۱۸ - باغ هلو

The Peach Orchard

When I was very young, I lived near a peach orchard.

Now, there is a park where the orchard used to be.

I always remember the peach orchard because my grandmother and I used to go there and pick peaches.

The owner of the orchard would let all the neighbors pick peaches.

It’s not the fact that I used to get many ripe, tasty peaches that I remember; it’s the time that I used to spend with my grandmother that I remember.

My grandmother was very old, but she was very healthy.

She used to walk a lot.

I think that is what kept her fit.

She had a lot of energy so she liked to go to a lot of places.

She would get a fruit basket, and then she would ask me if I wanted to go to the orchard.

I always said yes because I enjoyed walking through the orchard on a sunny day.

We never climbed up on a ladder to reach the peaches; we just reached for the low hanging fruit.

My grandmother and I used to talk all the time that we were out there.

It was nice to spend time with her.

She told me many stories about when she was a young girl.

We laughed and got to know each other better.

My grandmother only visited us during the summer.

She lived in California, and I lived in Niagara Falls, so we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with each other.

We enjoyed the hot summer days in the orchard.

You could smell the peaches, and the bees buzzed lazily by us.

My grandmother would point out different insects and birds to me.

I learned a lot about nature from her.

We would end up with a big basket of peaches.

When we got home, my mother would wash the peaches, and often she would bake a peach pie for us.

Nobody bakes a peach pie like my mother.

It’s good to have memories like that.

Childhood memories of time spent with my grandmother are very precious to me.

Sometimes, it’s just the simple things that you do in life that leave you with the nicest memories.