I didn’t take the time last year to notice the blossoms on our cherry trees. This year they opened during three full days of beautiful hangin-out-in-the-backyard weather, so they caught my attention. In two months, while we’re on the road somewhere between Oregon and Connecticut, the branches will be heavy with dark red cherries. Our neighbors’ boy said they taste like dirt, but he must have eaten one off the ground because we thought they were yummy; I managed to get a cobbler, two pies, and a container of juice out of an afternoon’s picking. I don’t know what variety they are, but they’re not the big juicy bing cherries, or the sour ones, either. Those are at B&C’s house. Which reminds me…
On a weekend in June of 2006, Joel, Byron, and I drove up from Sacramento to visit B&C in Corvallis. The point of the trip was to write the script for our wedding ceremony in August. We spent a lot of time relaxing outside and enjoying the incredible weather. We drank wine and played bocce in the yard. And we sat under the cherry trees in camp chairs and a hammock, pulling and eating cherries from the branches like we were in some mythical orchard. At some point, when the conversation changed directions, I dreamed aloud – Yeah, I think we should move here to Oregon. I’ll quit my job and be an artist... We all laughed, but the thought did not stop there. A while later, after a few rounds of what-if, it actually seemed doable. We got up for another game of bocce and drinks, and the dogs stretched their legs, too, and ate cherries from the grass.
On the eight-hour drive back to Sacramento, Joel and I spent every minute discussing the logistics and possibilities of relocating to Corvallis. And the next day, while pitting almost ten pounds of Oregon sour cherries in the kitchen of our apartment, we called our friends and shared the news. They, too, were up to their ears in cherries. Yeah, we’re moving to Oregon. It was the most spontaneous big decision we have ever made.
So it kind of hit me yesterday, while I was photographing the cherry blossoms, that our entrance into Corvallis coincided with the fruiting of cherry trees and our departure will as well.
