Lemon Tree - Number 15
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 at 2:19PM 
The countdown is half-way done, and yet I have only days before my Dirty Thirty…! On we go with more fun, surprises, and fantasy gifts-to-self for the big occasion.
I know what you’re thinking: a lemon tree? Is she serious? What about the bags, and the shoes, and the jewelry, and the travel? Well, we’ll get to that, but this is my birthday list so I’m putting down what I really want, and I want a lemon tree. Lemons are happy things – they’re little, round, funny-looking (seen some of those lumps?), bright, and hard-working. They clean the house, make food more flavorful, and help make a mean cocktail. Even the haute urban designers love them, making towering flower and lemon centerpieces at the best parties, or stuffing giant glass vases with the little guys to add some fun and color to a vie morte. You simply can’t go wrong with lemons.
My grandmother lived in a house out near the San Francisco Zoo and Ocean Beach. Her backyard was huge – filled with lawns, sunshine, and gophers. Her neighbor had a mammoth lemon tree that grew over the fence into Grandma’s yard, and from time to time my sister and I would receive the surreptitious command to “go get a few.” Little arms can reach lots of places – even between fence slats, but for every lemon we managed to grab, there was always a bigger, juicier, more substantial prize hanging from a higher branch. But when stealing the neighbor’s lemons you can’t very well steal the best ones – that’s just bad manners.
The tree next to Grandma’s was a Meyer lemon, and to this day when I smell that distinct grassy lemon-orange smell, I’m right back under the fence. This is why I want a lemon tree of my own – and you know they grow indoors in the winter, so they’re perfect for us city girls who need a little green and blossoms – and not to mention the occasional twist for our vodka! Who doesn't like a little bit of fruit?
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