Winter here in Southern California is hardly harsh, but even so, 'tis a season. And yet....
So here's what happened: several months ago, when our days were shorter and the sun lower in the sky, a seed started to grow. No one planted it. No one planned it. One day there was a little plant, growing from a crack in the garden path. And it grew....and it grew...and it grew.
Wrong place, wrong time.
At first we weren't sure what it would be. Large green leaves and long tendrils told us "squash, or something." It grew some more. Yellow flowers and little baby fruits starting to form, it grew some more. Longer vines and bigger leaves ("Are we going to have to move out?"), it grew even more...and then we knew. Pumpkin!
Pumpkin? In February?
Wrong place, wrong time. Right?
Now if my memory serves me right, Memorial Weekend is a good time to plant pumpkins for a fall harvest. Yesterday I harvested five. Five medium-sized pumpkins. From one unplanted seed. In May.
The ancient book of Ecclesiastes says that "there is a season, and a time for everything under heaven." I sometimes think that we get so set in our ways, so rigid in our expectations, so demanding that things be "just so" that we miss all kinds of opportunities.
"Wrong place, wrong time" and nothing grows.
But then, every once in a while, nature throws a curve. A seed grows out of nowhere, and suddenly there are pumpkins...in May.
I'm not sure what I'll do. Maybe I'll carve a Jack-o-Lantern and hand out candy to passers-by.
Now's as good a time as any, don't you think?
(c) May 2015, Fiechter. Thanks for reading! Please go ahead and share it--but if you're reprinting or including it in another publication, be sure to ask me first.
