Gourds and squashes

Together with the turning leaves, crispness in the air and the ever-decreasing daylight, the increasing displays of gourds really shout out "Fall!" to me.  Those include the various squashes and pumpkins that one sees in the grocery stores.  If one is very fortunate, however, one can also see them piled high in the outdoors.

This happened to me yesterday morning.  As I was walking through a nearby village center in my semi-rural area, I noticed some impressively-sized pumpkins piled outside one of the little farms that sells fresh produce directly to consumers as a side-line to its large-scale agricultural production.

While most of the big squashes and pumpkins were piled up high near the entrance,

smaller squashes and gourds were carefully - but attractively - arranged on a shelf.

I remember that my sons, when they were very small, always insisted that one of the two foods that they hated most was "yellow squash."  I don't even remember feeding them "yellow" squash, except the occasional small yellow summer squash in some versions of cous-cous where the delicate flavor was at least partially obscured by the other ingredients!  Their other hated food was "sauerkraut" and I don't remember ever feeding them that either.  Senior moments, perhaps?  It is true that HWMBO and I both love a good choucroute garnie. But that is a taste that I developed later in life, primarily when my sons had grown up and moved away from home for school and/or work.

But one doesn't have to like the taste simply to enjoy the visual delights of these colorful - and beautiful - symbols of the season!