Pumpkin Brigade's Stormy Sea Voyage

Battered Jack O'Lantern in Hurricane Sandy's Wake

Photo © Mia Aquino

Well, it's 16 days Post-Halloween now!  Is anyone suffering from the Post Halloween Blues?  I've felt a bit down because I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I'd planned.  But then there was part of me that was ready to bid it farewell for this year. Although I can attest to NOT enjoying the glittering 'tinsel-fication' I get every time I step into a store now!  I miss my Pumpkins already.  So I was delighted to happen upon this great little diddy about a small Pumpkin Brigade's Stormy Sea Voyage!

I thought this story was kind of cool and interesting.  I'm sure you all have heard of a 'message in a bottle' right?!  Well what about a 'message on a pumpkin'?  That's what several residents in Connecticut found washed up on local beaches, and floating and bobbing in the water just off shore.  Apparently John Chambers, the owner of Shelly's Garden Center, found himself with a Pumpkin Surplus on the Monday of Hurricane Sandy.  Guess the locals had bigger things than Pumpkins to worry about at that time, and there were no customers to be found.  So he decided to take 6 of his Pumpkins and write messages on them with a Sharpie.  He knew that the orange globes would float, so instead of the proverbial message IN a BOTTLE, he wrote messages ON the PUMPKINS!  Then they took them down to the stormy Connecticut coast, and tossed them in the ocean.  The messages said, "If you find this Pumpkin, please call this number."  And as of the date of the article, 5 of the 6 Pumpkins had indeed been discovered....some as far away as Milford and West Haven.  

One beach comber, Angelo Nista, was walking along with his little Granddaughter when she exclaimed, "Oh look Papa, it's a Pumpkin"!  Sure enough, Shelly's Garden Center's 'Message Pumpkins' had weathered the storm and the rough seas, to make their way into the hands of curious recipients along the storm ravaged coast of Connecticut.  In fact, they held up quite well, and with the exception of a few dings, their Sharpie scribbled messages where still in tact and fully readable.  I do not know the fate of the sixth and final Pumpkin however, or if it ever made its way back or not....but as an avid Pumpkin Lover, I thought this was an uplifting little story, and a creative use of the Halloween season's most famous icon!

Have a great weekend!  :o)

Pumpkins have message for Sandy survivors