On Saturday afternoon, I was enjoying the quiet on our patio while C. napped — reading “Bringing Up Bébé,” drinking espresso, legs reclined — when I noticed flowers blooming on one of five trees in our backyard. Curious, I got up to inspect further. And I saw a piece of old (rotting) fruit. A fig tree! I thought, excited. (I knew we had two pomegranate trees, but those don’t bloom till the fall.)
I plucked the fruit off the tree and waited till A. got home to show him.
“You have to see this,” I said.
He looked, and said, “A date tree?”
We looked at each other.
“Wait, I think dates grow on palm trees,” A. said.
(We’re clearly not well-versed in our fruit trees.)
A. snapped his fingers and pointed at me: “A plum tree!”
“You think?” I said. “I’ll go look up the flower.”
I did a Google image search, and the plum tree flower looked closest to the flower we had.
When I returned, our neighbor, who was working in his backyard filled with old canoes and a tipped-over wheel barrow, peeked his head over the wood picket fence. Just like the neighbor on Home Improvement, I could only see his mustache and thick round glasses.
“That’s an apricot tree,” he said. “That tree bears a lot of fruit.”
I guess he would know since he’s lived next door for more than 20 years. A. still thinks it’s a plum tree. (Do any readers out there know?) I guess we’ll find out when the fruit appears this spring. Regardless of plums or apricots, I’m excited to discover another tree that C. can help us pick.
Happy Living 
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