Three years ago, I won a peach (桃) tree cutting playing rock-paper-scissors at a local festival, while taking my dog Pasta for a walk.
Pasta checking out the peach tree cutting I won
We planted the tree, and really didn’t do much else, but I always thought of that tree as “Pasta’s peach tree”, since she was so happy to be taking a walk that pleasant spring day, and was ecstatic that we won something (despite the fact that it turned out not to be a doggy snack).
Earlier this year, we finally saw fruits developing on the tree…three peaches to be precise:
After three years, we had our first three peaches
And today, we tasted the ripe peaches. Surprisingly, considering how little effort we put into cultivating the plant, the peaches were absolutely delicious…better, in fact, that store-bought fruits.
The first ripe peach
It’s been almost exactly two years since Pasta died, so this was a really nice way to remember her, and to take a little time out to reminisce about the many (mis)adventures we shared.
Incidentally, there’s a saying in Japanese that goes 桃栗３年、柿８年 which translates as “peaches and chestnuts three years, persimmons eight years”, meaning that it takes time for things to ripen/ come to fruition…the implication being that it pays to be patient.
Actually, most people probably don’t realise it, but that’s only the first line of a longer bit of folk wisdom. The full saying is:
桃栗３年、柿８年、
梅はすいすい１３年、
ユズは大バカ１８年、
りんごニコニコ２５年、
女房の不作は６０年、
亭主の不作はこれまた一生、
あーこりゃこりゃ
I won’t attempt to translate this, but if you happen to read Japanese, it’s rather entertaining…and totally true.
