We spent part of Saturday taking down anything that might blow around from when Sandy gets here. Not sure how bad the effects will be up here. Certainly not what is expected at the coast, but it can’t hurt to be prepared on the safe side for high winds and lots of rain. We are prepared for power loss.
We also got in a bike ride. That will be the last ride until at least Saturday as rain is coming in for about 5 days. Ugh.
Sunday started out with a bagel.
Then I came home, got some chowder started and did a run. 30 minutes of running at a nice slow pace. It seems to take for*ever to run when you normally bike.
Then it was time for a pumpkin carving party! I found the perfect pumpkin – it still has the curlicues on the stem!
Carving pumpkins is a great way to break in the new laminate floors 
We had some free form pumpkins and some from Pumpkin Masters. I chose a Pumpkin Masters pattern.
This pattern was hard and a lot of meticulous cutting – especially the little fingers at the top.
Lots of scooping and cutting!
When most of the pumpkins were done, we took a dinner break. Cheese and crackers and fruit.
Those are some baked pumpkin donuts that John made using a mini bundt pan.
I also made a potato and corn chowder in the crock pot (recipe to come).
This soup was really good!
Finished pumpkins on the porch:
When it was dark, it was time to test them out!
I like how mine came out, but man was it a lot of work!
John’s looked good.
I love to carve pumpkins. I actually have another small one to do. I guess if we lose power on Tuesday, I can carve it 😀
Now to settle in for the night and watch the Broncos play the Saints. My two favorites teams!
Stay safe everyone! Heed all advice given out, better to be safe than sorry.
How fun to see a big group of carved pumpkins like that! I love the curlicues on the pumpkins too.
Looking forward to that soup recipe, as that is one of the few soups I really do like at a restaurant. It will be a good one to have for the winter.
The soup was very good and not a lot of fat, really. It was made creamy by blending half and just a bit of half and half. Yummy!
Oh wow that’s a lot of pumpkins! Looks like a lot of fun 🙂
It is a lot of pumpkins. Only 2 stay with us, though 😀
Oh what fun!
Wow, the pumpkins look great – you all are very talented carvers! And that soup sounds fantastic…looking forward to the recipe.
Hope Sandy doesn’t cause too much misery – stay safe!
Awesome looking pumpkins! Hope Sandy takes a path away from the coast.
Amazing pumpkins–yours is so intricate! That must have taken for*ever also! (One of my favorite words –the unexpurgated version) 🙂
What fun!
What a great idea for a party and you must have some kind of strong hands to carve that intricately. Keep a candle in it – you may be using it for power in the next few hours. Who were all the people at the party – family?? Thinking of you guys. This all seems particularly real to us since these are so many areas we fell in love with last summer. It was difficult looking at the damage cause by Irene and tough thinking about all these folks having to go through it again. Keep us posted as best you can.
Yes, that’s family. We have tiny little sawing tools for the pumpkin carving, which makes detail work a lot easier (if time consuming). We definitely take our carving seriously LOL!
So cool those pumpkins Lori and how much fun to do this with your family.
I have been thinking of you and Helen a lot this weekend. Sandy is all over the news here too and I hope you stay safe when it arrives.
I love the effect you have with all those pumpkins lit up in a row. Really cool! What did the family think of the floor? 🙂
Yes, post the soup recipe! I need to make some more soup.
Everyone loves the floor 😀
Such crazy weather back there Lori – hope you are OK!!!!
OMG, love the carving party & the pumpkins look amazing!!! We don’t see that here much so love yours!!!
OK – I want one of those pumpkin donuts! 🙂
Stay safe & sorry you can’t bike!
What a perfect fall day! Your pumpkins do indeed look fabulous–I loved seeing them all lined up like that. We are in the lots-of-little-kids phase of life, so we have a little row of painted pumpkins on our porch, along with one that dad did with the older boys(9 & 11). It will be so much fun as they get older and can each do their own carvings.
The soup looks awesome, too–love the bowl! Aah, I love fall. =)
Very nice! I’m afraid I don’t have the patience for pumpkin carving. Lucky for me, nice people like you share photos so I can carve vicariously. 🙂
Those look great, as did the food spread. It looks like everyone and an excellent I’ve and that’s the most important thing 🙂
So much fun! I haven’t carved a pumpkin in years.
SOOOOO fun! I LOVE carved pumpkins. They look FANTASTIC!!! (Dennis and I will likely be carving ours tonight) Hope Sandy doesn’t do any damage in your neck of the woods. Stay safe my internet friend, I’ll be thinking of all of you down east!!!
LOVE the pumpkins, esp. when they’re all lit up. Most impressive!!!
Right when Pumpkin Masters came out (and before it was super popular) I entered a pumpkin carving contest at a job I worked at – I won first place! I got so many pats on the back for how professional it turned out. Of course the next year, everyone else knew about Pumpkin masters – ha!
The pumpkins are awesome! Have you ever considered carving craft pumpkins to keep forever? I’ve carved a Mickey and Minnie, the kids have made an eyeball, a skull, a bat and my favorite would be your favorite, too- a candy corn gourd made into a candy dish! I’m sure I have a picture of it somewhere on FB.