Pumpkins

Everybody in the USA, at least the people that knew me, were all aware that I disliked pumpkin pie. It is a specialty that appears around Thanksgiving Day, and yet, I always preferred apple pie or strawberry pie, or mince pie, my all-time favorite. But still, I know what an important role pumpkin has in the lives of Americans, especially as September leads into October, and people start decorating their thresholds and entrances with pumpkins, decorative gourds, and foliage that turns annually from green to brown, to orange and red.

Children especially enjoy hayrides in fields, and picking their own pumpkin is a tradition that children are introduced into at an early age. Just like decorating the Christmas Tree, and the setting up of the Nativity for Christmas, putting doily snowflakes on windows and hearts in February and shamrocks in March and Easter eggs in Easter, the presence of a pumpkins heralds the arrival of Fall or Autumn. In Malta, pumpkins are not that popular, but we do have marrows that are used for soups, especially any kind of minestrone or vegetable soup. But nonetheless, as I continue my flashbacks from the 1980s, enjoy these nostalgic pumpkin photos from my years in New York.