It really is the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

No one can remain immersed 24/7 in politics and economic Armageddon. I want to think about something happy today and one of the happiest thoughts in October is of Pumpkins.

The very word "pumpkin" is delightful. "Pump-" is so close to "plump" and "dumpling." The "-kin" is a cosy, endearing suffix, like Squirrel Nutkin. Pumpkin is from the Greek, "pepon", for large melon.

In my neighborhood, pumpkins lined up on porch steps are the first harbinger of Halloween. I love the ritual of carving the jack-o'-lanterns on Halloween morning and being impatient for dark and finally lighting them. These days I use battery-powered lights for safety, but I miss the smell of scorched pumpkin with real candles.

Baking a pumpkin pie can be easy as pie if you use canned puree or labor intensive if you start with a whole cheese pumpkin, one of the recommended varieties for pie-making. Google "pumpkin pie recipe" and choose from thousands. Every pumpkin recipe I've tried has been good, with the exception of a dreadful pumpkin cheesecake one Thanksgiving.

Pumpkins naturally signify the harvest's bounty. The large, heavy fruit are so richly colored, so substantial that they inspire Giant Pumpkin Contests at country fairs everywhere. Imagine spending an entire growing season coddling one mutant plant that grows more gargantuan by the hour until you need a forklift and a semi to transport the monster. A gallery of giant pumpkins is what inspired this post. Here is the contender for this year's record-breaker. At the time it was photographed, it weighed 1,878 lbs. with a circumference of 198 inches. It's growing at the rate of 11 lbs. per day. Now that's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.