You Pumpkin Head, You!

It has been said that as a child I would go to an adult and say, "You pumpkin head, you!"

I couldn't believe this story, until I heard it with my own ears. A reel-to-reel tape caught my silly epithet for adults. It was on a tape that had been made by my uncle who has a fascination with capturing sound and song. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, although many of you met him when he visited with us in December.

Why "pumpkin head"? I guess I had seen a jack-o-lantern, yet I know my attraction to natural things had something to do with it to~kind of like when Henry David Thoreau said, "I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself,than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

Nature has always summoned me, drawing me away from work or people into a world of primordial sustenance. And it is not a pumpkin alone that I find there, but a spirit organic and powerful.

I look forward to discussing childhood and nature again as we continue reading Last Child in the Woods. See you tomorrow at 8 a.m. at Thankful Memorial Episcopal Church in St. Elmo.