They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
Ernest Dowson, "The Days of Wine and Roses"
A lovely poem. And in Seattle, the summer evenings when you can comfortably sit outside are not long. The yard is teeming with busy insects, but very few of the annoying varieties here, like mosquitoes and wasps.
Can you even imagine, wide open windows without screens in most parts of the country?
The olive tree is blooming and humming with honey bees visiting from the hives across the street.
The little stick from the West Seattle Nursery grew into a beautiful tree that has survived many harsh winters and even a vicious ice storm that bent it to the ground.
People always ask me if we "get olives." The answer is yes, thousands of them, about the size of BB's. Our Northwest summers are too cool for fruit to mature.
I read an article once in the local paper about a persistent gardener who managed to get an olive crop in Seattle. Of course, olives are bitter as gall right off the tree, and have to soaked, cured in brine, etc. etc. so the work is just getting started. I'll stick to Trader Joes and Costco, where I can buy a gallon of them for under $10.
