Out my kitchen window

As I peer out my kitchen window the landscape is a bit boring in October. I have to smile as I think about a recent outing.

Friends from our garden club went to visit and have coffee at the Harvest Moon Pumpkin Patch at Oakland. These seasoned gardeners were enticed to be kids again and boy, did we enjoy the outdoors.

Adults and children should always take advantage of the great fall temperatures and a chance to visit a pumpkin patch.

The landscape at Harvest Moon was beautiful, with maple trees starting to turn red and sumac showing off rust and gold colors.

Pots of blooming mums filled spaces with color and the endless variety of pumpkins were beautiful. Hydrangeas sported large blooms and other plantings including sizable ferns were so inviting to walk among.

The afternoon provided a crisp temperature that became even more chilled as we walked through the tree shaded haunted forest laughing the entire way.

Owner Terry Wallersted and her family must have wonderful laugh-filled gatherings as their sense of humor was posted all over the pumpkin patch on wood signs.

Garden club members posed for photos. One with a so-called grave marker consequently bearing her name, "Here lies Dee composing".

They climbed into an enormous Adirondack chair and even laughed and cheered as a couple of them rode large wheeled tricycles. Then there was the puppet show with a member and Ricky Raccoon.

Yes, the pumpkin patch brought out the kid in all of us. We passed on doing the zip line or the bounce pad, but we did "ooh and aah" at the large assortment of pumpkins.

Before we left the pumpkin patch members gathered for a variety of beverages including coffee and wonderful caramel apple cider. There were also treats on the cafe shelves, such as pumpkin and cream cheese cupcakes, popcorn and numerous bars laced with chocolate. The pumpkin patch had sold out of 200-plus caramel apples over the weekend.

We were like kids in a candy store picking out our food and drink, even without the caramel apples. I was glad to see the flavored popcorn was manufactured at Wayne.

The pumpkin patch must have held a bit of magic as we laughed like a bunch of kids. I almost expected the ladies to start chatting about their unfinished homework, their current crushes and other kid topics. Coming back to reality, we weren't kids, but we sure had fun together at the pumpkin patch.

Some of the photos taken were posted and sent to family and friends. It was fun to read a daughter's response that she was sharing a photo of her mom at the pumpkin patch with her teenage son reminding him that his grandmother wasn't too old to go to a pumpkin patch and neither was he.

Yes, there is something about a pumpkin patch in the fall.

Coming home I can look out my kitchen window and realize it isn't so boring. I just need to figure out how to add the magic that can make adults laugh, just like they are kids again.

Take time out of your schedule and visit a pumpkin patch before October flips over to November. It will be well worth your time and will surely stir up some great memories.

The bonus for me during this outing was catching up with a friend that I just hadn't visited with one-on-one in way too long. There is something about a pumpkin patch. I hope you can experience it, too.