Pumpkins are a great part of Halloween celebrations. They are fun to carve and fun to eat. Pumpkins originated in Central America and spread throughout the Americas. Explorers found pumpkins in America and brought the seeds back to Europe where they became very popular.
Pumpkin carving can be as simple as making a face out of triangles and a half circle. An experienced carver can turn a pumpkin into a beautiful work of art. This year you might want to try carving a spider or a hippogriff into your pumpkin.
The tradition of making Jack O'lanterns is said to have started in Ireland. The Irish carved turnips and put coals or candles inside. They placed them outside their homes on All Hallow's Eve to scare away evil spirits. They also carved potatoes and rutabagas. When Irish immigrants came to America they found that pumpkins were much easier to carve.
When the carving is done, it's time to think about eating pumpkins. Roasted pumpkin seeds are a fun snack. They can be seasoned in many different ways from spicy to sweet. The pumpkin flesh can be cooked and turned into pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, and of course pumpkin juice!
Fun facts:
· There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange.
· The world record for giant pumpkins is 1446 pounds.
· The top prize for the biggest giant pumpkin is as much as $25,000.
Britain: What They Did Next By Alahna Petersen
The National American Wizard Security and Detection Center
Britain has struck again and all wizards of America are in danger. Britain has planted more aurors in America and no American wizards are safe. Everyone must be on the alert for British aurors. Make sure to follow these security precautions until notified. BE ON THE ALERT AT ALL TIMES. If you site a foreign auror send an owl immediately to the N.A.W.S.D.C.
To prevent home invasion:
Make sure wands are with you at all times.Lock all doors at night and when away from home.
Establish a password with family and close friends.
Decipher who you can trust or not.
Stay in at night.
If your home is invaded:
Call the N.A.W.S.D.C.If you are present hide your children and their wands.
Try to warn all friends, family, and any wizards in the neighborhood.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Prayer Pretzels By Anna Petersen
Pretzels were first made in a monastery in the early seventh century A.D. when a young monk discovered that he could use the scraps of bread dough and fold them in a way that resembled a child in prayer. (Christians of the time prayed with their arms crossed and each hand on a shoulder.) They named them pretiola, or little reward in Latin, and began using them to reward children for memorizing their prayers. Here is a recipe for you to make your own pretiolae.
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 4 cups hot water
- 1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping
Directions
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
- When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.
(recipe found on allrecipes.com)
Ravenclaw Challenge Congratulations to Emma Palmer of Ravenclaw, who was the first to reveal the name of the author of The Road Not Taken... Robert Frost.
Solve this riddle
One, two, three
Fame and Glory
Unto thee
- Minerva Bronte
What animal am I?
[ex. a dull person = boar (bore)]
1. parts of a chain = ?
2. tellin' untruths = ?
3. a lamenting cry = ?
Musings
A Weekly Column BY Damarco Montoya
Pumpkins Gone Mad
Solve this riddle
One, two, three
Fame and Glory
Unto thee
- Minerva Bronte
What animal am I?
[ex. a dull person = boar (bore)]
1. parts of a chain = ?
2. tellin' untruths = ?
3. a lamenting cry = ?
Musings
A Weekly Column BY Damarco Montoya
Pumpkins Gone Mad
I’ve seen green pumpkins turn a bright and beautiful orange, one turn a magnificent white, and even one that turned black. What I haven’t seen or even heard of, is a pumpkin turning red, until now. I’m telling you it happened, and what a terrible sight it was!
Here’s how it happened: It was dark and cold. I thought what I had was a great big deeply orange pumpkin ready for pie and to become a Jack-O-Lantern. Many pumpkin carving designs were running through my mind. I thought of the traditional triangles for everything design, a less than typical circular design with a smiley face, and then of carving the Mona Lisa (that’s right, I’ve got skills!). I located my pumpkin carving tools, a pen, the regular orange-handled mini saw, the little scooper thing, and something that is used to poke the pumpkin for dots.
Maybe I should’ve turned some lights on or something, to at least get a better look at the pumpkin I was about to carve. It might have been nice to see what I was about to draw onto the pumpkin rather than deciding to tackle this project like a blind person might a steering wheel in a moving vehicle. Instead, and for whatever reason I decided to sit lazily in the dark in front of what turned out to be an evil pumpkin while holding potentially menacing tools in my hands.
Now this is where things get very strange . . . I took my pen and was successful in drawing Mona Lisa’s eyes, a sliver of a nose, and a very crooked smile when the monstrously large pumpkin took a big jump back and made a sound of “HMPH,” like it was a person who plopped down on his back side (polite word for bottom) a little harder than was anticipated. I didn’t know what was going on. What was making that sound though? There is a thud sound when a pumpkin is dropped from a few inches off the ground (any higher than a few inches and let’s just say no pumpkin wants to know what happens when it’s dropped), but that sound was different, almost human-like.
Wait a minute! Did I just compare a pumpkin to a human? In what way is this anything like a human? Okay, it is a pumpkin! It’s round and very large. Was it changing colors, or had it been red all along and in poor lighting? So it’s red and is a pumpkin with no identifying marks other than the very simple very crooked smile, very subtle nose line, and small human-like and shaped eyes. Those eyes! It looked like one just blinked at me! How can an eye that I just drew not one minute earlier wink at me of its own ability?
