Last Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch for two reasons. The first was to pick out pumpkins, and we did that at the start of our visit. First Richard tracked down a huge orange one all covered in scars, and then I found one that looked as if it had been punched in the side, and there was quite the ordeal getting both pumpkins onto a cart – especially since we had to swap out carts with someone else because our super large pumpkins would not fit in the cart with sides, and the other people had only tiny little pumpkins and squash for their flat bed cart.

In the end, however, my side-punched pumpkin was significantly large enough that it was going to cost an arm and a leg, so after all that hassle, we left it by the side of aisle and found me a slightly smaller one, which I liked even better because this year I was taken with the white pumpkins instead of the orange ones.

The second reason for going to the pumpkin patch is, of course, the corn maze. In previous years we have either been in a hurry, or else have had other people with us – specifically other people with small children – so we have not been able to just wander aimlessly as we would have liked. This year, however, the only other members of our group decided to forego the corn maze in favor of picking out their own pumpkins. So we decided to do the right turn method of navigating – you turn right at each intersection with the theory that eventually this will lead you out. I did point out that this would only work if there were no squares in the maze made of intersecting perpendicular paths, but the chances of that being in a corn maze were fairly slim so we weren’t too worried.

It’s kind of fun to wander around in a corn maze, especially this year when the corn was so very tall and all you could see all around you were stalks and the path stretching forward and behind. We wandered aimlessly for quite a while, but eventually thirst got the better of us and we finally broke down and consulted the map.

The pumpkins (along with a few warty gourds) have been sitting on our front porch all week. This afternoon, we finally took care of that, and when it got dark out, we put in candles just to make sure they would look okay.

The one on the left is mine; the one on the right is Richard’s. They both stand a few feet tall and removing the slimy innards did not noticeably change how heavy they are.