Upon entering our front gate, one has to navigate under the spindly branches of a slim and not-so-tall -- about 6+' -- atis tree.
So to reach our front door, one risks being poked in the eye by a protruding branch or having one's hair teased and matted by the same.
But we never bothered to do anything to the tree more than to trim it a bit to avoid possible lawsuit from irate visitors LOL!
This is the same tree I took photos of in September last year. Its lovely fruits caught my fancy and soon after, I posted photos of it on FB. Friends from overseas were delighted to see a fruit they never thought existed. Pinoy friends based abroad said how they miss the atis. Other friends said they haven't had atis for a long time!
The tree caught my fancy again this morning. I remember Raul's delight as he had our latest harvest from it for dessert at dinner last night. He so carefully made sure he enjoyed the teeny weeny flesh that held each of the countless black seeds. I guess its being "one from our own" really made it special.
The tree is so slim that one wonders how it can hold up against the wind. And how it continues to survive amid all that growth -- pepper, bougainvillea, water plant, all sorts of ferns, weed, carabao grass, papaya trees, etc. Most of all, how it can be so prolific! Right now, it has about two dozen fruits in various stages of development with more coming. One or two ripen up for eating every few days.
This tree reminds me of Michael Jackson and something he said in his last TV interview. When the interviewer marveled at a music piece MJ was working on with Will.i.am, MJ quietly said, almost in a whisper, "I never stopped." God's gift of music to MJ kept on giving. Until today.
Just like our atis tree. It has not stopped bearing fruit since it began to do so last year.
What's amazing is that we just let it be -- no special care, just watering every so often, and a single light bulb on throughout the night to drive away the bats when one of its fruits is mature and about to ripen.
So guess who's making such bounty possible?
I say this giving tree right by our front gate is a gift from a generous and loving God.
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