Remembrance Through the Years—Family Ties That Bind Us Together
Recently, I visited my sister in North Carolina. She moved there in September 2024 after spending her entire life in California.
I took this image of cherry plum leaves after a light rain; it’s planted in a large pot in her backyard in North Carolina.
Cherry plum trees are special to her and our family. My mom’s stepfather grafted a cherry tree branch onto a plum tree branch in the backyard of their San Francisco home in the 1920s to create a cherry-plum tree.
In the 1970s, my sister and I planted the seeds of our grandfather’s trees in our parents’ backyard in Millbrae, where we grew up, from the fruit of his San Francisco trees.
To prepare for planting, I was tilling up the ground with a spade, and my sister was placing the seeds. I accidentally almost chopped off her little finger. It was a very traumatic event for both of us. She was holding her finger, bleeding profusely, in severe pain. I was terribly frightened. I had chopped off her little finger. She still has the scar.
Much later, still over 25 years ago, she planted some starter vines at her former home in Grass Valley, California. She also gave small cherry plum trees to her three daughters for their California homes when they got older, as well as some that are now planted in her new home in North Carolina.
She gave me some cuttings from the Grass Valley home before she left. I was hurting so much this past winter with my back that I forgot to tend to them in the small pots and make sure they had water. When I get home, hopefully, the ones she gave me will be healthy. Checking on them will be the first thing I do. Thus, the image has a lot of emotional meaning for me, my sister, and her family, with all the history over the years.
Thankfully, when I got home, I saw that these small starter trees were okay after I cleared the grass-type weeds around the pots. I plan to plant them in my backyard along the San Lorenzo Creek, maybe one or two on the top level near my bird feeders.
Just as important as the family history is that the image sings with beauty. This image reveals the delicate interaction between rain and leaves, each droplet resting gently upon the textured surface. The subtle hues and softened background convey a quiet reverence for nature’s small, sacred moments.
For me, it invites a deeper connection to the stillness found in the natural world, offering calm and harmony to any space it graces. What about you? Does it resonate with your feelings and emotions?
Regarding Elena’s comment below. Here is a YouTube video on the 36 different shades of green in Japanese culture she refers to.
Beautiful story. The image has a hint of Japanese aesthetic. I remember watching a video about the shades of green in traditional Japanese art. There were 36 of them, with names evoking a feeling or a particular moment of the day or the season.
Hi Elena, thanks for the feedback on the story. Interesting comment about the shades of green in traditional Japanese Art. I would love to find out more about the 36 different shades and the feelings and emotions they evoke. If you remember the video, or where you got this information, I would appreciate you sharing it with me. I believe that the essense of great photography is the emotions and feelings that images produce in the hearts of viewers. Best Bruce.