Thankful Thursday: "I was entirely happy."

"I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, 

like the pumpkins, 

and I did not want to be anything more. 

I was entirely happy."

Willa Cather, My Antonia

This week I am thankful that I found some tiny pumpkins growing on the huge vine that I have allowed to take over the vegetable garden in the backyard.  

We planted some "Cinderella" pumpkins late in the summer in hope that by Halloween we might have some to display by our front door.  Unfortunately, harlequin bugs got to all but one of the plants.  Flower blossoms only appeared about two weeks ago, and as large and sprawling as the vine had become (this is one plant, folks), I could not find any female flowers or pollinated "baby" fruits hidden under all the leaves.

We are due for a cold front this weekend (maybe today!), so I decided to finally pull out all my left-over tomato plants from the summer harvest.  Mixed up in the tomato plant was an arm of the pumpkin vine, and I was thrilled to find three tiny pumpkins attached.  Now, I highly doubt they will miraculously develop before Halloween next week, but if it stays fairly mild until Thanksgiving, we may be able to use them for pie or other tasty treats!

                 

Here is what they should look like when they are grown.

If you garden, what surprises have you found in your garden?  Leave a comment, and then check out more Thankful Thursday posts here:

   

Also, if you missed it, I started a new "What 2 Read Wednesday" link-up yesterday.  Check out the post here, and if you want to link-up, check out the rules here.