The Freshest Fruit
2006-11-16 04:40 PM | Posted by Sumangali Morhall | Permanent Link | Nature, England
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6 votes)
Walking in the English countryside has become a regular complement to my daily meditation; each walk bestows a new perspective and refurnishes my inspiration.
Although I may take the same routes, they look different every time. The light is lower and more golden now as autumn draws in. The trees that give a heavy green shade in summer have become a light filigree of gold and silver glittering in the sun.
This year the blossom was bountiful and so the berries hang in great juicy clusters, sloe and hawthorne gathering between glossy beads of rosehip.
Favourite routes are cycle paths where old railways used to be. At this time they are a mass of fruit, free for the taking. Above the usual wild blackberries stands a banquet of apple trees heavy with red orbs. It's said they grew from apple cores discarded by the passengers of trains long past.
An intrepid cyclist was bundling armfuls into his saddlebags. He said there's a tree of cherries further down. One lady brings a set of steps there in the summer so she can climb up and gather them for baking.
