Welcome and Thanks for visiting my blog – Life and Random Thinking. – David
My first Random Thought today is about Fruit. Outside in my backyard is my cherry tree.
The leaves fall off in the fall so it looks bare but you can see the umbrella shape of the tree as it is pruned annually to allow air in the branches and keep the tree healthy plus not too tall.
In the winter, the tree is resting and that is when it is pruned. I have a wonderful expert pruner, Harry, he might have been at Woodstock and yet he is limber and climbs the tree with chainsaw in hand. I help by gathering the branches removed and carry everything to his pickup truck. We often have coffee after or before and we always have a wonderful chat.
In the spring, the excitement and optimism builds as the leaves return, the daylight lengthens, and the cherry tree buds appear. Then come the white blossoms which are wonderful and the bees flitting from spot to spot. I love bees ! Sadly the blossoms depart shortly and fall to cover the ground like late spring snow.
The departing of the blossoms marks the beginning of the actual fruit. At first little green marbles, they grow and change colour. Now the tree is covered with heavy reddening cherries of different shades. The starlings peck and ruin a portion and I strain to refrain from wasted effort chasing them away. There will be lots of cherries left for my family and more besides to share.
It’s not a precise calculation but cherry picking is the first weeks of summer. It can be from late June to early July – Mother Nature won’t be pinned down.
Soon many cherry tree boughs will be heavy enough to pick from the ground or by a NBA player. Most will require my ladder. I always jury-rig a container to hang around my neck so my hands are free to hold on or pick – whichever seems the best idea at the moment.
Cherries are relatively quick to pick, even though I am not a fast picker. Everyone takes turns picking until we get as much as we want to eat and for canning. My wife cans cherries so we enjoy cherries from our tree 12 months of the year. Muchas gracias esposa ♥
Many cherries are looking ready now – it won’t be long now but you wait until they are primo ♥
Thinking about my fruit tree in relation to life- both have stages and at my age and perspective, it’s easier to see. In life and harvesting fruit there is work steps that effect, increase or decrease, the harvest.
I use this metaphor for myself – my mental and physical health takes time, commitment and planning so I can be healthy and lead a balanced life. We all enjoy the fruit, but as my one friend always says” we don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan”. In my case, I sometimes have the plan but need to make sure I am executing, and I love small steps in the right direction because easier to implement.
My suggestion has been small steps always, you can’t eat an elephant in a day – digestible chunks. 🙂 Link here
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My second thought today is Cowboy Sayings:
Inscription on John Wayne ‘s headstone:
“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learnt something from yesterday.”
It’s going to be hard to limit myself to only five Cowboy insights;
- Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.
- Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
- If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing is to stop diggin’.
- The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with watches you shave his face in the mirror every morning.
- Always drink upstream from the herd♥
safer here out of the waves – Cocoa Beach Florida
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My Third Thought is about Lessons:
I remember the movie “To Sir With Love” – Sidney Poitier in this 1967 movie is an out of work engineer (Mark Thackeray) who takes up a job teaching in a London high school.
The opening scene in the classroom is mayhem, and disrespect at the teacher’s expense.
Patience and class wins the day. Mr Thackeray teaches them to behave with courtesy in the classroom – the young ladies as Miss, and the boys by their surname.
He teaches deportment, and answers their questions. One of his statements was “Toughness is a quality of the mind…. like bravery, honesty, and ambition.”
They asked him what will they talk about?
His answer:
“About life…. survival…love… death, sex, marriage…. rebellion, anything you want.”
I really recommend you watch the ending – Mark Thackeray tears up his letter of acceptance for work as an engineer and decides to stay at the school. – Incredibly (emotional) memorable scene. – watch HERE
I welcome your ideas, and feedback. I am very grateful for each comment and enjoy responding- David.
Life and Random Thinking 
I’m glad that you leave a few cherries for the starlings. Cherry picking sounds lovely and the cherry blossoms look great!
I’m glad that you have enough and more cherries. I liked that metaphor. The cowboy lessons sound great. That sounds like a wonderful movie. Lot of good lessons in there.
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Thank you Shweta, I look forward to your comments. The valley here was known for it’s fruit especially peaches in years past. Now fruit still remains, apples ( a dozen varieties), plums, apricots, nectarines, and more but more fruit orchards are being taken out and replaced by grapes and local wineries. The Okanagan is now internationally known for its wineries including fruit wines. I estimate there is now more than 175 wineries in the valley. Cowboy lessons appealed to me, and Sidney Poitier won an Oscar award for his role in the movie “To Sir With Love”. The last link in my post is a youtube which includes the theme song which is very beautiful. Take care Shweta.
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I always look forward to your posts too. 175 wineries! Wow that’s great. But I’m sorry that all the fruit orchards have given way to vineyards and wineries. I’ll check out the link. I’m sure that Oscar was well deserved! Take care, David. Stay safe.
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Great cowboy insights, David!
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Thanks Jane. There were a lot to choose from including “Never ask a barber if you need a haircut>”
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🤣🤣
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I’m so jealous that you have cherry trees producing year round! You must have a thousand recipes for cherries I bet!
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We enjoy cherries year round but only one harvest Wayne. I have one tree that is a big producer in my back yard. My wife cans enough cherries so we can enjoy cherries year round and give away cherries as gifts year round. She also makes wonderful relishes, chutneys and fruit syrups. I am very fortunate. 🙂
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I bet many of your neighbours have the same situation!
I’ve heard of people down in Florida that have both orange and grapefruit!
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That would be cool and you could have them on the same tree since they are both seeds.
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Cherries…
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I love cherry season. We bought our first bag this week, although not locally grown. When I was growing up in Surrey, we had a huge bing cherry tree in our backyard. That tree and its blossoms are one of my favourite childhood memories.
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awww, that’s very nice. Hugs.
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“Toughness is a quality of the mind…” is something we need to remind ourself of during tough times. We might even teach tough kids and if we can get them thinking more about resiliency and toughness of the mind than fighting actions, we might help them stay out of trouble.
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Toughness is a quality of the mind. I think that toughness and resiliency is a quality that allows a person to have their own viewpoint and no need to debate it; which may lead to trouble that might have been sidestepped easily.
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Mr dad was a cowboy and he had some great sayings. Like, “You will learn something from everyone you meet.” They always made so much sense too. To Sir With Love is one of my all-time favourite movies.
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I agree Darlene, I think To Sir With Love I should watch regularly, I can probably buy a copy somewhere. Cowboys have practical sayings. – Thank you for commenting and visiting ♥
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Wow the cherry tree looks beautiful! Very interesting thoughts.
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The blossoms are always pretty and the bees love them. Now the tree is covered with ripe cherries, hot 35 C weather – a heat wave so the cherries will be really dark and juicy in a few days and we will be taking turns picking as much as we can. Almost all is canned to enjoy over the winter. Thank you Pooja for your comment. – David Take care.
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