Blazing Pumpkins

YES, IT’S upon us. Halloween, which leads quite quickly to Thanksgiving and beyond . . . to 2019. But to stay in the moment, we LittleBirds poked around our neighborhoods to see what creepy-crawly stuff might be afoot. Just about every front yard in suburbia seems to have turned into a graveyard, with all those plastic headstones and, sometimes, skeletal arms reaching up to grab innocent passersby.

There are instances of genuine originality and one big delightful occasion of too-muchness. The latter is The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, a splendid event benefiting Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, in Upstate New York. Some 7,000 pumpkins, hand-carved or painted, fashioned into a bridge, a windmill, a tunnel, plus (below) a merry-go-round where even the horses are skeletons—in short making a carnival of the holiday.

The Blaze also features some friendly faces (below).

Friendly faces at The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, Van Cortlandt Manor, Croton-on-Hudson, New York. / MyLittleBird photo.

And some decidedly masterful carving (below).

A display of pumpkins carved with Celtic symbols by carvers at The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor, Croton-on-Hudson, New York. Halloween imagery as we know it derives from the Festival of Samhain in Ireland’s Celtic past. / MyLittleBird photo.

In the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington DC, LittleBird Kathy stumbled upon the cleverest display we’ve seen in a while. Goodness knows how long these designer duds (below) will be safe from marauders, but at least we got a picture.

Designer Halloween P Street–the au courant couple hits all the right logo notes, right? / MyLittleBird photo.

And be sure to take a good look at the designer pumpkins. There’s no logo on the blue pumpkin, but robin’s-egg blue and that nice white satin ribbon . . . how many more clues do we need? (Don’t miss the Burberry doggie coat.)

P Street in Washington DC. The blue pumpkin is obviously a Tiffany. / MyLittleBird photo.

P Street held some other treats, including the witch head-down in the ground and (presumably) trying to get out. Then there is the scaredy cat (but who’s scaring whom is hard to tell).

Witch way is up? P Street, Washington DC. / MyLittleBird photo.

Scaredy cat, P Street, Washington DC. / MyLittleBird photo.

Nicely understated P Street, Washington DC. / MyLittleBird photo.

Elsewhere in Washington, Nationals fans have gathered their favorite players, in skeletal form. Not sure if there’s a message there (below).

In some future time and place, the remains of players Harper, Murphy and teammates will obviously still be plotting a Series win. / MyLittleBird photo.

Finally, from Washington’s P Street NW and the leafy Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh come tasteful displays. The checkerboard effect of the pumpkins scattered around the front lawn gives the festivities a grace they rarely get. And the window box isn’t so much Halloween as autumn. And that’s just fine by us.

In Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood, a tasteful tribute to the season. / MyLittleBird photo.

Not Halloween really, just pretty P Street, Washington DC. / MyLittleBird photo.

—MyLittleBird staff