"Wow, that's a lot of gourds."

This is what I hear from some random guy to his girlfriend as I stand in line at Costco. The woman in front of me then asks, "What do you do with all of those?"

"Well, we are having a fall festival and I have a lot of tables to decorate."

"Then do you throw them away?"

"I guess. I think some of the families will take them to decorate until Thanksgiving."

"They won't last until next year?"

"I don't think so."

She looks at me with a perplexed facial contortion. That is when Leon, the friendly Costco Cashier, chimes in and says that his were stored in his garage for a year and they were just fine when he brought them out this year! I think my jaw dropped a smidge. Through the desert heat they survived. I am amazed. However, I know that if one of them gets a bit smashed little buggies will descend quite rapidly from no where... there was evidence of that at the display in the back of the store.

Needless to say, I hope that 11 (8 of which were purchased today) bags of shellacked gourds will do the trick to decorate the 40 or so tables for Fall Festival this weekend. I know that we have some whole fruit coming, like apples, and we will use that in decorating if need be in the main ramada. Should be fun.