The September trade at Drawspace has the theme of Fruit and Vegetables. I have already finished 3 of them. A few days before I knew the theme, I had purchased an onion sprout a the grocery store to sketch. I just loved the small size, the color, and the little green sprouts coming out the end. That is the first thing I drew for the trade.
Then I looked in the kitchen and found a small apple and pear from my fruit trees. The pear tree is probably on its last few years. And the apple won't be far behind.
When we moved here 17+ years ago, there were 4 fruit trees. Apple, peach, pear, and apricot. I don't think we ever did get any peaches as it died about the first year. The stump is still there as a reminder. Next to it was the apricot. We had wonderful fruit and a terrible mess every year till about two years ago. Then it didn't even leaf out.
At a lower section of the yard, is the pear. It has been wonderful and very producing. Sometimes it would bloom off and on for several months and produce pears. The last ones would be really tiny but still full of wonderful flavor.
A lot of the limbs in the pear tree for the last few years have been dead. It was still over abundant with blooms this year but only produced about 4 pears. One is still in the top of the tree where I can't reach it. I guess that one is for the birds to claim. I have been gradually cutting out the dead limbs and hope to top the tree back to the largest branches and see if I can give it a jump start and new life for next year.
The apple is a dwarf of about 4 feet. It has wonderful red delicious apples. One year the apples were so large, we had to prop up the limbs. People stopped on the street to look and point at them. They were the size of a large grapefruit or a small melon. Over the years it has had limbs to break off. Some with the help of my dog Friday. As a puppy, she liked to break the limbs off and carry them around for chewing.
It is pretty lopsided but still puts off some really sweet apples but they are smaller now. Since the dogs can reach them, a lot of them get eaten before they are ripe. I think I have got about 3 or 4 and there are still some on the tree. Dizzy is the latest to figure out that she can get them for herself.
3 comments:
Jeanne, these are lovely and yummy.
These are so nicely done Jeanne! It's a shame, the change in the fruit trees....I hope you are doing well, that temperature has gone down and that you can sleep at night. Love the zentangle cards, really nice! Have a good weekend.
Jeanne! I LOVE these! You've been holding out on us!
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