The apple swells

The big, old apple tree in the backyard has produced apples about half the 21 years we've lived with it:. Nothing great -- most times fewer than a dozen apples.

This year there were a couple of hundred blooms and they were open on warm days when bees and other pollinators were hanging about. Today we could see the result: a few fattening bellies of some having-done-the-job flowers.

Fingers are metaphorically crossed for a bumper crop.