I feel sick. Really nauseous. I think I’ve eaten about half a cup of jam. I know that was really dumb, but it wasn’t my fault. No, really. This is The Plum Tree.
It lives at my parent’s house in what we call The Orchard (glorified name for a yard that happens to have a number of fruit trees). It was planted by my Grandparents when my mother was a child and it has always been in my life.
I was thinking about it a few days ago - how can it be that a tree can be one of the Inhabitants of Your Life? And yet, it has been. And every year that I am at Mum and Dad’s, I wonder if this will be it’s last year. It’s one of those trees that has never been straight. It has twisted boughs that look precarious and fragile even before summer weighs them down with fruit. One good storm, you think, and this tree will be gone.
So, this visit, I took photos, so that when it’s all over I’ll be able to remember.









14 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 14, 2007 at 12:08 am
capello
sounds like you are preparing yourself for the tree’s demise.
January 14, 2007 at 12:12 am
Lindseyhttp://www.plastictupperwarequeen.typepad.com
It must have been worth the sick feeling as that fruit looks delicious
January 14, 2007 at 3:59 am
daysgoby
Oh, Kirsty, how beautiful. Your life is full of that lovely green, isn’t it?
January 14, 2007 at 5:15 am
Helen
Yum, yum! The best part of a long hot summer is those delicious red plums.
January 14, 2007 at 7:19 am
Maddyhttp://www.madelinedunster.com
What a lovely thing to have a relationship with a tree, just beautiful.
January 14, 2007 at 10:39 am
Ali Honey
That plum looks good enough to eat…..hence how you are feeling I guess! lol
January 15, 2007 at 12:25 am
Tracey Petersen
It looks to me like a tree with a lot of personality. It defies convention to grow at its own angle. You have to love any living thing willing to be individual!
January 15, 2007 at 1:14 am
Shell
Wow, it’s beautiful. My grandparents used to have an orchid too (yes, a glorified name for a yard with fruit trees too…hehe!) and I still remember the blossoms that used to bloom on those trees - so beautiful. Unfortunately my uncle hates trees and seeing is though he is looking after their yard now, he cut most of them down. What is it with tree haters?
Half a jar of jam? Not good! I hope your tummy settles soon.
January 15, 2007 at 10:40 am
Stomper Girl
That’s a fantastic tree. I seem to remember some earlier post warning us that you’d be on the news being forcibly removed from the U-Pick-Raspberry farm, so I’m not sure we can blame the poor tree for the jam-scoffing.
Ha! Also, have just realised that I have brought home a jar of Raspberry and Plum Jam from the Barwon Heads market. I’d send you some, but it would only make you sick.
January 15, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Cathyhttp://knittingcaboodle.wordpress.com/
I love that tree! Isn’t it funny how some things become a part of you?
January 16, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Isabelle
You didn’t make it quite clear - it was plum jam? That should clear out your innards very nicely!
Lovely old tree. Funny how some things get lovelier as they get older. Wish this applied to me…
January 16, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Karoda
ah, i had a peach tree that was very much a part of my life…and i cried when the tree was gone as well as the house years later.
you’re wise to prepare ahead of time.
January 16, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Mirre
What a wonderful tree! I don’t blame you for eating all that jam… I love plums!
January 26, 2007 at 5:48 pm
The Mater
I love this post. I’ve been thinking of writing a piece called “The Shape of Trees” for quite some time now and here you are writing about your childhood companion in the orchard out back.
Once again, beautiful writing. Thank you! I may just have write about my own trees after all :>)