The Great Pumpkins

True to form, I waited until I heard there was to be a frost before harvesting the pumpkins, squashes, and everything else save kale and the root vegetables. I actually waited until 20 minutes before dusk, at which point I rushed the girls out of the house and frantically started heaping squash while they picked their pumpkins.

As I worked on heaping this higher,

the girls (or so I presumed) were picking their pumpkins and piling them in the wheelbarrow. It wasn't until Millie fetched me and asked me to go inside for the camera that I realized they'd actually been styling their pumpkins for a photo-shoot.

So, I went inside, got the camera, and changed the settings to allow as much light as I could without using the flash in order to honor their request. So much for flash-hatred. Light was so dim at this point that they were hard to see, so the pictures are grainy, but here they are, anyway!

The girls with their studio set-up.

Mildred arranging everyone for the shoot.

Everyone surrounded by their pumpkins. So happy! So sweet!

Then the wheelbarrow tipped over and spilled the babies out, which made for a few minutes of mayhem. Millie soon ordered everyone back on track, and here are a few of their individual shots.

Pumpkin pixie:

Laughing Pip:

and crying Lu (she was unhappy that they only gave her the tiny pumpkin...truly):

And a picture of the sunset before we went inside.

Thanks a million for the seeds, Molly! They gave the girls an entire summer of delight and culminated in this daring, dusky raid of the patch.