Unexpected Guest

One cannot manage too many affairs; like pumpkins in water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other. –Chinese Proverb

This past month was hectic.  It was the end of a fiscal year, my 2010 business plan needed to be completed and my father turned 80.  My garden required more attention than I gave and the weeds intruded.  I plucked a couple each time I walked by, but one very curious growth piqued my interest and so I let it be.

Weeks back I noticed the pair of cotyledons in a most inhospitable location in my garden.  They sprouted in a gravel portion of walkway impervious to most vegetation.  The plant’s appearance was akin to something edible, but it was not the child of any vegetable I planted.  I didn’t pluck it, nor did I foster its growth and through the hottest days we’ve had thus far -it endured, with almost no water.

When the next leaves appeared, I finally knew what it was and from where it came.  Last year I had kept seeds scooped from a store bought pumpkin for a Thanksgiving pie, but I had never done anything with them.  In late spring I put them out for the squirrels and the birds, but evidently there were some escapees and voila, my unexpected guest materialized.

And so now I welcome my pumpkin intruder and I look forward to what it might have to offer in future months.  It doesn’t look like it will be ready in time to be the source of this year’s pumpkin pie, but who knows.  As I tended to it for the first time, I was surprised by some other visitors yesterday too…

My how the mantis have grown!*

*No insects were hurt during the making of this post.