Maybe I’ve gone completely crazy but that eye just winked at me and I believe that mouth was what made the sound “HMPH”. The impossibilities continued as I went to grab the enormous pumpkin and it hopped up in the air at my hands and with its pumpkiny smooth mouth bit me on the outside of my right hand. My hand hurt as though someone with a wadded up sock hit me really hard. There weren’t any marks on my hand other than a little redness on the top and bottom.
When I stood up on my feet to take an aggressive stance towards this crazy red pumpkin it hopped up at me with another great loud “HMPH!” Instead of taking an aggressive stance against the pumpkin, I found myself cowering back a few feet. It saw my fear and hopped towards me with incredible speed (“incredible” considering it was a pumpkin and had no legs). Having no legs didn’t stop it from moving so aggressively towards me. I certainly made good use of my legs!
I turned and started running away when I heard this abomination scream out in what must have been a call-to-arms scream. There was more than just the one pumpkin now chasing after me. I didn’t look back out of fear but heard more thumps than I could count even if I took my shoes and socks off and could also see my toes. I’m running in and out of the rooms of my house trying to find a good hiding place from these monstrosities. The “HMPH” coming from the crooked smile of Mona Lisa is now closely followed by what must be every pumpkin in the neighborhood. “Why did I take it upon myself to carve so many pumpkins this year” I thought to myself.
Finally I found a closet with enough space for me to sit and cower. I had my phone in my hand in case I needed to call for help. Who am I kidding? Of course I needed help only I couldn’t imagine how that call might sound to someone, “All my pumpkins have come to life somehow and are trying to kill me”. I was able to peek out a crack in the door to see a most frightful sight. The great red Mona Lisa pumpkin and her grand red pumpkin army held me captive in my own closet. The closet door bumped as some of the smaller pumpkins got a little over anxious in their attempts to get me. What did they want?
Imagine my utter confusion and FRIGHT from the preceding few minutes, and how quickly the situation became ridiculous. A moment ago I was going to carve my masterpiece, and instead here I’m sitting under umbrellas and jackets behind a door that’s saving me from impending doom. Their fresh cut pumpkin smell leaked into the closet from under the door. The room began smelling like a pumpkin slaughterhouse. I started to feel bad for cutting all those pumpkins and thought they wanted revenge.
As if my thoughts were out loud, Mona began speaking. My giant read militant pumpkin can talk?! In a much deeper voice than the real Mona Lisa could ever produce, she gave her conditions of release. “My brothers and sisters,” she began (brothers and sisters? Pumpkins can be boys and girls?
Who knew?) “never desired to get cut and scraped, poked and prodded,” she continued. “You had NO right to make silly and ridiculous faces out of their bodies!” Her deep voice continued to deliver what sounded more like complaints than demands. “We promise not to eat you if you can feed us candles.”
Who knew?) “never desired to get cut and scraped, poked and prodded,” she continued. “You had NO right to make silly and ridiculous faces out of their bodies!” Her deep voice continued to deliver what sounded more like complaints than demands. “We promise not to eat you if you can feed us candles.”
The demands sounded simple enough. If I give them candles they will not eat me. The trade, though strange seemed pretty easy to agree to.
I slowly opened the closet door, told Mona Lisa I agree to the terms and will immediately search for candles. While we walked to my candle cupboard she told me in her deep voice that her brothers and sisters turned red and went mad because they had been cut into and hollowed out but were deprived of the sweet taste of candle, and that candle wax has unique properties to soothe angry and shocked pumpkins. She became angry and shocked simply because she grew so big and hundreds of people and kids passed by her in the pumpkin patch before she was finally chosen. She had been happy until that silly design had been drawn with pen into her flesh. The eyes were bad enough, but that crooked smile was the last straw, and pumpkins from pumpkin patches know about straw! Mona will live with the smile. After all the hopping around, she got used to her appearance.
Pumpkin pie and Jack-O-Lanterns are nice, but from now on they’ll be nice from a distance (except for the pie- how can I enjoy pie from a distance?).
Pumpkins By Emma Palmer
Plump
Uproarious
Messy
Palatable
Kids
Incandescent
Night
Scary
Acorn Spotlight By Jane Smith
Let’s take some time to get to know one of our QA Acorns, Sophie Morphis of Ravenclaw House!
Sophie was born just last year a few days after Thanksgiving. She is approaching her very first birthday and she is extremely excited about it! Giraffes are her favorite animals, so she is having a giraffe themed party. It will be her first opportunity to eat cake and ice cream!
Some of her other favorite things include songs about her and evil laughter. Her favorite game is Peek-a-boo, or as she calls it “Where’s Sophie?”
She likes to wear any clothes that don’t inhibit her ability to crawl, which is currently her preferred method of travel.
Sophie's favorite food is you are eating, and she would like you to share. But, she is not allowed to eat honey, citrus or sugary desserts.
A high earner of House Points, Sophie takes two naps every day and is often the first one ready in the morning or at bedtime.
She is good at providing other people with service opportunities. Her older siblings get to play with her and keep her happy. Her older cousins get to take care of her sometimes too.
Sophie loves being a Ravenclaw because she gets to wear a tiara and she likes to spend time communing with like-minded ladies.
She also loves Quercus Alba and thinks her wand is yummy for chewing!
Holy pumpkins batman!
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