Move Over Marlon Brando

This morning, I went out onto the deck in the back yard to tend my tomato plants. I have three of them growing in three pots on my deck. My first response to the tomato plants this morning was, "Man, these are really ugly plants!" Truly, these are perhaps the worst looking tomato plants I have ever seen -- not that I've seen that many -- but of the ones I've seen, these are really ugly. They are twisted and gnarled. Branches are broken off -- some by the weight of the fruit -- some by the wind -- perhaps others ... well, who knows? The good news is that one of the plants is producing some really nice fruit -- little cherry tomatoes that are sweet and juicy. How that good produce comes from such ugly plants, I do not know!

My second thought was of the movie "The Godfather." Do you remember the scene where old man Don Corlione (I have no idea if that is spelled correctly, but if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean) is in the garden spraying for bugs and inspecting his plants. He begins to chase his grandson playfully, and then keels over dead. Now that is not the humorous part, in fact, I may have lost the reason I started this little story. Oh yeah -- it was not the Godfather getting dead part that was funny -- it was the old man bent over his plants -- inspecting them and spraying them. So I'm out on the deck, inspecting my tomato plants, watering them, checking for ripe fruit, when this image flashes through my mind. My thoughts race, "I hope nobody else is up this early watching me -- I look too much like old man Brando!"

Ok, so it wasn't that funny to anyone else, but I sure got a smile out of it -- and isn't that what really counts? Peace -- Out. Tom