Pumpkins, Pomegranates, and Persimmons

Having finally accumulated enough air miles, I flew to California last week for a visit with my "axe-murder" friends, friends I met a few years ago through blogging.  When I first went to California to meet them, I had some friends here in Florida who wondered about my sanity.  It all turned out for the good.  We have become the best of friends.

Three years ago, when I first met  them, they showed me San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.  It was a wonderful week of seeing things I had only read about or seen pictures of.  This time the trip was much more low key.  When my friends moved to the Sacramento area, they bought a home that had several fruit trees in the back yard, one of which was a pomegranate tree.  The only other time I had seen such a tree was in my grandpa's back yard in north Florida.  I remember eating the fruit and liking it very much.  I came home with some of them in my suitcase.

On Sunday afternoon we visited the Otow Orchard, where we saw lots of persimmon trees.  Again, I knew of persimmons, mainly my mother having said that if you ate one before it was ripe, it would make your mouth pucker.  I remember one time being in line at the grocery store, and someone had one with his groceries.  He must not have known what it was, and the cashier didn't know either.  They asked me if I knew what it was, and I said I think it is a persimmon.  The cashier looked up the code for it, and it went through, so I guess I was right.  I will write more about this orchard in another blog post, because there is so much to tell about these fine folks.  Be sure to click the link and read about their farm.

And what would a fall day be without pumpkins.  On the day before I left we visited Apple Hill, an area with many apple orchards...lots to write about there too.  Being fall, there were pumpkins, and that is where I will leave you today.