Cos Cob vandalism

You know, my dad, Jed, has for most of his long life been a master with a pair of scissors.

The man can cut an elaborate 20-foot-long banner in one go without tracing the letters in pencil first (he can also draw you upside-down. I mean never mind that he can actually draw you, he makes an upside-down picture so if you’re sitting opposite him in a restaurant, you can see the drawing right-side-up—but I digress). He’s also handy with a knife, and as Clemmie and I made our first jack-o-lantern (spelling?) together at 05:30 this morning (thanks, Clem) I was reminded of a couple of lanterns Jed cut for the family home in November 1967.

I don’t remember the lanterns exactly, but I remember the feeling of horror at finding out that they had been smashed to bits by the morning. I don’t remember if Ohna was as upset, but I couldn’t figure it out—when I went to bed that night these two, enormous, intricately carved pumpkins where happily glowing away on our front steps and in the morning they were compost…

So anyway, I decided I’d put this lantern in the garden so Clemmie could see it peering in through the kitchen greenhouse. We lit it (rolled-up kitchen roll, large flames, lots of smoke burnt fingers because I didn’t cut the lid large enough) at around 06:30 this morning and it welcomed in the morning.

And there’s a small video for Jed and Ruth :-)