A Snap of the Branch

Janet's grapes ... and oh, for a zoom lens ..

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 ... a pear attached to a dying branch ...

 ... downed branch which spilled across Greg's lot ...

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... left half of picture / note where the branch split off from the tree ...

The wind was barely rustling through the trees but a loud crack was heard by the strawberry patch on Janet and Glen’s lot.

The heavily laden pear tree could not stand the weight of the fruit any longer and one of the tall branches snapped off onto the ground, stretching from the tree right across to Wyona’s porch.

I went over to see what the wound on the tree would looked like.

... hops in the sunlight ...

By the time I got there other onlookers had gone.

Only Janet was on the lawn, gathering the pears and putting them in boxes.

“Looks like you will be going to the farmer’s market”, said Jeremy to his mom before returning to the pottery wheel.

3The Pillings have a full house right now.

The whole family try to get together around Roots and Blues time and all were present but the Hicks who are home with Piper, their new born.

I tried to think of what a family will do with so many pears.

... green grapes ... hard not to grab a  handful ...

I like them dried. I think the sandy taste has a certain charm.

What happens to my pears is that they all ripen the same day – just about at the same hour.

It is a struggle to find as manyways as possible to eat them fresh.

Even though that large branch is down on the ground, Janet was cheerful.

She told me that if I liked the look of the abundance of pears, I should also check out the purple clumps of grapes that are hanging on the vines that cling to the porch railing.

6And then she pointed me in the direction of the green grapes, not as showy, but surely present.

On the porch, containerized are Roma tomatoes, the vines tied up to bamboo sticks.

The hops are in full fruit, climbing all over the sides of the green house.

... to market, to market ...

“Those are the vines that show growth about every couple of hours,” said Janet.

Once they start growing, they just run away.

I wondered what else a person can do with hops besides make beer, but maybe making beer is enough.

 ... all beauty is not edible ...

Last year I collected a recipe on how to make bread out of the mash that is left over when the hops have been used.

That will be a project I haven’t taken on before.

The strawberry plants on their lot are still bearing fruit, well tended in that triangle of land between the Pillings and the Bates house.

... strawberries still in bloom ...

I checked to see how Wyona’s pumpkins are doing.

They are the only plant that is still in flower – hope they can make it to being fruited by October.

Arta