grapes

in 1996, i was attending a management class for sam's club in rancho cucamonga, california. while the speaker droned on about translating profit and loss reports, i stared out the hotel conference room's sliding glass doors at the desolation in the surrounding fields. after class, i wandered out to investigate and discovered acre upon acre of abandoned grapevine...withered,  gnarled,  dead plants. at a local denny's, as i nursed a cup of coffee while picking at a lifeless dinner salad, the waitress told me a sad story. the owner of the grapes was in a nursing home and his 2 sons were trying to get control of the land. they wanted to build malls. he wanted to keep his grapes. i walked back to the hotel depressed.  looking at the new strip mall development, i gathered the sons were winning.

i came away from that seminar not so much enlightened about p & l reports as fascinated with grapes. the leaves, stuffed, were delicious. the fruit, dried, became raisins. fermented? wine. the dried vines made pretty wreathes. i was determined to grow my own but i got sidetracked by life. i forgot about the grapes until a few years ago.  trying to get out of a brain disease 'funk,' i was planting a small garden here in el paso.  i ended up planting 4 baby vines of green grapes. i spend a good deal of the year in vermont or alaska so my roommate, gary  (a wine salesman by trade),  became the guardian of my grapes. and he's done a great job.  the grapes are thriving. well, 3 of the 4 vines are thriving.

the next door neighbour has a massive grape vine that covers the chainlink fence at the corner of  his house. i am envious of this lush green vine. i suffer from grape envy.  that enormous vine is what i encourage my three little vines to become. this morning  i watered and weeded. while  i no longer have the mobility to wander freely in the garden,  i still get pleasure tending my plants. i looked over my stone wall at my neighbour's grapevine, something i do from time to time, just to admire the growth.  but today i couldn't find a single green grape leaf. huh? and then i saw it...the grapes had been cut down, only a thick piece of vine still clung to the fence. the back lawn was now a concrete patio. the grapes were gone.

somewhere in rancho cucamonga acres of former vineyard have given way to progress. shopping malls and chain restaurants and corner convenience stores. and in my neighbour's backyard,  concrete covers earth. only that lone piece of gnarled vine clinging to the fence remains. i swear i hear joni mitchell on the desert breeze....softly singing big, yellow taxi.....don't it always seem to go....you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone....you pave paradise....and put up a parking lot.