This summer’s perfect tomato eludes me. A couple have come close. But
my winter dreams of ripe red globes nurtured, ripened and delicious are
ruined by blossom-end rot (BER).
I dug in special tomato fertilizer to the planting mix. I switched to high calcium
fertilizer mid-season. I relished the smell of the growing plants. I counted the
pearl-sized fruit. And as the tell-tale spots began, I added dried milk to my
watering can. As a last resort, I crushed anti-acid tablets high in calcium and
dug them in around the plants. I hope they like the fruit flavors.
Oh, fellow gardeners, you know the keen disappointment when you are robbed
of the once-a-year gastronomic prize.
Now I’m in rescue mode, picking fruit that shows signs of the rot. I let them
ripen just a bit more, and cut off the browned portion. At least I’m getting a
delicious sample if not the bounty.
I find that red tomatoes with flat brown bottoms make for apt analogies.
Consider these.
disagreement:friendship::BER:tomato
You have a wonderful friend. Then some disagreement or disappointment
occurs to spoil it. Rather than give up, I try to put the conflict aside, and
rescue the good that's left.
disease:body::BER:tomato
A disease in a healthy body is like a rot. Preserving life may require
bombarding it with medication, or poisons like chemo, or cutting out the
sickness. Thus the organism can be saved, if not restored.
cancelled vacation plans:summer::BER:tomato
We cancelled our summer plans one by one because we wanted to avoid
possible corona-virus infection. We finally threw up our hands and declared
we’d enjoy the pleasures at a later time. The hoped for trips are postponed,
not eliminated. We rescued the dreams.
disappointment:life::BER:tomato
On a grand scale, life has disappointments the feel like bruises and look
like scars. But if I cut out the festering bitterness, some of the sweet
satisfaction can be preserved.
What analogy could you write? Add it as comment on Facebook if you can.
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