Saturday, March 31, 2007

beauty all around

this last week i have been busy with pragmatic affairs such as registering sebastian for preschool and getting my driver's license renewed. i left my kids with their nana (aka my mom) while i went to the department of motor vehicles. the dmv is notorious for the guaranteed bureaucratic experience but it was really quiet at the one i went to and the parking lot was lined with beautiful pear trees in bloom.




back in my parents' yard, the citrus plants were both blossoming and bearing fruit. my parents don't even bother picking the fruit off their trees anymore so when we go, jason spends most of his time gathering cumquats and lemons.

in the backyard, the tree my mom calls a hattie pear (it is a grafted tree that was passed down from her aunt hattie mae) is also waking up to spring. we keep an eye on this tree as well since my parents gave up fighting the racoons for the pears years ago. my mom blames the racoons when i ask why she no longer gardens. when i was a child, we had a beautiful garden filled with squash, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, okra, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, melons, peas, and marigolds. i was homeschooled for a while and i used to run around with my pet goat and eat sun ripened fruit right off the vine/plant. that was before the area was developed and there used to be tons of huckleberry bushes and blackberry vines growing wild everywhere. my cousin and i would catch blue crabs from the creek that ran next to his property and his dad would cook them for us. those where the days when we used the term property instead of yard.


and since i am an island girl, i can never pass up an opportunity to visit the beach. i love the ocean but i doubt i will ever live this close to one again as my heart is divided with my love for the sea and my love for the mountains. perhaps this is part of the reason japan appeals to me. if i could settle someplace like shikoku, then there would never be a conflict.






by the way, thank you so much for all the lovely comments. it always warms my heart to read them though i can't always carve away enough time to respond. i will work on that though, i promise.

happy weekend, friends.

4 comments:

amisha said...

hi dear tiffany, what a beautiful set of photos. and i loved hearing about the garden and the fresh crabs when you were a child. e grew up that way too... no store-bought veg till he was in college! amazing. hoping i can bring up my future little ones with a bit of that experience :)

Anonymous said...

hello t, beautiful photos and i loved hearing about your childhood. it sounds like it was a wonderful one!
i know what you mean about wanting to be near both mountains and ocean- we are lucky here in NZ to be close to both in most of the country. so perhaps n.z. is another option if you decide to emigrate?

andrea said...

life looks good! i was pining the other day for blossoms(must find a blossoming tree to replace our dying fir in the front) and you provided!

i'm realizing i really need to get the girls out of this town- hurry up spring!

andrea said...

rereading...

are you enrolling sebastian in a montessori preschool? i know you had mentioned wanting to do this awhile ago and its something i'm picking my brain about for mia. my confused-and-overwhelmed-by-preschool-choices brain would love to hear your take on it if you have a minute!