Halloween is one week from Monday. I’ve got half a bag of candy ready to dole out…come on by. I usually have candy left over each year. Last one here gets the most (and best) candy!

With my street address I need to go prowlin’ for a couple of pumpkins for craving get kids to the door. Little did I know when I bought this house years ago that location-location-location needed to be considered. My street is the primary in-n-out for everyone and homes on my block are only on one side of the street – not a bad setup really except the for the day, or maybe it’s just for the one frightful night in October.

Kids, it seems, already have a shopping savvy in them wanting to work both sides of a street for their free candy. So it is the Jack O’Lanterns that get trick-or-treaters to my street, and has them excited, or scared walking up to the door.

The many years of doing 8-12 funny, scary, crazy pumpkin cravings for Halloween night with FD and FS were suddenly paled in comparison to a “Top 10 Halloween Events” watched on, of all things, The Weather Channel last week (follow that link above for a bit of craziness celebration).

So I’ve read from the hudsonvalley.org website, the story of the pumpkin and Halloween goes like this: an ancient Irish legend holds that a man named Jack (or in some versions, “Stingy Jack”), too sinful to be admitted to heaven, was also denied entrance to hell. So he carved a turnip, lit it with a candle, and wandered the earth for a resting place, hence the name “Jack O’ Lantern.” There are many variations of this tale. However, it is believed that the first real meaning of “Jack O’ Lantern,” emerging in the 18th century, was “night watchman.”

And this same bunch in Hudson Valley does something tasty every year. They call it “Pompkin Pudding” and it truly does sound wonderful. Here’s their recipe: Pompkin Pudding

How cool is this celebration up there in New York? Some 4,000 pumpkins are carved by some 1,000 volunteers each year! I’ve got to go sometimes soon – hey FD, get ready! I have a road trip idea for us next year.

Oh how is miss the times with the kiddos sitting at the kitchen table and being the pumpkin czar (which they hated me doing) on pumpkin craving.

But then, when I see something like what this guy does with his orange gourds…well…I can then only hope to get a good photograph of something so cool: VillaFane Studios (the “devil” only knows I certainly can’t stand blade-to-blade with the this guy’s carving talent).

Find a patch and get to carving away…one each night between now and next Monday.