The Solace of Plums

8/21/21 plum on our neighbors' tree

It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon. Between our yards, our neighbors to the west have a plum tree now heavy with ripe fruit. For a while, the purple plums were too high for me to sketch, but I’ve spotted a few next to the fence that I can see easily. As I sketch, a Steller’s jay quietly watches from our nearby lilac tree, waiting for me to put out peanuts.

To the north, another neighbor is out on his deck painting a birdhouse. To the east, four children chatter and giggle on the patio, all masked (one is a visitor).

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, terrified people fear starvation, chaos and death every day, while in our own country, another kind of senseless, easily preventable death occurs regularly. Here in Maple Leaf, though, my only problem is trying to render the bloom on the plum’s surface that dulls the deep purple-red underneath. Or at least I can pretend it is for the duration of the sketch.

After I finish, I put out peanuts for the jays.