Ripening Figs

 As a kid, my only experience with figs was as the gooey filling inside Fig Newtons. These days, they are offered at the farmers market, thanks in part to our warming climate. Fig trees grow in yards in my neighborhood. This one has been especially productive. While the fruits were still tiny green knobs, I spent some time wondering about how fig leaves became the modesty covering of choice in paintings of otherwise nude figures. Now I see the figs ripening a bit more each day and my thoughts turn to  whether the homeowners will get to eat the figs before the hungry squirrels do.