I'm including this really light story in TRAVEL because it takes the reader to a calm place, far from the chaotic lives most of us live these days; particularly in the cities. Palestine, Texas -- a small town of about 20,000 nestled in the East Texas "piney woods". A quiet town where the story of an old couple's watermelons can make the local paper. Talk about appreciating the simple things in life. What-A-Melon! Couple's 'accidental' vine produces abundance of large summer fruit By MARY RAINWATER The Palestine Herald On a warm July afternoon, Anderson County couple J.P. and Ruby Bean decided to have a “sit” on their front porch and enjoy a slice of sweet, ripe watermelon. And like most true Southerners, as they encountered a seed in the summer fruit it was discarded in one of the most common styles — thrown over the family’s porch rail. Much to their surprise, one of those seeds decided to take hold in the Bean’s front yard and in just over a month’s time has produced about a 30-foot vine and more than 10 melons. “We have already picked two pretty big ones — one weighs 24 and a half pounds and the other is 22 and a half pounds,” Ruby Bean said Monday. “There are about nine in the patch now and the plant is still blooming. “We are expecting most of them, if not all, to match those first two melons in size.” The Beans attribute the seemingly miraculous watermelon plant to the unusually wet summer and the appropriate amount of sunlight. “We tried to grow some watermelons before, but they didn’t do very well,” Ruby Bean said. “But we didn’t do a thing to these and they just keep on producing. “We are just really surprised at how the watermelons are growing.” As to what they will do with their abundance of late-blooming melons, the Beans plan to “eat all they can and share the rest,” they said. J.P. and Ruby Bean are both Anderson County natives. They have been married 10 years. ———— Mary Rainwater may be reached via e-mail at mrainwater@palestineherald.com

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