I’ve spent the day preparing for my honorary sons weekend visit. In the midst of food preparations this morning, Dave calls me from his cell phone and says I need to go outside to see what he has found. He was cleaning our lot so I figured it was a snake, lizard or bug, maybe a fawn. I grabbed my camera, stepped out the front door and spotted him off to the side of the driveway on the undeveloped lot next door.
I asked which way was the best way to approach, assuming there was a critter to see. He directed me towards where he was standing. I walked under the canopy of oaks towards the open area where Dave stood. He informed me I should be able to see it from there. I was busy looking at the ground until he told me to look up and pointed.
I was amazed at the bounty of fruit on an insignificant tree we’d watched grow for the past ten years. Each year it would have a few blossoms at the top of the tree but never developed any fruit. This winter was brutal towards the tree so it now leans after losing branches and a heavy snow load. The tree is loaded in pears! I was ecstatic with the find!
A childhood memory immediately burst to the surface of my thoughts. When I was in grade school and living in Ankara Turkey, I met a girl who lived about a block away from our apartment. She lived in a house! Not too many people I knew lived in a house, most people were in apartments. Not only did she live in a house, she had a pear tree in her yard. The pears ripened just before the new school year began and we sat in the tree eating sweet, sun warmed pears. She moved shortly after I met her and though I don’t remember her name, I’ve judged all the pears I’ve eaten on that childhood memory.
This evening while I was down in the back yard I noticed the first water lily blossom of the year. The raccoons must have been in the pond last night since a branch I put across the pond for dragonflies was broken to bits, floating in the pond, the plants on the edge are a little flattened and the other water lily blossom in that area is no longer near the surface. The water lily find was a nice additional surprise today 
