Lemons that look like lemons

Before I get to our lemons — those nice juicy seedless fuits that wait for our tug … and not the kind that I pick up with gardening gloves after they drop on the ground and splatter — just  a little about blushing mangoes.  And how on the mainland, I gasped at their price and foolishly left them alone…

It was my dear pal Yinan, who showed me just what a mango can do.  A while ago, (too long, as far as I’m concerned), I sat close to one of her big bowls, while she expertly sliced a mango and detailed her salad.  Yinan’s salad, like the rest of dinner, not to mention her company, is always memorable.

Here on the island, many of our farmer’s markets are well stocked in papayas, bananas, and other tropical delights — but fresh customer-ready mangoes sometimes make us wait.  We’re extremely lucky to have a couple of slow-producing mango trees at home, and when they’re ripe, we squeeze any kind of  fresh citrus juice over sliced pieces and broil the concoction for about 10 minutes.

Yesterday morning, I slipped on my weeding gloves and stuffed a brown bag with all our “fallen lemon ruins.”  Yes, I see why folksingers lamented lemon trees oh so pretty … and warned us about the fruit.  And I understand why there are lemon laws that protect us from unscrupulous sellers…

But what made me feel really … tart … was reading a five year old blog entry written by someone who once lived close by and who before leaving Paradise could think of nothing nice to say about Hawaii’s “ugly lemons…”

Our lemons look so lovely, if you time it properly.  Come back one day and you’ll see!

dispatchesfromtheisland.blogspot.com/2008/12/oh-hawaii-why-cant-you-grow-citrus.html

www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/LEMON-TREE-lyrics-Peter-Paul-Mary/C9141A42960A8BDD48256A220025011F