waltondammerung

First Fruits

The strawberry farm down the road opened for the season this week. As I write this, I am savoring a strawberry and banana salad. All the yogurt flavoring in the world doesn't do the real combination justice. *contented sigh*

I recently told someone that Thanksgiving was my favorite day of the year, but I think I might have to change it to be the first day of the strawberry season. In this land without seasons, it's hard for someone like me who finds New Year's totally meaningless to come up with good annual milestones. Holidays and birthdays are okay--I would certainly prefer other holidays to New Year's--but strawberries have a season, an arc that traces over the events of my life over the course of a few months. The first day I can get strawberries at the fruit stand brings back all kinds of strawberry memories from last year. I can think, "Oh, yeah, that happened around the time I made that strawberry cake for the first time." Or, "That happened about the time of the year when the strawberries were getting kind of flavorless and mushy." Or, "Yes, I recall well. That took place during the dark time of the year when the strawberry stand is closed altogether."

Leave it to me to mark events in my life by a food. At least it's a healthy food.