In the late eighties and early seventies, I lived in the El Encanto area of Phoenix in a long low ranch-style home that had been built in the fifties by Del Webb. Just outside the kitchen window was a fully mature Texas ruby grapefruit tree. Every morning, from mid-January through late May, I’d go outside first thing in the morning and pluck down one of those plump pieces of yellow-skinned fruit. There was nothing to compare to eating that fruit, fresh off the tree, while it was still warm from the sun.
I have to admit that, later in the season, when the low hanging fruit was all gone, I had to enlist help from my kids to reach the ones still hanging on the higher branches.
In 1981 the kids and I did an “adventure in moving, arriving in Seattle in a 1978 Cutlass Supreme Brougham pulling a U-Haul trailer loaded with all our worldly possessions. And what did I miss most about Phoenix after that move? Well, the weather, yes. There’s that. But I also desperately missed what had become an essential part of my daily breakfast menu—fresh grapefruit.
I tried grapefruit from the Pike Place Market, from Safeway, and from QFC only to be disappointed every single time. The grapefruit I found in Seattle turned out to be a long way from the juicy, sun-ripened fruit I had encountered in Arizona.
Bill and I purchased our Tucson home in 2001—another long, low ranch- style house built in the fifties and badly remodeled in the seventies. In the past decade we’ve gradually brought the place into the new century—that includes new kitchen, new bathrooms, new plumbing, and new electrical service. Our rehab process continues today as a work crew replaces our old single pane windows with triple pane ones.
We live in what’s known as Tucson’s “central area.” Our deed came with water rights. When we were told we needed to use them or lose them, we dug a well. That’s about the time we updated the landscaping, including planting both a lemon tree and my own personal Texas Ruby. Citrus trees are all about delayed gratification. You don’t just plant them and start harvesting the next year or the next or even the next.
A little over four years ago, when we arrived in Tucson in January, I went out to look at the grapefruit tree. I was so stunned by the amount of fruit on it, that I stopped paying attention to my feet, stumbled and fell ass over teakettle into a decorative border of river rocks. Fortunately I was wearing a straw hat. That kept me from scrambling my brains. Also fortunately I had my cell phone in my bra and was able to call for someone from inside the house to come out and help get me back on my feet. Trust me, in those kinds of circumstances, the words “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up,” are no joke!
But the grapefruit was terrific that year. In January. In February we went off on a book tour. I remember it well. During the tour Tucson suffered its worst cold snap in eighty-five years. Water pipes broke everywhere, including some of ours. As for the grapefruit? They were done for. All of them.
It turns out it takes years, if ever, for trees to bounce back from that kind of frost damage. We had some grapefruit last year but hardly any lemons. This year we have a bumper crop of both.
Yesterday afternoon, for a mid-afternoon snack, I went out and plucked one of the grapefruit off the tree. I’ll chew my cabbage twice here and say again that there is nothing whatsoever that compares with the taste of a Texas ruby grapefruit still warm from the sun. It was delicious. Nectar of the gods.
Since the sun is shining again today, I think it’s about time I go out and harvest another grapefruit off the tree. I’ll be fine, I promise. I will be careful. I will watch both feet in both directions.
But just in case I need to call for help, my phone will still be with me, right where I need it—inside my bra.
Grapefruit and cell phones. That may sound like an odd couple, but they work for me. Not quite like toast and jam, but close.
What a wonderful and delightful story. Just watch your feet and keep writing your novels! Love your work 🙂
What a great story. My Dad was Air Force and we were station in Hawaii for 4 years. There is nothing like a tree fresh Banana. We had 2 clumps of Banana trees so we had them year around. My family and I would eat them like candy. When we returned to tge states my MOM had to ration our Bananas because of price per pound… I have never forgotten the TREE FRESH BANANAS. . One childhood memory that will be with me til I’m older.
Last week our new little PUPPY sacked me like a quarterback. So I know how I’ve fallen and I can’t get up feels I had the added joy of having a 18 pound puppy on my head.. Enjoy the time you have in Arizona its a beautiful place especially this time of the year.. Looking forward to the new book .. Have a super day ..Jan
That sounds so good! Unfortunately statin drugs come with a warning not to eat grapefruit. The community I grew up in became my home again after I divorced in the 60s. Some of the older folks still had their fruit trees. Lemons and a grapefruit tree or two. Not ruby reds. My mother had an apricot tree that supplied the neighborhood once she quit canning in her 70s. Our modest houses, built during WWII, had deep lots and many people had gardens, etc. Old farm land, and all you had to do was plant something!!! My mother’s poinsettia bushes and fruit trees were the envy of winter visitors from the Midwest. Very happy your brains weren’t scrambled!
