Patio tiles warm under bare feet. Spring has come. Not that it ever gets cold here. And flowers never totally disappear, although they do thin out and get ragged. There were always bougainvillea in the winter but pretty sad looking. Always lemons and oranges though past their glorious juicy prime. But now there are new buds and blossoms.
The fig tree across the road is fascinating. We know it’s a fig tree because in December we ate figs off it - at least those that hung far enough our side of the fence that they seemed to be fair pickings. And we weren’t alone, so presumably that’s the community custom. But for over two months now the branches have been stark naked, looking like an illustration from one of the darker German fairy tales meant to frighten children away from the evil forest where the witch lives. Leaves all long gone.
Now, just as spring has technically begun, the fig tree has begun pushing little green shoots out of the bony ends of its branches. Nothing that looks like it intends to become a full fig leaf but definitely green hope. All the more interesting because other fruit trees maintained leaves and even some fruit all winter. Still plenty of oranges and lemons in the supermarket.
As well as grapefruit. Always amusing to see the sign posted: greyfurt. First time I assumed a spelling error but no, that is the Turkish for grapefruit. Not surprising that Turkish includes words borrowed, however awkwardly, from other languages. The English language is notorious for borrowing words, frequently mangling them beyond recognition in the process.
