Papa's Oranges

Really, this is a post about oranges - the best - Papa's oranges.  If you can see past the elevated bangs and red lipstick you'll see one of those oranges in Fall preparing to become the sweetest, juiciest orange you've ever tasted.  My Dad has cared for this tree in his backyard for over 40 years.  He's a Dutch gardener which to me means he's meticulous, nurturing, and particular about his plants.  He fertilizes, prunes deadwood, waters during frost, collects all the fruit from the tree and "clips" instead of pulls the oranges.  Then, he attributes the good taste only to the variety, "Washington Naval."   

Part of our Christmas memories, especially for our children, is having fresh squeezed orange juice in the morning at Papas.  He always has 3 buckets full of picked oranges for people to take home with them.  The Grandsons now work hard picking them at Papa's persistent requests that they're going bad on the branches.  They don't mind though, because Papa is so good to all of us.  Whenever someone tastes the oranges at our house they are amazed.  Just recently we got a phone call from a friend requesting the oranges because they were starting to feel sick and there were no other oranges that could get them better.  So thank you Papa for nurturing these oranges just as you have your family, with love, persistence, hard work, firmness about rules, and your humble recognition that it was something other than yourself that made them grow so well.

If you ever run across a "Washington Naval" variety of orange tree, plant it, fertilize it, prune it, water it during frost, "clip" instead of pull, remove all of the ripe oranges from the tree, and you'll have a taste you won't forget!