Once upon a time not far from Holly’s house in a popular suburb of one of the country’s largest cities was a pumpkin patch. And by pumpkin patch Holly means a large picturesque field where pumpkins are trucked in and laid in neat rows.
Holly and her family visited and enjoyed the pumpkin patch very much. They looked forward to the following fall so that they could visit again.
The next year Holly was surprised to see the WHOLE field full of pumpkins. She couldn’t wait to go visit the super-sized pumpkin patch.
Hey, wait!
It wasn’t just one pumpkin patch. It was now two.
Practically identical pumpkin patches sitting right next to each other.
Holly wasn’t the only one that noticed the phenomenon.
The pumpkin patches noticed each other.
Soon each patch had new signs:
And then some more signs:
At this point some legal action took place that Holly is too tired to review and report back to you. She assumes it involved lawyers, judges and a whole bunch of pumpkin patch proceeds.
She would also like to make the following legal disclaimer: Holly has no further understanding of this case then what is obvious to the general public while driving a minivan past the patches at no more than 50 mph. Nothing drawn in marker should be construed as fact, opinion or slander.
Once the case was settled, things settled down a bit at the patches.
One of the patches received a new name!
And so it went for a few pumpkin seasons. The Patch and Village coexisted in a civil manner. As civil as two fighting children required to sit next to each other.
Then a new sign appeared this fall on the patch formally known as Village:
It appeared they had changed their name to Park.
Why Park?
Holly thinks that it might have something to do with the fact that when you drive from town toward the Patch, you cannot tell that there are two separate pumpkin entities. All you are looking for is pumpkins and a place to park:
That Pumpkin Park is so sneaky it is downright scary.
{ 64 comments… read them below or add one }
Change names? Now that is one trick that isn’t such a treat to us creatures of habit. First, competing pumpkin patches. Then, name changes. Who knows what it will be next. A corn maze? A bat cave?
Love the pics as usual. Hope you had tons of fun. We haven’t been yet… Friday afternoon is the day for us. Think I’m a little stupid for waiting until the actual day of Halloween or what?
So glad to see you at GNO last night! Fun chatting with you real time.
Happy Halloween!
jyl, Mommy Gossip—GNO
Texas Holly, I love you!
Texas Holly, I love your blog.
Texas Holly, I am not a stalker.
I promise.
Really.
And btw, thank you for the fab markers Texas Holly!!
OMG! That is just too fantastic! And I love the
minivan, too.
That is one of the most annoying things about this town–it is just insane!
That is awesome!! So funny….and great illustrations!!
Only you Holly. only you could take this and make it blog worthy fabulously funny and worth reading.
Love the illustrations!
That is the cleverest pumpkin patch I have ever seen. We have a pumpkin patch here embroiled in a bitter court case. When did pumpkins get so litigious?
I’m so glad that Karl Rove found a new job with the Pumpkin Park!
Love the illustrations!
LOL!!!!! Really–have you published this stuff??I mean maybe you need to start a Holly’s House cartoon or something! It is fantastic!!
I always love your visual aids.
Next step the sign will say “Pumpkin Park, child molester free zone” with a pic of a bad guy in a circle and a line crossing though it.
Seven-year Loyal Pumpkin Patchers here – we spit at the Park as we fly by in our 4×4 (awesome minivan, by the way). Why, you might ask?
A couple of years ago we went to the Pumpkin Patch to buy a Christmas tree – new gig, later in the year – they were trying to serve hot cider to the patrons, but had yet to receive their “food permit.” Seriously? Why you might ask – supposedly, someone from the Pumpkin Village/Park had called to report the “violation.”
I cannot make this stuff up, people.
I thought the EXACT same thing too when I drove by and saw the name changed to “park”. I bet you’re right. But I refuse to go to the village/park…
Oh, The Great Pumpkin would be so sad. (At first I thought you were making a political party analogy…why can’t we all just get along?)
love it. when is the book coming out?
I think it might be because “park” and “pumpkin” have a nice little alliteration going on.
I have to ask – which of these two entities do you patronize? Damnit I think that Pumpkin Park deserves to have somebody from the ORIGINAL patch come over and take a big dump on their biggest pumpkin. Dirty rip-off bastards.
