Hello all!

I'm usually just a lurker here, but I'm stumped and figured you all would be the best people to ask. 

When I was a kid growing up here in rural east Tennessee, my Mom would always have a very sweet smelling "thing" on her windowsill or by her sink. I always thought it was a fruit.  It was sickly sweet smelling in fact. Might have been during the summer or maybe it was fall, and I don't think she grew them in our garden.  I'm fairly sure she got them at a farmer's market or from a friend or relative. 

I am almost positive she always said they were pomegranates. In fact when I met my husband who's a yankee when we were in high school, I found out what a real pomegranate was when he his Mom had given us one to share. Definitely NOT what was on our counter at home.  The things Mom had were smaller, smooth, and striped. Mostly yellow/gold with darker stripes.  They were never ever cut open and were just left on the window sill or by the sink to freshen the air. I'm guessing since they would last for what seemed like weeks (to my child memory) without rotting that they were a gourd of some kind maybe? She'd always get one or two each year and then at the end of the season, throw them out. I looked forward to having new ones in the kitchen each year. They just sort of appeared there. Heh. 

Well, sadly my Mom's no longer around to ask where she got them, and the internet is doing me no good.  Of course it took me 40 years to realize I should have paid a lot more attention to stuff when I was a kid. Instead I was a book geek and intellectual type like my Dad and stupidly scoffed at farm/country stuff (even though that's exactly where I was from). I am really regretting all that now of course. 

But ANYWAY, if any of you all have ANY idea what it might have been, please please let me know. Thanks so much for reading!

Patty in Greeneville, TN

Hi Patty, I noticed you are from East Tennessee.  I live in Southern Middle Tennessee.  lol  I was just about to start googling when I noticed your second post that you had discovered the tigger melon.  I've never heard of them, but will certainly be looking around now that you've told us about them.

Thanks everyone!  I'll go look up pocket melons.

Yeah I remember the scent to be really strong, but it made the kitchen smell nice if you weren't too close to it heh. 

It's really good to know I'm not crazy and such a thing really does exist.  I was beginning to think I was nuts after all that time on Google. And you all had the answer afterall. I knew I came to the right place!

EDIT:  In fact I think I do remember Mom might have called them "plum granny" cause that sounds familiar. I guess my memory and being a kid at the time made me remember it as pomegranate? Strange how that works.   The pictures on Google for "plum granny" are definitely what I remember.  Thanks again everyone!