Those Places Thursday - The Avocado Tree

No, this isn’t a traditional place that many people may think of.  However, this tree has a special place in my memory.

Right now it’s Really HOT in Arizona and I was thinking about how I dealt with summer heat as a child.  I grew up in Southern California.  We didn’t have any air conditioning.  We opened the windows and drapes in the morning.  As soon as it began to get hot (9-10 AM) we closed the windows and drapes to keep out the heat.  Then about 4 PM we opened up the house again and let the breezes blow through the house.  The windows stayed open all night.

So what does an avocado tree have to do with heat?  Well, we had four avocado trees in our backyard.  The trees were large and produced great Haas avocados.  The second largest tree had a large branch, perhaps12 inches in diameter, which attached to the trunk about 30 inches off of the ground.  It grew in a slightly upwards direction.  I would sit on the branch with my legs stretched along the branch and with my back against the trunk.  And I read, and read, and read.  For hours I read.

It was shady; the breezes blew through the huge leaves.  I escaped the heat, reality (for an hour or two), and, incidentally, also my two younger brothers and sisters.  A great memory for one of “Those Places.