the first strawberry

photo by my mom and her cell phone

this is my gramp. his birthday was on june 18th. he turned 84. he loves strawberries. i mean LOVES strawberries. my whole life he always has. my gram passed away a year and a half ago. her birthday was june 26th she would have been 80. they always celebrated together. i know he misses her. this year i brought him a hanging strawberry planter from the local farm so he could grow them. he loves to grow things. he has a tomato hanger too. he splits his time between living with my mom in an apartment and my aunt's house. so he can bring them back and forth. he's from sicily, he came here on a boat when he was 2. he went through ellis island. he's always grown things. when i was a kid i used to "help" him in his garden. his family always had a garden. his father made wine in the bathtub. he's also a butcher. he worked full time until about 4 years ago and part time until last year. he used to make sausage in his garage. i think it makes him happy growing things and being able to feed his family with his bare hands. he really likes to grow fig trees from cuttings he brought back from italy years ago. i have one in my yard. he tries to help me with my garden, i have been pretty hopeless. anyway here he is with his first strawberry from his planter. this photo makes me happy. i like that i could bring him something that gives him joy.