23 Comments
User's avatar
Rona Maynard's avatar

Glad you left the Moby Dick metaphor, although I will leave this world without ever having had my own swimming pool.

Tommy Swerdlow's avatar

Moby stays in the picture!

Kimberly Warner's avatar

What a lovely ode to pear.

(And Moby Dick.)

Renee Missel's avatar

Loving the segue into human ripeness. Yes!

Ann Collins's avatar

Tommy, have you ever seen a pair of gemels? Two trees growing in partnership.

Perhaps Eve is a pear tree, and Adam is another kind of tree ...?

See also: ketubah

Tommy Swerdlow's avatar

Ann, I have not but I will look. I had a ketubah at my wedding, so I know what that is. A plate had to be smashed to make it official, and there were struggles to do it until the bride's grandmother grabbed it, unwrapped it from a linen napkin, and and threw it again the wall!

Ann Collins's avatar

Tommy, if that's not an official blessing from grandmother, I don't know what is! You must have felt very much welcomed to the family. Love that :-)

Adam Nathan's avatar

Oh my, is it me, or is it getting warm in here?

Tommy Swerdlow's avatar

This comment reminds me of a famous Persian proverb. "Women for children. Men for pleasure. Melons for ecstasy!"

Lee Doyle's avatar

This is fabulous, especially: The lumpy, proletariat charms of the Bartlett, which should come wearing a babushka...Eve may be associated with le pomme, but she IS a pear."

Thank you for leaving Moby Dick in the swimming pool. By the way, have you heard Eddie Izzards's riff on pears?

Tommy Swerdlow's avatar

You're welcome Lee. I'll take a look at Eddie I

Lee Doyle's avatar

I tried to do something similar with seahorses and tails on my Substack; not sure I succeeded but it was fun to write.

JoshuaNearly's avatar

The lumpy, proletariat charms of the Bartlett, made me laugh out loud… the perfect set up for the babushka… which just dropped me. (There was someone that fit so perfectly…)

Feldsher's avatar

Your parents’

decision to hire MFK Fisher as your au pair was consequential!

Karen J's avatar

The Warren Pear is the pinnacle for me. My local grower up here in Norcal has them for an all too brief window of time. Yet another reason that fall is my favorite season.

Tommy Swerdlow's avatar

You've got me Warren curious Karen J

Gloria's avatar

Share your pear obsession.

Tommy Swerdlow's avatar

I shall. I shall.

Katie Chorao's avatar

This gave me a real kick! Have you read Jitterbug Perfume? I'd say Tom Robbins feels the same about beets as you feel about pears. I, myself, favor plums.

Holly Starley's avatar

I’m echoing other readers, but Moby Dick belongs here.

Eric Trules's avatar

Rabbi Swerd is a pear of a man😝🤠❤️

Peggy Robinson's avatar

I like how you think.