Yellow Orbs

Settling into our new home, we’ve been taking the dogs on early morning and later evening walks. The sun of course bakes the asphalt during the heat of the day, so walking at cooler times works best. (I love that yellow orb in the sky! So delightfully warm compared to the PNW, and not the intense humidity of South Texas.) Each walk we inevitably pass by a house down the road from us that has a gorgeous lemon tree. When we have driven by it, I have commented on how sad the lemons on the ground were and that I wondered if they gave them away to neighbors if they weren’t going to use them.

I must have mentioned the lemons enough times to exasperate the kids. “Why don’t you just go ask them?” they inquired, curious as to why I wouldn’t just go knock on the door of a random stranger and ask for some of their fruit.

“Um, because my skin would peel off of my bones and I might die,” I replied incredulously, envisioning worst case scenarios of being yelled at to get off someone’s lawn or some other such horror. We all laughed as we again affirmed that both my husband and daughter are the family extroverts that keep my son and I out and doing things, and we keep them semi-grounded with our homebody-ness.

Formulating a game plan for our next dog walk – we planned, in fact, to knock on the door of a stranger and ask for some of their fruit.

Our street is a giant hill that ends in a cul-de-sac, so it’s a great workout. In the shadow of the hills behind the house, we get cool evenings and delightful sunsets. We’ve seen countless giant monarch butterflies, geckos and my favorite jacaranda and palm trees. I love living in a place where purple trees grow. I love living where the citrus grows. I had forgotten how fresh and delicious produce here is year round. We had a watermelon the other day that both my son and I claim is the best one we’ve ever had. (Though we will keep eating all the melons to make sure!)

We rounded the corner, them on the side of the street with the lemon house, me with the dogs on the opposite side of the street with the doggos, primed and ready to keep walking and pretend I don’t know them if needed. Knocking on the door, they see a little sign noting lemons for sale with a money box beside it. Eric chatted with the lemon purveyor for a bit, then joined up with me holding not only lemons, but a long box. Lemon Purveyor and my husband had a nice chat about moving to the area recently and loving the neighborhood and thanks for the lemons and all the small talk. Somehow new to the area means “Thanks for buying some lemons, here’s a bonus, too!”

They reach me with lemons as big as my face that smell incredible! Eric laughs as he shows me the box is a pack of lightbulbs and shrugs his shoulders and we carry on our walk.