The Pumpkin Search

This is my 2008 pumpkin

Every year, it's the same thing. I start out on October 1, invigorated and ready to find pumpkins for my Fall decorations.

It is now October 17th and I don't have one. That's why I had to use the picture of my 2008 pumpkin in this post.

In the US, the pumpkins start to show up in the stores at the end of August. In September, it is easy to buy them, along with candy and costumes. Not so in France. Pumpkins are to be eaten. I can buy a nice slice of pumpkin in the grocery store, but not a whole one. A whole one is huge and really doesn't look like the normal, orange pumpkins in the US. It's more of a large, pumpkin-shaped squash. So, I've been happily eating pumpkin in soup, steamed and baked pumpkin for more than a month. I eat it because I like it, I think it is very high in nutrients and it is filling while being low in calories.

So, why can't I find one to put on my table? I don't even want to carve it for Halloween, I want to keep it through Thanksgiving as part of my "harvest" scenery.

Every year I find the pumpkin in a different spot. Every year, I go to all the places I've found a pumpkin in the past, but the same store never has pumpkins twice. I have no idea why this happens. I saw some pumpkins at a florist a couple of weeks ago, but by the time I got back, they were gone. They were good ones, too. American-looking, orange, big and misshapen.

Tuesday I'm hitting the flower, plant and bird market at Cite. That's my last hope! Wish me luck.