Friday 29 October 2010

Pirates and Pumpkins

The BIG pumpkin has been made into soup, now in the freezer, and this smiley lantern is all ready to beam out cheerfully to the children who call on us for sweets on Halloween night. I like the old traditions of carving lanterns, ducking for apples, and more recently giving out sweets to local children who dress up for trick or  treat - but nothing threatening or scary, not me, who can't bear scary movies of even the mildest kind!
Yesterday it was Charlie's 3rd birthday and Mr P took the morning off work (so did I but it's not quite the same thing!) and we went to wish him Happy Birthday and to give him his present - a wooden Pirate Ship complete with little pirates, treasure chest,a working anchor,cannon, sails with skull and crossbones....
It was sweet to see the little hands and the big hands assembling this wooden ship...my favourite bit was the stripy sails! I do love children's toys, especially wooden ones, or handmade sewn and knitted toys, though I also think some contemporary brightly coloured plastic toys can be gorgeous and well designed too, and children love to play imaginatively with them.


Thank you to those who kindly asked me about my choice of recipe after all my cook book browsing the other day.I decided to make Jools's Favourite Beef Stew from Jamie Oliver's book Jamie's Dinners. I know the family all love this dish as we had it last winter, and it will cook for ages in the aga so I don't have to worry about it all the time.
And finally here is my little blackboard planter filled up for Halloween weekend with some autumn garden snippets - berries, ivy, rosehips, some pretty leaves and the wonderful pink sedum flowers. I wish you all a wonderful weekend and a Happy Halloween!

5 comments:

Barbara said...

Pirate ship so fabulous!

mynestofyarnandbuttons said...

Helen, that is the greatest pirate ship I have ever seen. I also love wooden toys for kids and wooden games. As a child we had FAO schwart(?) nearby, so many a toy was bought. Hope your grandson had a great day and has a wonderful year. Happy Halloween!
Boo xo Robin

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Charlie and what a lucky boy getting that brilliant pirate ship as a present!!
Your pumpkin looks great, have a lovely halloween weekend! :)
Vivienne x

Sewmancer said...

That pirate ship is great - is it wrong to want one in your thirties??

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