As everyone knows, I love my job. It has its ups and downs for sure, but I always know that everyday I walk into work I am going to be greeted by some zany, loveable people who truly enjoy having me there. I just don't stop smiling! They've taken to calling me the Colgate Girl.
Today I got into work around 9:15, which was actually pretty early for me. Most people are still asleep, so this place doesn't really pick up until about 3 in the afternoon! It gives me the chance to work in my office without feeling like I'm missing out on talking to people, though, so I like coming in that early sometimes. Besides, sometimes a girl has got to get her paperwork done!
Today was also our excursion to the pumpkin patch, which was just a blast! We left here around 11:00 with a full car of people - my coworker came with me, and then we had 5 residents, which was a great number. It was about an hour drive to the pumpkin patch, but it was so beautiful that nobody really seemed to mind. The Wintonia van has all sorts of quirks, and today it decided that we weren't going to listen to the radio or have working blinkers or windshield-wipers, so I was happy it wasn't raining or dark or anything! We had some good laughs and conversations in the car ride over, though, so it all turned out alright.
Back country Washington sure is pretty. I can never get used to the wildness of it all, and now, the leaves are changing, so the feeling of stepping into a storybook has doubled. Charming cottages are tucked away in these back woods between the falling leaves. It was quite a treat. The farm we visited was beautiful as well.
 |
| Fall City Farms - the owners donated all of the pumpkins, and were just the sweetest older couple! |
 |
| There were a lot of kids and families! I think it was nice for the residents to be around kids - a lot of them miss their own children, and sometimes they enjoy the youthful laughs. |
The couple who owned the farm have had a history of donating pumpkins to the Wintonia, which is incredibly kind. Since John* (name changed, of course) passed away two weeks ago, people have been pretty sad around these parts. I've seen a lot of tears. I think it was good for them to get out of the house and walk around in the fresh air! One of the guys on our trip even grew up on a farm, and he enjoyed hauling around the pumpkin wheelbarrows and telling us all about life on the farm growing up. I always love when people tell stories about growing up - it is one of my favorite parts of going on trips. A personal favorite story was his interaction with a particularly ferocious rooster!
 |
| One section of the pumpkin patch! |
 |
| Feeding the cow. He loved the carrots! |
We spent a long time picking out the PERFECT pumpkins. We are going to carve them next Monday when we decorate for Halloween. We are even going to roast all of the seeds so that we can munch on them in the week before Halloween. This will go with all of our decorations, including a giant blow-up spider! We got approximately 4,000 pumpkins, so we will have a lot of seeds. (Okay, okay, exaggeration, but we got a ton of huge pumpkins! We got a little carried away in our quest for the perfect pumpkin.)
Again, I wish that I could post pictures of my residents, but for confidentiality reasons I can't! I promise this isn't the Kandace-show - one of my residents follows me around with a camera and loves to take pictures! Here's a couple so you can get the vibe.
 |
| Perfect pumpkin quest - complete! |
 |
| So much autumnal joy. |
 |
| Look! A house of pumpkins! |
We played in the fields for a while, and ran around a whole field of sunflowers while chasing birds. A couple of people picked out some seeds to roast or plant. I would love to gift the Wintonia with a whole crop of sunflowers! (It is my favorite flower, you know.) There was even a hay-bale maze. Of course, it was made for small children to run through, but did that stop us? Oh, no! We ran all throughout the hay-bale maze, laughing at scarecrows and taking silly photos. This all culminated in a giant hay fight, during which I was covered head-to-toe with straw, hay, mud and everything else! (I am still a bit itchy!) We were laughing so hard though, I didn't even mind being dirty.
 |
| Covered in dirt and mud - thanks for the boots, Laura! |
Dirty, tired and hungry, we headed back to the van...but nobody could stop smiling and saying thanks for letting them come. We loaded up all of pumpkins and turned towards home! (It is so nice for the residents to even be able to say that little phrase: "heading HOME". After so many years on the streets, they don't take it for granted.)
The rest of the day consisted of a staff meeting, e-mail answering, sign-making, and bulletin-board updating... just all in a day's work! Tonight we are having a dessert night at our house with our support people and some former JVs. Busy, busy!
Keep smiling all. The world is a beautiful place!
Love,
K
