Solstice. Literally, "stand still". The sun stops in the northern sky today. Tomorrow the migration to shorter days in the northern hemisphere begins.

In reality the sun hasn't moved much for the past two weeks. It won't move significantly south for a couple of weeks. Oh, and really, the sun isn't moving at all. But it's only human to view it that way. It's been centuries since we found out the truth of the earth being round and circling the sun. Still, we tend to think of ourselves as the center of the universe. All my kids think that way.

It's funny how we are tied to the seasons. I walked past the little, wild cherry tree today. The birds have gotten to about half of the cherries. There are still plenty. No worms yet, either. Champ and I shared a cherry feast.

Today is overcast. As I stood picking cherries my mind wandered back to my early teens. My job for three summers was to pick fruit at a local farm. It was owned by my Dad's friend, Roger Glines. It was hard work. A twelve hour day in the orchards would net me about $5.00 cash at the end of the day. Granted, that was when five dollars would buy a new pair of Levi Strauss 501s.

Does it mean that today's equivalent would be $70.00? The price tag on my Lucky Jeans. Probably not, but close.

Anyway, the last summer of picking cherries was very rainy. The first day was good picking with the boughs of the trees loaded with fruit. The next day some of the cherries were split and by the third day of rain most of the fruit was ruined. That was my first experience in being laid off.

I thought about that this week when my brother was telling me that there were no apricots on his tree this year. So many things can go wrong with our food supply. If the frost in the spring doesn't get to it then rain can play a role in ruining the crop. And then there always the bugs.

It's a wonder that we ever get anything to eat. Still -- getting enough food doesn't seem to be a problem for most of us........
9:39:38 AM    comment []