A Gathering of Gourds

No, not the noggin kind--the vine kind.

My father was an excellent gardener tending large vegetable gardens all through my childhood which provided fresh corn, beans, tomatoes, and yes, okra, among many other goodies. All you need to add is the Southern Cornbread made with buttermilk and white cornmeal, of course.

Here you see a photo taken several years back of a group of gourds he brought me one day...shown in dappled shade and nestled upon a tree trunk.

Gourds were one of the things he grew for fun, along with banana trees, elephant ears, and castor bean plants. And when petunias and verbenas sprouted up through the patio bricks, he called them "volunteers"...that was my Dad.

The gourds you see pictured are long gone, but I still have one of his favorite projects he made for me--a wire-handled gourd with one side carved out to use as a water dipper. This is an old solution to an ancient problem and I suspect many people through the centuries have drunk water from a simple, charming gourd which handily does the trick!

That my father who descended from a long line of preachers would pass on to me a water dipper reminds me of The Book he also passed on to me and today I can say I am grateful for both kinds of water!