Prickling Pear Harvest

The boy and the girl were so excited about their magic paddle and how well it was growing. They reminisced about a trip they had taken to Sedona, Arizona where they both tasted the Prickling Pears for the first time. They had hiked through the desert all day and then were walking back to their hotel room when they spied some amazing beaver tail cactus. The boy found some pears on the ground and chose to pick them up. He carried them all the way to the hotel where he proceeded to try and pick each spine out by hand. The girl spent an hour pulling the spines out of his hand while they both smiled at one another. After all the silliness was done, they sat eating the pears while watching the southwest sun set behind the mountains. The taste of the pears will always be delicious because of the moments leading up to trying them. Do you have a special food that brings up such a happy memory for you? Have you noticed that when you try it again, it may taste different? Each time we taste a pear from a cactus we remember how sweet they were that day in Sedona.

Recently, my husband and I picked the pears off of our cactus and tried them. They were not as sweet as we remembered but while we talked about our experience in Sedona, we noticed the flavor of the pears started to get better. It amazes me how such a wonderful memory can bring back sensory details as well as mental ones. Emotional connection is truly amazing. The new painting series I am creating is based on the feelings and moments in time of our Sedona trip. These paintings encompass so many feelings intertwined in the colors and movement of each brush stroke. I hope you will enjoy the journey of our cactus and the prickling pears that are developing this season. Our tortoise also enjoyed some of the fruit last night. We loved having the opportunity to give her a more natural dietary experience. Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

-Karen Hilliard

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