Ripe vegetables were magic to me. Unharvested, the garden bristled with possibility. I would quicken at the sight of a ripe tomato, sounding its redness from the deep amidst the undifferentiated green. To lift a bean plant's hood of heart-shaped leaves and discover a clutch of long, slender pods hanging underneath could make me catch my breath. Cradling the globe of a cantaloupe warmed in the sun, or pulling orange spears straight from his sandy soil--these were the keenest of pleasures, and even today in the garden they're accessible to me, dulled only slightly by familiarity.

-Michael Pollan

The sight was enchanting. The skin was flawless, the vulva, roseate and full. She thought it was like the gum plant leaf with its secret milk that the pressure of the finger could bring out, the odorous moisture that came like the moisture of the sea shells. So was Venus born of the sea with this little kernel of salty honey in her, which only caresses could bring out of the hidden recesses of her body.

-Anais Nin