Get Lost

An impromptu phone call on Columbus Day led to Ashley and I getting out of the house and getting some much needed fresh air on a beautiful fall day. We grabbed a friend who lives on the way and met up with Debbi, Mike and their family. Pillsbury Press policy doesn't identify last names or kids names without permission.

We split up into two teams: the teenagers versus the rest of us.

This is the 20th anniversary of the Howell Living History Farm's corn maze. It is their biggest annual fundraiser, which brings in enough money to keep the farm free throughout the year. They only charge a nominal amount for certain events (almost always under $5 a

person). This year's theme was the mule barge that served as transportation for goods along the Delaware River. Throughout the three-mile hand-cut maze there are mailboxes with 10 puzzle pieces to help you find your way you, plus answers to fill-in the blanks. a crossword puzzle, mule barge matching, trivia, and the seemingly long list of rules, most of which we went through in orientation before starting.

Team A went one way while Team B went the other. Occasionally our paths would cross. At this confabs we learned they found pieces we did not find, and vice versa. It was fun seeing them. If we wanted to be efficient we would have grabbed two pieces and swapped information at these times. I suspect instead of calling the "efficient" Debbi would call it "cheating." Semantics. Mike and I had a chance to chat, which is rare, yet very pleasant. Debbi and youngest son did the hunting.

In the end the teens finished 15 minutes before us, but without getting all of the answers or puzzle pieces (each missing puzzle piece adds six minutes to the total time, missing or wrong answers also add time). Because Debbi was tenacious in getting EVERYTHING (and I mean EVERYTHING) our team had 30 minutes taken off. So they they got out of the maze first, we had a lower time.

From there we walked over to the aMAZing Pumpkin Carve. Some of the pumpkins were indeed quite amazing, others were eaten by raccoons (according to the sign), but seemed to have been eaten by deer based on their size and the number of deer we saw that day.

Voted Best at Night and my favorite

Dinner?

By local artist Leon Rainbow

Also by Leon Rainbow