Since I started reading blogs, especially ones from the US, I've wanted to put up decorations for autumn. A couple of years ago I started to collect ceramic pumpkins when I could find them (which is not many places) so that I too could decorate my house in a seasonal way. 
The husband does not understand this at all and was heard to moan that 'no-one else has ivy and pumpkins on their mantelpiece'. No imagination. He also insists that the clock remains in the middle of the mantelpiece. (In case you thought I thought it looked good with the pumpkins).
I don't go too much for real pumpkins - when my daughter was little we made the mistake of giving our carved pumpkin a name and she was upset when I said I would have to throw it away. Unbeknown to us she retrieved it from the bin - we only discovered this when a really terrible smell manifested itself in her bedroom and was tracked down to the now-mouldy pumpkin. Shortly afterwards Pumpkin went on holiday, on the train (and she believed us).
