn if there were any Jersey specialties he could add to the menu. Jon explained that he missed a really good pizza, but other than that, nothing special came to mind. We thanked him and Jon autographed a menu before we left, managing to escape just as the church crowd started to file in.

We road back to the house and enjoyed the crisp air and the smell of grapes ripening as we passed by the vineyards that peppered the countryside. The warm sun felt good on my face and I was glad the wind had died down some since yesterday. The autumn leaves were spectacular despite the relatively late fall we were having because of the unusual amount of rain.

We changed out of our chaps and took my car for the trip to Pumpkinville, stopping at the cider mill on the way. We sampled a couple varieties of cider, and bought a gallon of our favorite to take home and another gallon to let ferment. Fresh hard cider was a favorite of mine and Jon had never had it fresh before.

We arrived at Pumpkinville just after noon and I had brought the camera, making sure I could capture some of the beautiful scenery on film. I loved fall colors and, set deep in the hillside, Pumpkinville was splendidly picturesque. There were tons of kids everywhere and Jon seemed to really enjoy watching them play in the mounds of gathered leaves and the different games that were set up to entertain them.

“The kids would absolutely love it here! We’ll definitely have to bring them down next year. Jesse and Jake would have a ball!” he exclaimed and I wished I’d thought of the idea last week instead of this morning.

A little boy carrying a huge pumpkin came running towards us and tripped, the pumpkin flying out of his arms and rolling across the grass. Jon bent down and picked the little guy up off the grass and wiped at the tears starting to form in his eyes.

“Hey, little man, it’s okay” he soothed the boy while I retrieved the pumpkin which had rolled to a stop.

The boy’s mother came running up after him and knelt to inspect him, sighing with relief when she discovered no injuries. I handed the large pumpkin to his mom, who was thanking Jon, and laughed.

“I don’t think he could see where he was going over this monster he was carrying!” I joked.

“He just gets so excited. I told him to slow down, but he’s faster than I am these days!” she laughed back.

The little boy was anxiously tugging at her, ready to continue on their way to the carving area, and Jon beamed at the two of them. He just loved kids and I knew he was missing his own.

“Next year, babe. Next year we’ll bring the kids” he whispered to me.

We made our way to the petting zoo and I had to be sure to feed every goat, calf and llama before we went to choose our pumpkins. I made Jon pose for pictures by the “scary” plywood cut out figures that you could insert your face into and he stuck out his tongue and pouted in almost every shot. He took pictures of me feeding the animals and picking out a selection of gourds for the Samhain altar as well as some bunches of Indian corn and a fall wreath.

Finally, we came to the “Pumpkin Patch” and after an argument over which pumpkins were better for carving-tall and oval or round and fat-we resolved it by buying one of each. We carried them over to the carving area and Jon laid them down at my feet.

“Okay, here is yours. But I guarantee mine will look better!” he threatened, picking up a carving knife and digging into his tall one.

“Oh, yeah? We’ll just see. Remember who the artist is here” I challenged back and with that we set about the competition.

When we were finished, we compared them before entering them into the contest. Mine, of course, resembled a cat face and Jon just rolled his eyes. His was more traditional, but I was not impressed. Suddenly I had an idea and sent Jon off to get me one more pumpkin. He returned with a small one and watched as I proceeded to carve a smirk face into it and that made him grin sheepishly.

“Okay, okay. I should have thought of that myself” he laughed.

We entered all three into the judging since the entrance fee went to raise money for a children’s charity, and then decided to get some coffee and pumpkin cookies while we waited for the judging. At four o’clock we walked about and observed the other entries and both acknowledged that ours were pretty lame in comparison to the works of art some people had created. We didn’t stand a chance.

Instead of waiting around to lose, we signed up for the hayride, and climbed in alongside all the parents and kids. No matter that we were both forty-four year olds, I never got tired of Halloween stuff, and apparently neither did Jon. I snuggled back into his arms on the back of the hay cart and prepared myself to be scared.

The hayride proceeded to take us through a tall cornfield where all manner of creatures appeared to frighten us at various points. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes and Jon was thoroughly enjoying the reactions of all the little kids, who shrieked and jumped at every new monster. At the end of the ride we returned to collect our pumpkins which hadn’t won any ribbons and began loading them into the car along with my gourd assortment and a stack of cornstalks we picked up to decorate the yard.

We returned home just after six and it was beginning to get dark, so we hurried to arrange our goodies in the front yard and I retrieved several candles and lit them inside our pumpkins. Jon snapped a picture of me proudly holding my cat face pumpkin and I took one of him with his and the smirk one.

Afterwards we went inside and I made coffee and Jon started the fire. I downloaded the pictures from the camera onto the computer and showed Jon how to insert them into an email and he sent them to the kids and Richie. We were both too stuffed yet from brunch to want a full dinner, so I made us a couple of Waldorf salads and sliced up the pumpkin bread we’d bought and we roasted some chestnuts on the fire. All in all, it had been a good day, and we were ready for bed.