Garden Grove for the first 4 years, then Fullerton for another 6 year,s then finally Huntington Beach for the remainder. Graduated from HBHS. And my dad used to call on Flour, funny! You all experience a similar phenomena as the Los Angeles basin, only they have their inversion layer happen in the summer. I remember the smog being so bad in Orange County as a kid, that it made my chest hurt. Really glad to live down here. Our air is so much cleaner than OC and LA counties. But, will say, overall, the air quality is improved since I was a kid.
My first real girlfriend used to live in GG and went to Rancho HS. Used to deliver Domino’s in Fullerton too and lived with my grandparents next door in Placentia for a little. I remember the smog being worse as a kid too and how the air made the back of my throat hurt too. We used to go to Huntington Beach Evangelical Free off Adams and Beach when we were kids.
I’m here again, but now with light-brown hair. I was born with red-blonde hair, but as I grew older, it changed to medium-brown. Then two years ago, I tried to dye it light-brown, but somewhat it turned dark brown. So this month I went to a salon and asked if I could get my hair dyed light-brown and they did.
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This is not really a great photo of “me” - I am the person taking the picture - but it was my time in Afghanistan that made me interested in fruit trees and orchards in general. These were all mulberries high in the mountains. When we came down a few thousand feet or so we saw more pomegranates and almonds.
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Beautiful. A very interesting juxtaposition of a soldier in a field of blooms. Were there any apples growing there? I really don’t know what kind of climate zone that would be, but maybe similar to Colorado due to the elevation? It’s cool that you developed your interest in fruit trees in such a setting.
And thanks for your service.
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Southernmost Afghanistan is at latitude 29.4 (N), while northern Afghanistan protrudes into Tajikistan just short of 38.5 (N). By comparison, the southern border of Colorado is 37 (N).
I love your photo and very much appreciate your service. That’s tough duty even in such a beautiful spot.
My one point of order is that the picture isn’t mulberries. They don’t bloom like that. Those trees are probably the almonds.
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Wow! What a stunning picture!
I was admittedly not nearly as good at identifying fruit trees then as I am now. It also helps that this is from over ten years ago and the memories get washed together in a sense. I never had the opportunity to eat any fresh almonds while I was there, which is something I regret to this day, but we ate pounds and pounds of mulberries as well as pomegranates. Mostly white mulberries, but there were definitely some darker ones as well. They were beyond delicious.
They also had amazing irrigation systems to trap and divert the stream water coming off the mountains. I would watch a farmer go over to a corner of his field and flip a stone in a strategic spot and the water would start flowing through the orchard or field. The canals all over the valley made it interesting to walk around, especially at night. I watched more than one person step right into the water.
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See here, and yes, it’s a glorious day to be in California:
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Enjoying beautiful spring weather here too. This is half the ‘fam’
Can you tell the gardener?
On my right is husband, and on my left is sister (who just visited and brought me 2 of the figs her friend brought from Sicily 70 yrs ago which y’all will help me identify), on the ends 2 of 3 sons (lawyer w/2 of his 3 kids, and database security guru w/his wife & dog). In all we are 16 (7 grandchildren).
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Great looking family, Anne. Your sis looks just like you. I’m sure you are proud of your accomplished kiddos. I would imagine that those grandkids aren’t spoiled at all, right?
Is that at your home, and what is the tree in the background with the red foliage?
Yep, back of our home. The tree is a Japanese Maple. This year I have grafted a dif colored Japanese Maple onto others to see what color effect it gives. I have one that is pink in spring and orange in the fall which I grafted onto a red one like this. Someone stop her, LOL.
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Peachmonds- hmmm. Sounds like a complete meal for a ground squirrel.
Seriously, edible seed peaches are doubly hard to protect from tree squirrels here.
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I know this is an old thread but any way here is my contribution.
My youngest daughter catching a bass. You can see the outhouse in the background.
Picture of me with a bass.
My son dove hunting with our golden retriever.
2 of my hunting Beagles. In the Virginia Piedmont region and east it is legal to hunt deer with dogs.
An older pic of me going from the Malaysian mainland to Penang Island on a ferry after work. Unfortunately sometimes I travel a lot for work.
Anyway now you can put a face/image with the forum tag.
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My lovely daughters Felicia (9) and Isabella (6) at Burnaby’s Heritage Village Museum during Canada 150 birthday celebration.
My girls building their own portable greenhouse on our deck.
Felicia operating my friends backhoe to knock down 3 trees and leveling the ground to clear space for his wife’s new garden in Powell River, BC… age 8. What was the coolest thing you did when you were 8???
My younger daughter Isabella and I when the Japanese cherry blossoms were in bloom this spring.
Anthony
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