The almond trees in my part of Provence are about to bloom… it must be so as the mistral wind has picked up and threatens to destroy the delicate petals. Why is that? It is as if a fleeting glance is all that we are allowed… Almond trees were once growing all over Provence… but today there are far fewer. Their commercial value has waned and the land has been taken over for olive trees or grape vines. This saddens me as they were just as symbolic of Provence as the sunflower and lavender fields. Out of bloom they are not pretty and they are slow growing… this could further explain why they have lost popularity… but when they do come out to play, when they unfurl those magical buds… they are the most beautiful of all…
David has a passion for the almond trees… On a walk around the farm yesterday he asked me if I had written about them recently… so here I am writing to you about almond trees and our love for them… A couple of years ago I gave him what he would consider to be one of his best presents ever… I planted a row of almond trees along one side of our boundary. The trees were ten years old, still scrappy and unexciting to look at, but for him, they were a thing of beauty and a gift from heaven. Next year and the year after that I will continue to plant almond trees until they run across the width of our property… It is an ambitious project but when they blossom for those few days in March and when I see his face light up as we pass by them on our walks… it won’t matter that for most part of the year they disappear into the landscape and are un-noticed…
I don’t know that we will ever see these trees in full maturity, or that we will gather the almonds and benefit from their extraordinary nutritional value but their sweet smelling blossoms, even for a moment, will be our great pleasure. Sometimes a glimpse, a moment of splendour is enough… xv
