I lived within 10 miles of the Pacific Ocean for most of the first 34 years of my life either in southern California, Guam or the San Francisco Bay Area. None of those places had anything like you would call spring.
With a new set of orders from the Navy we found ourselves moving to Utah in September of 1989. We bought our first house in Murray and it had many fruit trees in the back yard. These included apricot, plum, peach, cherry and apple. The previous owners had a good sized garden and all these trees and it was one of the reasons we bought the house.
As winter was turning to spring that first time I kept an eye out back on those trees. Watching for the changes each day as leaves and flowers came out and the fruit started to develop was wonderful to me. Where I came from things didn't go dormant and then come back to life so I really did find the process fascinating.
The tree that stands out in my mind that spring was the apple tree that was the oldest and largest of them all. Watching the leaves come out I remember thinking, "So that is apple green". Seeing the color in real life rather than a crayon box or paint chip made it so much more beautiful. Nearly 20 years later I can still recall that first real spring and the beauty of my backyard.
I love apple blossoms :) I miss the springs from Indiana, in NC we have a really fast transition period where everything tries to grow in really cold or really warm fluctuations before summer hits! I enjoyed reading about the orchard...
ReplyDeleteI had two apple trees in the back yard growing up! We never ate them though, the insects always got there first.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing in the spring is when the grass goes from dead brown to a bright green
Those fruit trees sound absolutely delicious and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in NYC and miss the change of seasons since we've now lived in Orlando for 5 years and the palm trees don't exactly change much.