Smashing Pumpkin Records

Life is good in Boston. Many thanks to Sarah and Giuseppe for their hospitality and tour guide-ing skills, as well as their uncanny ability to make it through RIDICULOUS traffic without incident.

Jessica and I got to see many of the sights that make Boston what it is. Fenway Park, the Freedom Trail, Harvard (pronounced, 'Hah-vahd', in case you were wondering...)--the normal tourist fare, made all the more genuine by Jess's frequent photo stops.

One thing that came as an interesting surprise,however was the presence of 30,000 pumpkins in the middle of Boston Commons. Well, there wasn't actually that many when we first arrived on Friday night. In fact, there was just a bunch of half filled scaffolding and nervous looking people wearing "life is good" shirts. One of them approached Joe, Jessica and I. The conversation went something like this:

Him: Do you guys want to play with knives and help raise money for kids with cancer?

Us: OK....

Him: It's free! Just go carve a pumpkin over there.

Us: OK...

Truth be told, it takes very little convincing to get me to play with knives. So, we headed over to the tents and carved away. I decided to depict a phoenix rising from the ashes on my pumpkin. But, due to lack of space on the pumpkin (and by 'space', I mean 'skills') I settled on a face with triangle eyes, nose and a toothless smile.

Everyone had a good time (see below) and in the end Boston set the Guinness record for most lit pumpkins (30,128), raising $554, 211 for kids with cancer in the process. It was a beautiful thing in many ways. Check here to see more great pictures from the festival.