Penny is an artist who uses her creative side and imagination to express herself. She’s now using this opportunity with ASDNext to not only do that through art, but also blogging. For much of her life, she felt like the “quirky sidekick” stereotype in a movie, always doing what others expected of her. When she was diagnosed with autism later in life, that all began to change. This news was life changing and she knew it was time to rewrite her story. She’s no longer on the sidelines of this so-called movie that is her life, she’s the director, leading-lady, or whatever other part she needs to play to figure out who she REALLY is! Every small step toward authenticity is now a victory for her in this new stage of life.
View all postsPumpkin Decorating: Crafting Memories One Gourd at a Time
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One of my favorite things about autumn is the abundance of pumpkins. When I was young, my parents took my brother and me to a pumpkin patch so we could experience picking out pumpkins. When we brought them home to decorate, our eager imaginations were filled with ideas, but we lacked the skills and attention spans required for carving or painting. Instead, my mom printed out various goofy facial features for us to color with crayons. We then glued these facial features onto our pumpkins, creating giant orange versions of Mr. Potato Head. The experience brought great joy and is a cherished memory of mine.
During my late teens, I had a fantastic group of friends in the area, and we were always looking for fun things to do together. One fall, on a whim—though I suspect it was pretty late in the season—we decided to go pumpkin picking. My gut tells me it was late in the season because the field we visited was trampled down and looked like a battlefield of war-torn gourds. Despite the soggy, squishy, and misshapen pumpkins that remained, we managed to dig through the debris and find some winners. We decorated our prize pumpkins with acrylic paint, purchasing nearly every color available at Michael’s. I distinctly remember painting mine to look like myself, but as Batman—what I called a “BatPenn.” I also recall another design: my friend Kara painted Marie Antoinette with a long, poofy pink dress and a towering white updo. I brought it home and placed it on the porch of my family’s house.
I never learned how to carve pumpkins until a co-worker invited me to her annual pumpkin carving party. To attend, all that was required was a pumpkin, a pattern from ZombiePumpkins.com, and a food item to share. Since it was my first time doing it, I picked a pattern with the difficulty level of “Easy,” the cereal celebrity “BooBerry.” We started by cleaning our pumpkin with Lysol wipes to help prevent it from rotting too quickly. Next, we cut a circle around the top, leaving a small notch to replace the lid easily. Using a large scooper, we removed and discarded the insides. We slapped the paper pattern onto the pumpkin with tape and used a plastic poker to mark the outline. From there, the paper pattern was trashed, and we carved into the pumpkin, connecting the dots. Chunks of pumpkin fell into the center, and you emptied them out, plopped a candle in, and BOOM, instant decoration.
When the pumpkin parties ended, or perhaps when I stopped being invited, I started my carving tradition at home. Remembering the disappointment, I felt as a teenager searching for the perfect pumpkin, I decided to skip the soggy fields and buy my pumpkins from a nearby garden center instead. Dave drove us there, and he picked out his pumpkin with little effort. I printed several templates from “Zombie Pumpkins” to match each template to the perfect-sized pumpkin. My goal was to create a fleet of Animal Crossing-themed pumpkins. I covered our dining room table with plastic trash bags to avoid damaging it. Dave skillfully brought a Batman design to life, expertly carving it with power tools as he followed a YouTube tutorial. After completing my design of Isabel, an Animal Crossing villager, I decided to call it a day since gutting and cleaning up require a lot of energy. This year, I picked a Pee-Wee Herman pattern (RIP). Dave decided to paint his pumpkin like an orange M&M. The warm weather allowed me to carve outside, where the mess was less of a concern.
Pumpkin PeeWee has since shriveled up in the heat. He held a candle for a while, but each passing day brought him closer to becoming a mushy blob rather than a spooky porch lantern. Oh well, he was fun while he lasted! There’s something delightful about decorating pumpkins that has left me with many fond memories—from childhood scribbles to getting creative with paint and eventually carving them as an adult. Even without a design, pumpkins make charming outdoor decorations. Naked pumpkins aside, I hope the tradition of decorating pumpkins continues to be a part of my life for many more years, bringing creativity and joy to every fall I experience
Penny
