Actually, this is how the world looked a few years ago at the beginning of Fall when I took this picture. The deer, hiding behind the first picture comes in a bit later.
As I’m looking out my window at that same scene, I think about what has changed; though you can’t tell from the picture, it was an apple orchard, with plum trees in the background. Since this picture was taken, we’ve cleared a few dying apple trees, and brushed back the tangle under the plum trees. Plums are about the easiest fruit to ‘harvest’-lay a tarp under the tree and shake. They are sweet; last year I brought plums in to work for a treat. Maybe I’ll do that again today.
The apple trees in the orchard are past their prime, possibly 90+ years old, and don’t do much anymore. Out in the field beyond the garden are younger trees full of ‘juice’. Last winter the deer would eat as many of the apples as they could reach, and then it was up to me to wade out through the snow with a pole and shake down more. We usually have deer in the yard each night, and we keep an area cleared through the winter to feed them,right about where I was standing when I took this picture. The deer have their regular
trails coming into the orchard, and while eating, often they would ‘hit’ each other, batting a greedy one with a stiff hoof.
This may seem like a different post from me; I just feel appreciative, knowing that things never stay the same, but they do. Though some day the orchard will turn from apple trees to the maple that are taking over, there will always be apple orchards. Though I may move on from here some day, I will always be 'home', and will remember this home fondly.
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