Today is #MarketFriday initiated by @dswigle (Denise, that's me!!)

I hope you will join me as we share different markets across the globe. Every week, I look forward to seeing what you will send me and I am always happy to see so many from all over the world.

I would really love you to take a minute and look at one of my good friends on Steemit! Check out @keithboone (That's Keith!) and his new challenge. It is called #MountainMonday by @keithboone. This is your invitation to share anything you like about mountains - a story, a photo, a joke - whatever you have. Tag your post #mountainmonday and drop Keith a link in the comment section and he will do his best to upvote and resteem your post. Keith is a really awesome photographer and I encourage you to check him out if you haven't already and take a second to read his post about the new challenge, #MountainMonday! Check out his post here for more info!

Who doesn't love to see what they will be selling in some foreign market, shopping in places I have never been to and some, never even heard of. There is always a curiosity attached to foreign ingredients, different produce or any product sold. So, yes! I would love to see yours! Don't forget to take photos wherever you happen to be shopping - whether it be the grocery, art galleries, wherever money is exchanged for a service or for merchandise. Don't forget to use the hashtag #MarketFriday and @dswigle.

Please leave the link to your post on here so it can easily be found by others. They will all be in one place. Where else can you take such a quick trip around the globe? Thank you! ❤

Today, I went searching for a few harvest pumpkins and gourds, which had been picked for the Halloween season by the local farmers. There were plenty to go around, but they are being picked little by little - some are still in the fields curing. By curing, of course, I mean they are still in the ripening stage. The pumpkin is harvested when the color is uniform and the rind is hard. The farmers watch the weather for the nighttime lows now, although here in our area, we have been still having spring-like weather. But, all it takes is one hard frost to kill the vine. Once the vine dies, the fruit will no longer mature. Yes, they are a little dirty from the field, but, I promise you, they are always clean and pretty when they are ready to be sold.

"I feel pretty

Oh, so pretty
That the city should give me its key
A committee
Should be organized to honor me"

"La la la la"

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I have to be honest with you. I think these large orange and green gourds are my absolute favorite. How about you?

Did you know that gourds are of different colors, shapes, and sizes? Farmers harvest them before frost- after the fruit is mature. As these gourds mature, the stems turn brown and dry up.

When I was a child, the appearance of winter squash epitomized autumn: squash, pumpkins, and gourds. Glorious winter squash! Acorn squash, butternut squash, hubbard squash, spaghetti squash, cheese pumpkin, delicata squash, kabocha squash.

I loved them all!

Pumpkins are king at this time of year. They come in an assortment of colors - blue, green, yellow, white multi-colored and red. I am sure that I may be missing some. They can be tiny, oblong, squat, round, shaped like a pear, tall, and some so big they take a small crane to move. There are some that are better for carving, many, better for eating and then some are just pretty and are better for display.

The pumpkin and gourd are used from Halloweenish time to almost Christmas.

Admittedly, I love them for their seeds, so I pick a nice heavy one... On average, a medium-sized pumpkin will usually have about 1 cup of seeds that can be salted then, dried and roasted. Yummy!!!

To everything, there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted... Ecclesiastes 3:1

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STOP!! BRAIN TEASER AHEAD!!

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I left my campsite and hiked south for 3 miles. Then I turned east and hiked for 3 miles. I then turned north and hiked for 3 miles, at which time I came upon a bear inside my tent eating my food! What color was the bear?

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Photo: northcolcamp.com

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AnswerWhite. The only place you can hike 3 miles south, then east for 3 miles, then north for 3 miles and end up back at your starting point is the North Pole. There are only polar bears in the North Pole, and they are white!

Picture Source: National Geographic

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Did you know that there is such a thing as pumpkin ale and pumpkin beer? Truth! Brewing beer dates back to at least 1771 in the United States.

Raise your hand if you have ever had any.

Oh, the lure of food. How sweet can it get!

"Ghapama is an Armenian stuffed pumpkin dish.
Pumpkin-coconut custard, a dessert dish.
Pumpkin cream soup.
Hobak-juk – a Korean variety of juk (porridge) made with pumpkin and glutinous rice flour. It is a smooth and naturally sweet porridge that is traditionally served to the elderly or recovering patients.
Hobak-tteok – a Korean dish and variety of siru-tteok (steamed rice cake) made by mixing fresh or dried pumpkin with glutinous or non-glutinous rice flour, then steaming the mixture in a siru. (rice cake steamer).
Kabak tatlısı – a Turkish pumpkin dessert made by cooking peeled and cut pumpkin that has been sprinkled with sugar. (candied pumpkin).
Kadu bouranee – an Afghan and Turkish dish made by frying pumpkin with different spices.
Maraq – a Somali soup that is sometimes prepared using pumpkin.
Mashed pumpkin – a vegetable dish made by cooking or macerating the skinless flesh (pulp) of pumpkins and then mashing, straining, grinding, or puréeing until the desired consistency is achieved. It is traditionally served as a side dish, although it has many uses in cooking and baking.
Pumpkin bread – a type of moist quick bread made with pumpkin.
Pumpkin seed – a snack food typically consisting of roasted seeds, they are also used as an ingredient in some dishes, such as mole.
Pumpkin seed oil – has an intense nutty taste and is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, it is sometimes used as a salad dressing. The typical Styrian dressing consists of pumpkin seed oil and cider vinegar. The oil is also used for desserts, giving ordinary vanilla ice cream a nutty taste.
Spaghetti alla Nerano – an Italian pasta dish prepared using pasta, fried zucchinis and provolone del Monaco. (or caciocavallo).
Stuffed squash – consists of various kinds of squash or zucchini stuffed with rice and sometimes meat and cooked on the stovetop or in the oven.
Ghapama – an Armenian stuffed pumpkin dish that often prepared during the Christmas season, it is typically stuffed with rice and dried fruits.
Stuffed pumpkin – consists of pumpkin that has been stuffed with various ingredients and roasted or baked, it is a dish in American cuisine."

Long before European contact, Cucurbita had been a major food source for the native peoples of the Americas, and the species became an important food for European settlers, including the Pilgrims, even featuring at the first Thanksgiving. Commercially produced pumpkin commonly used in pumpkin pie is most often varieties of C. moschata; Libby's, by far the largest producer of processed pumpkin, uses a proprietary strain of the Dickinson pumpkin variety of C. moschata for its canned pumpkin. Other foods that can be made using members of this genus include biscuits, bread, cheesecake, desserts, donuts, granola, ice cream, lasagna dishes, pancakes, pudding, pumpkin butter, salads, soups, and stuffing. See here.*

Dieting is serious business! Vegetables are a must on a diet! May I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie??

The shade of Autumn fall into a rustic beauty
Between then and now with a hint of more

Thank you for tagging along as I check out the progress of my Thanksgiving Harvest to come! I'll go back in a day or so to pick out a few different pumpkins and gourds. Maybe make a centerpiece with one or two. I look forward to checking out your #MarketFriday shots. Remember to visit the other ones with that hashtag. Experience a shopping day, all around the globe. Happy shopping!

Flowers. There must always be flowers. Always and forever.

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¸.♥´¸.•♥¨) Let the sun shine in on your life
So the joy may touch your soul
(¸.•´♥ (¸.•´ ♥

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Whispered words, from your lips
Out of the darkness, they came
Touching my heart, softly, caressing
Stealing off with my soul
Taking me, swallowing me whole

Once again

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Don't ever forget what a wonderful world we live in, people. Let's hold hands around the globe and make this earth really spin. Some days, it is not as easy to see, so we must try harder to give everyone the proper focus.