Proof of Life

 

Hello Friends!

I know I’ve been inactive lately, and I wanted to confirm, especially after sleeping through our class Wednesday afternoon, that I am, in fact, still alive (despite the best efforts of my grueling schedule this semester). I’ve officially begun counting down the days until my last undergrad class (26) and last final exam (34). I would describe my current state as surviving rather than thriving due to my drowning beneath the torrential downpour of schoolwork with which I’ve lately been inundated. (Can you tell that I was really feeling the water imagery T.H. White poured into his snake writing from the reading this week???).

I hope outdoor class yesterday was wonderful! I can’t recall the state of the weather yesterday afternoon. I regret to admit that I have not prioritized placing myself in nature during the last two weeks, which I’m sure has contributed to my moodiness. I haven’t even taken Jack for a walk this week! (Don’t worry, Olivia has taken him out! Jack is not suffering from accidentally self-imposed house arrest like I am.) That’s probably a little dramatic; I have left the house to go to work. pick up groceries, go to work again, and pick up produce I forgot on my first grocery run. I have not left the house to walk, run, hike, or otherwise exist outdoors in nature.

Because of this, my nature observation is rather lacking this week. I don’t recall if I even had one last week either… Oops. (I blame the B-word describing the class I promised not to talk about anymore on this blog.) This weekend, I will make a valiant effort to prioritize nature over the B-word – typing it for accountability!

Back to my nature observation! Olivia and I have noticed a strange fruit growing from the tree adjacent to the garbage cans. I tried plant-snapping various photos and got a varied range of results including the amusing colloquial and scientific denominations: “Bastard yellowwood”, “Dodonaea microzyga”, and “Dioscorea bulbifera” or “Aerial yam”. (Bonus commentary: Aerial yam made me think of a Thanksgiving food fight so that’s where my head is this week, apparently.)

I’ve settled upon “Mespilus germanica” or “Medlar” as the most accurate identification. This is apparently a large shrub/small tree whose fruit (medlar?) has not been commonly cultivated since Roman times. It is unusual in that the fruit blooms during winter and it is “eaten when bletted” according to PlantSnap. Google has further educated me that bletting is a process of softening beyond ripening during which sugars increase and acids/tannins decrease (chemistry is everywhere!!!). Apparently the etymology stems from the French word for overripe pear. (hehehe… stems… SORRY) According to a very informative Wikipedia page, medlars should be ideally harvested after a hard frost, which catalyzes cell wall breakdown to speed softening.  Then, the fruit is stored until it’s broken down enough to be scoopable and most often turned into jelly. It is also apparently an ideal accompaniment to wine (which also has tannins, right?) Wikipedia further documented some English writers who liked to make less-than-flattering comparisons of women to ripening medlars, which seems rather misogynistic to me, but I’ll refrain from further commentary on the subject. I don’t think I’ll be doing any medlar harvesting or bletting this winter, but I have gained some interesting education about botany.

 

So, to recap this post:

1.       Proof of Life

2.       I’m probably vitamin D deficient and should go outside.

3.       My brain really needs a break from chemistry.

4.       Fruit, but make it relate to science, literature, and history.

5.       DIY Jam recip

6.       Next time I drink wine, I’m going to snootily declare that it would be perfectly accompanied by bletted medlar.

7.       Just kidding about #6.

Mainly because I don’t drink wine.

Making an absurd comment, then educating people with (arguably?) useless knowledge about botany and/or chemistry would be 100% on brand for me in a random social setting.

 ~

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