*Pumpkins*

Ok, so have you ever stopped to consider a pumpkin? They're pretty crazy.
My friends and I were carving pumpkins today and it just hit me that I should be marveling.

Who was the first to look inside a pumpkin, see the stringy, goopy, orange pulp mess, and think "hey, this might cook into something tasty... something smooth and sweet."? Uh, not me. I certainly would have never had the imagination.

or, Who would have thought to put hundreds upon hundreds of seeds inside this gourd, hang them on slimy strands by the handfuls like stalactites in a cave, and then wait for someone else to scoop them out, rinse them off, and bake them until they were this nutritious, easy-to-travel-with snack?

or what about this: They smell disgusting when you open them up, but once it's baked, the smell is family... it's holiday... it's home.

or this.... Their rough, chunky stems have delicate, intricate curls wrapping around them, as extravagant as pearls around a tree trunk.

I mean, don't even think about how big they get on such a small, skinny vine, or how they ripen from a deep green into a sunrise orange, or even how you can cut great holes out of it, and it not only holds its shape, but becomes this whole new piece of art with the flame from one tealight.

So, as of today, the pumpkin is no longer an underrated October-only vegetable to me. It is wonder.