I visited the folks' place for Father's Day. While the frozen roast was turning into something fairly delicious, I wandered around where I grew up and took some shots. For the 90 minutes I was outside, I only got a few pictures, but it was, as intended, a learning experience.
There's a Mulberry tree in my parent's front yard. I'm fairly sure it was there before me, and is one of those fixed points in my memory. I remember my oldest friend and I playing in the front yard and her grabbing a berry from the tree and eating it. I told her they weren't edible, and she told me they were. So I ate one. It was good. I ate more. My dad snapped at us for eating the inedible berries that were "bird food". I didn't eat the berries for years... until my Godmother's husband told my dad that he made jam from the tree in THEIR front yard, which was a smaller version of ours. My young self shot my dad a look that got an immediate mea culpa years after I'd first tried those berries. Now I make a point of grabbing a couple when they're in season and I'm walking under her boughs. They stain your fingers like you wouldn't believe... also pants, shoes, shirts, and cars.
Once, years after that, I was coming home from school and walking under the old familiar tree. I looked into her twisted limbs and saw a bump that wasn't there before. I looked closer... the bump had feathers. The owl turned its head and opened its eyes a slit, and I was amazed. I'd never seen an owl outside of the zoo before, and here was one looking right at me in my front yard! I told my brothers and the nanny about it, and they didn't believe me until they came out to see it themselves. The owl couldn't be less interested. It was gone by the next morning, never to return.
I've passed this tree thousands of times in my life. It's older than me, and I hope it always will be.
(click to embiggen)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Picture Time
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3 comments:
Our tree was in the back yard. Not a lot of flavor as I recall. But the birds loved them and distributed little purplish packets on windshields and car tops throughout the neighborhood. They were recognized as edible in our household but weren't held in high regard.
Thanks for the memory.
There's a mulberry tree at the back of my place, was there when I bought the place. As much as I like berries tho I've never been a fan of these. Mom likes them on her cereal so Dad usually picks a container or so but the rest we leave for the birds and squirrels. They can have the mulberries as long as they eave my blues alone.
They're not bad once they're dark purple. But there certainly are a lot of them.
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