It all started back in August when we went out to Los Angeles to visit my Grandmother on her 90th birthday. She is doing very well and I swear she hasn’t aged physically or mentally in 20 years. She is better read, sharper, and more alive than I am, I think. I hope I have that to look forward to if I make it to 90.
In her back yard, she has this old lemon tree, not just any lemon tree, let me tell you. This one was was loaded, and according to Grandma, it has had this tremendous abundance year after year. We must have picked over a hundred and still its branches strained under what was left. It looked barely touched. And the lemons? They were huge. In fact, here’s a grapefruit sized monstrosity.
The lemons were all healthy and enormous, and even though Southern California is a desert, the fruit was saturated with liquid. It was all I could do to keep it from dripping all over the counters. I juiced pitchers and pitchers of lemonade for all the grandkids and great grandkids. We had a hoot messing up grandma’s kitchen, then making popcorn. Oh yes, it’s not an O’Malley party without popcorn! Popcorn and lemonade. Yum.
So I juiced all these lemons, had so much fun, and decided I wanted a souvenir. I dried out about 40 seeds, took them back to Puerto Rico, and promptly planted them.
Look, a little lemon tree sprouting up through my compost. Now that I have at least one, I’m going to plant more and give them away, spreading those delicious fruits as far and wide as I can. All those little seeds came from somewhere, and it is splendid to seem them flourish.