Saying goodbye to Auntie K

At the risk of getting political...or sharing, like, my immediate lived experience and point of view on a personal mommy blog with low readership...

My sister's visit did have to end at some point...apparently...and it did on Saturday evening.

Research across the aisle indicated that while my sister had ample free time while she was between positions, she did have to return home in time to honour the contracted "start date" of her new position. 

Miraculously, Phoebe agreed to sit on Auntie K's lap for a picture prior to going to bed. Sources say this sudden display of affection could have been bought with the gift of a Bluey blanket. There is photographic evidence of the alleged gift, and our gift unit is still investigating this exchange to determine whether or not it violates our household emoluments clause.

Oh, who am I kidding? I can't keep this up. 

Allow me to return to my small-minded, poorly-researched, daily-log-of-my-life voice.

We had a lot of fun with Kelli while she was out here.

It was hard to say goodbye (I think...I haven't finished considering this from alternative perspectives yet...my bad, my bad).

Kelli sat nearby to listen to bedtime stories (since, in Phoebe's opinion, I have the best tune for stories—but don't worry! I won't let it get to my head. I've also been told that I have Minnie Mouse voice and this one time when I was giving a tour of the special collections library at BYU the man I was showing around stopped me, complained that the pitch of my voice was making his hearing aids ring, and requested another staff member finish the tour. Oh, and another time a choir director told me that my voice was thin and grating and she hated hearing me sing. And my /s/ sound is too sibilant—it even annoys me when I hear recordings of myself. Was that considerate enough of alternative points of view?).

We read this cute story called Pumpkin Moonshine, which was originally published in the 1930s. It's all about a little girl who visits her grandparents on the farm and is so excited to make pumpkin moonshine!

It's definitely about a jack-o-lantern. 

Allow me to share some one-side research with you all since I find etymology fascinating (not that that's a surprise—you all know me soooo well)!

Jack'o'lantern was an old British phrase to describe night watchmen. Also "the flame-like phosphorescence caused by gases from decaying plants in marshy areas, also known as ignis fatuus—a Medieval Latin term that means literally "foolish fire"—or will-o'-the-wisp." That's from Merriam-Webster, a known left-wing fanatic source, so feel free to disregard. I'll try to find something a little more neutral.

You would not believe how many church talks begin by citing Merriam-Webster's definition of whatever their topic is. It's a little scary considering how blatantly biased Merriam-Webster is against good conservative Christian thought. We really should look into that.

Etymonline agrees with Merriam-Webster. But again, I just don't know if that source can be trusted. If I used it, it's probably biased and no good. Because I don't know how to research anything (my bad).

Eventually—in North America specifically—jack-o-lantern became the name for a carved pumpkin face with a light inside. But you know, not everyone has always used pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns. Turnips were common in some places. The source is Smithsonian, which is being evaluated for its wokeness as we speak, so tread carefully at this website lest you be brainwashed into believing that "today, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns is ubiquitous with Halloween" but "in the 19th and early 20th centuries...chiseling ghoulish grins into turnips was the more common practice (at least in Ireland and other Celtic nations)". Wikipedia is another source that will tell you that information but, like, anyone can edit Wikipedia, so believe what you will. 

As far as jack-o-lanterns ever being called "pumpkin moonshine"...sources are slim. In fact, the book Pumpkin Moonshine seems to be about the only source I can find that refers to jack-o-lanterns as pumpkin moonshine. Or posts talking about the book that seem to simply accept that "pumpkin moonshine" is an old-fashioned term for jack-o-lantern (although jack-o-lantern seems to predate the use of "pumpkin moonshine"). I admit that I, too, found the term charming. 

But I'm also curious about it. Was it something cute her niece said once about a jack-o-lantern? Because jack-o-lantern was a rather ubiquitous term for "pumpkin moonshine" by the 1930s (documented as in use since 1834—so around 100 years by the time Tudor wrote the story).

Most references for "pumpkin moonshine" that I can find online are recipes for alcoholic beverages. Tasha Tudor would have been familiar with "moonshine" meaning "liquor" since that term was in use with that meaning from the late 1700s to early 1800s. That leads me to imagine it was an...interesting...choice for the title of a children's book even in the 1930s. 

But I'm also a poet and appreciate a good surprising pairings, so I'm not mad about it. Just curious.

SORRY FOR THE ONSLAUGHT OF BIASED AND ONE-SIDED SOURCES THAT ONLY SUPPORT MY POINT OF VIEW. 

My point of view being that Pumpkin Moonshine is a curious title. It's a very cute story. Everyone should read it.

I, AS THE OMNISCIENT AUTHOR OF THIS BLOG, DEMAND IT!

Anywho...Kelli's "tune" for stories was about right for Zoë and Alexander. She read to them every evening at Rosie's house while I was putting Phoebe to bed, which was so nice of her to do! 

Usually Andrew puts Phoebe to bed (she prefers it that way and EVEN THOUGH IT BREAKS MY HEART, I allow it because I value Phoebe and her preferences) while I read to Alexander and Zoë, who get to stay up a bit later. 

Kelli's flight was awfully early in the morning, so we said our goodbyes the night before. 

Here's Zoë with Auntie K:

Here's me with my sister:

Some hugs for Alexander and Zoë and Benjamin:

Miriam with Auntie K:

And one more picture before we sent the little ones off to bed:

Such a politically charged post. I hope y'all made it through! Sorry to have burdened you with my closed-minded ideas about jack-o-lanterns and what not. I understand that it is biased of me to say that jack-o-lanterns exist. I couldn't find any sources saying otherwise, but I'm not very good at researching. Help!