HUH? WHAT'S A "DOROTHY GOURD?"

In case you're wondering what a "gourd" is, a gourd is "Any of several trailing or climbing plants related to the pumpkin, squash, and cucumber and bearing fruits with a hard rind." (Source: Dictionary.com) You might could say that a gourd's a "fancy" word for a pumpkin, if that makes things easier. Gourds are probably best known in the United States for what we tend to do with them in the autumn seasons... put decorative carvings on them and stick a candle or light inside so we can delight kids and grownups alike with them. It's a lot of fun, it can be really easy or really hard, and boy, are toasted pumpkin seeds ever good.

Prairie Rose Clayton of Hooverdam.net, Utena.net, and Anime Jump fame (just to name a few) has a rather fantastic seasonal hobby of carving neat anime-themed pumpkins every year to set out on the doorstep of her Cambridge, MA home. In October 2001, she expanded her repertoire to include a couple of groovy Big O pumpkins. Here is a pictorial essay of her progress in carving the ubitiquous Dorothy Gourd. Follow along and perhaps you, too, may someday have a Dorothy Gourd of your very own.

You can read more about Prairie's spiffy anime pumpkins here.

View the making of the Dorothy Gourd below from 1-15 below.