*yes, I am having an unusually hostile day, today, even my my own standards*
thats hilarious! Clever as well…
Love the illustrations…Hey, that looks like my van!
(bat cave…hee hee)
I have a sneaking suspicion that Pumpkin Park’s next move will look like this
☥ The Patch formerly known as Pumpkin Park.
Alitteration sells!
But so do signs that say that they are the “First pumpkin patch as you leave town.”
Too freaking funny. I bet the whole area is owned by two brothers that really hate each other and refuse to share what their daddy built up from his bare hands!
I was looking for a happier ending, I guess I will just have to go to Florida and ride the real monorail, oh and to drink the water.
I call BULLS#%T! If the pumpkins are in perfect rows, then neither one of them is a pumpkin patch. You should have to work hard and toil to find the absolutely perfect pumpkin. No pain, no gain.
HEE-Larious!
I love reading your illustrations. So the Tale of Two Pumpkin Patches/Villages/Parks will resume again next year? Can’t wait to see the outcome of this LOL
I love Holly’s animated life!!!
Did the dueling patches go at it like this???
http://inhabitatiodei.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/ultimate-church-sign-battle/
Maybe the Original Pumpkin patch should move closer to the next town over? Perhaps the pumpkin patch is in a pickle!
I love the cute little pumpkin drawings
Your pics rock…If you had your own pumpkin patch you would have no trouble getting the crowds in.
Though they might run off with one of your signs.
Oh my–I think this will end up back in court!
and does anyone in their right mind actually buy pumpkins from the patch either one?? I mean seriously people save your $20 and goto walmart…
What did you make for dinner??
7.8% of all sales are the direct result of confusion. I’m pretty sure that they teach this in econ programs at UCLA but hide it from the rest of us simply because they don’t want us to be frightened when we realize how fragile is our economy.
Holly – I was going to suggest that you eventually just become a reporter. So much more pleasant than normal news. But then I realized that it made more sense for you to eventually just subcontract your local paper to write portions of your blog – the texas daily news soon to be a division of junecleavernirvana.
Just some kind of coincidence that one is red and one is blue, right?
I notice some resemblence as to what is going on in this country right now. Hmmmm….
Anywho, of course you know that I know exactly where you are talking about. And I’ve only been to the original, I mean the first. I mean the… Oh forget it!
Texasholly, I think you should write and illustrate your own children’s book, explaining to our country’s youth that they need to play nice – even if they one day rule the pumpkin kingdom. Oh, and for the sequel? Write about the rules of personal space.
it’s all fun and games til the pumpkin guts and seeds go flying.
i think i’ve been to this pumpkin patch, village, park…..thing.
Pumpkins are the sneakiest vegetables. Little known fact.
Fabulous, as usual.
Who knew? Pumpkin politics.
I just found your blog, and you are a hoot! Glad to have a new blog to follow
I know why the Pumpkin Village changed it’s name to the Pumpkin Park! Comes before Pumpkin Patch in the phone book.
Heh heh. Space Age Monorail.
That is brilliant.
Oh man, that sneaky pumpkin park is genius!
I honestly don’t know why I’ve not been following your blog already. You are SO funny (and observant)!!
This is a whole level of genius I’ll never reach!! TOO funny!
i love your little drawings!
The Great Pumpkin will be looking for a sincere, non-litigious pumpkin patch once again this year. I think there’s one in Nigeria. If you send me $1500 I’ll take you there on my way to claim a six million dollar fortune.
Your illustrated stories always crack me up. Those sneaky pumpkin people- LOL!
Texas Holly!
Next year you need to come to our pumpkin patch…
The TrailerParks Pumpkin Patch and Petting Zoo!!
I’ll be sure and plant a special squash just for YOU!
I am just glad you are on top of all this…
That is hysterical! I love the illustrations. Perfect!
Now, we don’t go to a pumpkin patch. We either pick up the pumpkins at the orchard- they have a truck load delivered, or we got to the pick your own pumpkin place and pick them off the plants. They are 29 cents per pound to pick them off the plant or 39 cents per pound to get one already picked. It was $5 for a huge pumpkin verses $4.99 for a smallish one at the grocery store.
All of our pumpkin patches have been plowed under to create a new multiplex. sigh. I’m glad you got to walk the fields!