Close to the gates a spacious garden lies,
From the storms defended and inclement skies;
Four Acres was allotted space and ground,
Fenc'd with a green enclosure all around.
Tall thriving threes confessed the fruitful mold:
the reddening apple ripens to gold,
Here the blue fig with luscious juice overflows,
With deeper red the pomegranate glows,
The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear,
And verdan olives flourish round the year.
-Homer, Odyssey, circa 850 B.C. Alexander Pope translation
I was a little tired today, so I decided to do some still life photography of the harvesting fruits and vegetables that are in our garden. I will show more of them throughout autumn, but for now, I have the first ripe pear of the season. Sigh. That first bite of a chilled pear is always a late summer event for me. The air is cooling, and sometimes in the early evening, as the sun is just beginning to set, my whole body feels more alive then ever, even when I am tired...all it takes is a little breeze up from the bay, and that first bite of a fresh, buttery, juicy pear to remind me why life is so great this time of year. Soon, the garden will be alive with autumn color and scent. It's life at my fingertips. Still life.
-OndineMonet
"Still Life Pear"
Berkeley, California
September 2nd, 2006
Early Evening
4 comments:
Hi Carly! Beautiful picture! Your description of the pear made me start craving one!
Gotta catch up on your journal here.
Pamela
You have a pear tree! Lucky you! I love the picture. The lighting, the color contrast, the shadows. All so wonderful!
This made me decide to definitely hit the farmer's market this morning. Maybe I can get some pears! Yum!
I love the many layers of meaning in what you write, and the picture is luscious! I have pear trees at my business but the pears that have fallen near them are green so I haven't paid much attention to the idea of eating some of the fruit. Now I will.
I can't tell you the last time I had a pear that was neither hard nor mushy!
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