There is a certain residence on Hicks Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, near the boundary with the neighboring neighborhood of Carroll Gardens, which puts out seasonal inflatable decorations. I have previously covered its St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, and Valentine’s Day offerings. Most recently, I wrote about a bikini-clad gnome seen in July 2025, which we can only presume was chosen to represent summer beach trips. But summer, as it is wont to to do, gives way to fall. Autumn technically came to New York City on September 22, 2025 (albeit the weather has been mildly estival thus far), but Brooklyn’s leading residence in inflatable decorations ensured that it would be ahead of the curve. I present its newest offering, photographed on September 10, 2025:
When I took the photo, I noticed the gnome appears to be offering an apple. I understood this to be a timely reference to back to school and giving the teacher an apple. While I do not recall anyone in my schools giving teachers apples, the curious can see articles in Smithsonian Magazine, Dictionary.com, and The Big Apple for the background of the tradition.
I was on a walk at the time I documented the first-day-of-school gnome. For that reason, I did not note some other points about the inflatable beyond the apple. Upon reviewing the photo closely, I noticed that the gnome is dressed up as a pencil. Its outfit and beard are yellow and the tip of its hat is a sharpened pencil. Now observe this second photo:
You can just barely see that the bottom of the gnome is pink, representing an eraser (look at the very bottom-right of the gnome).
It would have been interesting to sit in on the design meeting where they came up with the idea for an inflatable gnome offering an apple white dressed up as a pencil. But having just covered a gnome in a bikini and beach hat, the creativity does not surprise me.
