Tree Of Life

The orchard felt so big when I was young. Full of my dad’s treasured fruit trees - apples, pears, cherries, plums.

On spring weekends he’d be up on the ladder pruning and grafting (one apple tree had over 10 different varieties!). Then autumn hit and with it a crush of fruit - gallons all ripe at once: applesauce, apple juice, apples on cereal, in pies, on salads, plum chutney, plum jam, pear cobbler, pear-gorgonzola salad, roasted pears in white wine…

Now as I walk through the orchard keeping watch over the ripening fruit, I feel my dad walking beside me.

‘Tree Of Life’
30”Hx24”W