One peach, kissed by the sun. One measly peach is ALL I got from my fruit tree this year. I stood, hands on hips, in disbelief as I stared up at the single peach. Then I shook my fist at the heavens asking, “Who did this to me?”
A very suspicious looking squirrel sat in an oak tree nearby. He was trying to look innocent with that bushy tail curved into a question mark, as if asking, “Who … me?”
“Yeah, you, Rodent!”
I jealously plucked that tiny peach and stormed inside. I slammed the door on the sound of the squirrel snickering. Tenderly cradling that one precious peach, the fruit of my labor … “Hey, wait a minute, Shelly,” said I to myself. “You didn’t labor at all to get this peach!”
I faced the ugly truth: That peach tree sits in my yard, and I never do a single thing to help it along. I don’t prune it, I don’t water it, I don’t fertilize it, and I never check it for insects. There is no squirrel guard on the tree to protect it. That I should get even one peach is nothing short of a miracle.
As I pondered that, I began to extrapolate. I hate when that happens, don’t you?
I realized that my peach tree is like a “good idea.” You can have the best idea in the whole world, but if you don’t tend it that idea will never bear fruit. A good idea is nothing if you don’t work on it. When you have a good idea you need to tend it and protect it.
Otherwise, not much will happen … and some squirrel might come along and steal it from you.
I’m just sayin’.
[This photograph is entered into Robin's Summer Stock Sunday meme at Around The Island. Visit her to find other folks sharing their summer photos.]
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Great post Shelly – I’ve got some good ideas of my own that really need some tending.
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Thank you, Robin. Don’t we ALL have some ideas needing attention??
I had a similar experience with my strawberries last year, and a chipmunk – except he got them ALL!
I think the squirrels even ate the plants on MY strawberries.
Even though you only got one, that is still one good looking peach!! The only thing I’m growing is tomatoes in my upside down tomato planter thing. I’m thankful my husband remembers to put water in there because I wouldn’t even get one tomato if that job were left up to me
Happy Summer Stock Sunday!! I played, too, but for some reason, nobody’s CommentLuv picks up my blog feed. ;(
phooey on CommentLuv .. I can’t get mine to work properly. Tomatoes … I’d guard those
Fantastic post. I really enjoyed reading this as it is so true. So many people have great ideas and never tend those ideas, and then wonder why things don’t turn out (or bear fruit). Great reminder to us all. That reminds me, I have a lemon tree which needs a little bit of care at the moment. Now that’s a good idea!
Thank you, Brenda. I’m afraid that most of us get those good ideas and then just sit back waiting for things to happen. I know that I do that, anyway.
My problem is too many “good ideas”. I mean I have lists of them on my desk top, on scraps of paper, in note books and rattling around in my head.
I was recently shown a system of putting all those good ideas into a folder. Then you pull out the ones that you want to work on. Or when a new part to that idea shows up you add it to the folder. The ones that grow are the ones you bring to fruition.
Enjoy your peach! sounds scrumptious. Figuring out how to get rid of the squirrel may be another story. My dad use to catch them and cart them off to a new home. They are cute but they do have a tendency to pack of your stuff…and peaches.
We have so many squirrels in this neighborhood that it would be “fruitless” to try to catch them.
As for the ideas … I know what you mean, but I have not yet found a system to organize mine. I guess I should just pick one and work on it, huh?
I remember losing a garden of strawberries to Mockingbirds in Virginia a number of years ago. Even though I love birds, I wasn’t too happy with the mockers for ruining my hopes for homegrown sweetness.
As a side note, I learned of an interesting website from another blog contact, called ‘I Write Like’. While my style is similar to someone I’ve never heard of (Cory Doctorow), I ran the text of your post through it and can tell you that, according to them, you write like Kurt Vonnegut! Here’s the URL for anyone who is interested.
I love the link, Van. However, it depends which post you insert, so if you don’t like Cory Doctorow, try a different post. On this post I write like Kurt Vonnegut, on Nuts and Bolts of Love, I wrote like David Foster Wallace. On “We Call Him Fenster,” I wrote like Stephen King.
Crap! My head is too big to fit through the door!
Well, I actually ran three separate posts through, and all three came back with Cory Doctorow! I was hoping for Tolstoy, but then I’d probably need to add several hundred characters and a story line to each of my posts.
Van, I ran several more posts, and once I wrote like Cory Doctorow. Wonder what would happen if you typed words from Cory Doctorow into the analyzer. Would it say, “You ARE Corey Doctorow?
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