Volunteer Pumpkin

At Halloween most years Lesley and I would paint our pumpkins. Why bother with all the trouble of carving? After a while though we would have to take them out back and toss them into the arroyo. One year we must have dropped them on the way out back, because in a short while there was a little pumpkin plant peeking up from the roots of the pine trees. It was a neat little plant that grew all on its own. We only got one fist-sized pumpkin from the plant, but it was fun to see our volunteer pumpkin as we walked to school.