When I was a teenager (in the ’60s) we went to Sunkist near 51st Ave. and Camelback where we purchased navel oranges for $3 per box. Not a tiny box, but a full sized one that was ready to be shipped elsewhere. There were 56, 88, 112 oranges per box depending on size. 88’s were the best for us, big enough, but not too big. They were delicious, not what you find in stores today. Later during the 80’s we had a mature grapefruit tree in our backyard. One day going out to get a fresh one, I heard a buzzing, looked up, and discovered that a swarm of honeybees had attached itself to one of the branches. We called a beekeeper to come and take it away. At that time our house was 25 years old, which lends credence to the saying that the best time to plant a fruit tree is 20 years ago.
Just a quick note to let you know how much I enjoy your stories. It’s impressive how well you get into the male perspective when narrating first person as J P. I just re read a couple Joanna Brady mysteries and want to say thanks for break from reality.
sun warmed grapefruit, what a treat! I must say there are so many fruits and veggies that are best right out of the garden. I miss my Mom’s tomatoes. We used to eat them warm from the sun. Oh! And raspberries! My Grandfather had quite a patch, and he would pick them in the morning, so we would have them with our cereal. No store bought berries ever taste as good as those from Grampa’s garden.
I identify with the delayed gratification of citrus trees…have a lemon that FINALLY produced two lemons…thought I was holding gold when I harvested them. My other citrus didn’t even bloom this past season due to a very cold 2013 winter…dunno.
I also identify with falling ass over teakettle…broke my wrist last March falling in the dark on my driveway while trying to cover plants to protect them from the last freeze of the season. However, unlike you, I had no one at home and didn’t have my cell phone within a reasonable distance. Had to figure out how to get myself up off the driveway (loop an arm around a low hanging limb and stand up), then drive myself to the emergency room. Anyhow, I love your blogs and have been forwarding them to another first time reader who is now on the fifth Joanna Brady book…have her interested in the rest of your book series…she lives in Oro Valley. Take care.
My friend calls her cell phone her busom buddy.
Enjoy your books and your grapefruit story. Glad you remembered your cell phone. Our family came to AZ first in the forties. Uncle Will built his house in the country in a citrus orchard. He had a light switch put in the bedroom for a flood light if there was a noise at night, as he was elderly. They had there own well, and the house was built in the area of 49th Street and Osborn Rd, which is of course now very much in the city. Our family all loves the fresh citrus and Easter was always a time of fresh squeezed juice for brunch. I freeze juice for the family and my favorite is red grapefruit. Thanks for sharing your story.
All of the Brady novels are permanently installed in my library. My wife and I have read them twice and are disappointed that there seems to be no additional Joanna adventures forthcoming. Every novel gets 4 stars from me. Wife is non committal. Why not 5 stars? She is just too perfect in every way. Please JJ… at least one more and maybe you could write her more down to earth. More like real people. Perhaps a secret lover in her too perfect life and one more baby. One more thing; please let us know if you decide to have a book signing in Tucson.
Looking forward to more Jance novels.
So glad your tree recovered and is giving you wondrous fruit again. Once in Klamath Falls there was some extraordinary grapefruit at the supermarket. Nothing since has compared.
When yhe family mostly lived in the Glendale Az area.we had it made as far as citrus was concerned. Aunt Florence had 2 grapefruit trees which she took care of well. Every time we went to visit,she would present us with a shopping bag full of grapefruit. We had to take them as Florence would get mighty upset if we didn’t. My neighbors used to run and hide when they saw me coming with grapefruit.
Grandma had a tangelo tree which was well taken care of so we had our share of tangelos. So good.
I had a lime tree. Which was very fertile sobwe all had lime juice for lime aid.
Since none of us had Navel oranges, i bought them at a grove close to home. The lady behind the counter would fill my shopping bag to overflowing and then would bring more as i was heading to the car dropping fruit all the way. She would pick up what i dropped and balance more on top. “That is not full enough”.
The relatives died, my lime tree died and the orange grove went the way of most groves around Phoenix. Then i had to BUY citrus. Horrors did that about kill me.
The good old days in the valley of the sun.