Fragrant Yuma

 

Living in Yuma, Arizona was a unique experience.  Although Yuma is considered by most as desert country, living there was not at all like living in the desert.  Yuma had many orange groves.  Who knew?  I certainly had never considered Arizona as having orange groves, but it does!  Yuma air, besides being hot as hades, had the sweetest smell of orange blossoms when the trees began to bloom.   Every breathe you took was a sweet experience.  I spent as much time outside as possible when the orange trees were in bloom.  Although Yuma seemed to be at the gates of hell with its heat I left my windows down when driving so that I could enjoy the beautiful, rich smell of orange blossoms.  The richness waifs through my mind as I type and my nose raises just a little in the hopes of smelling that sweet richness.   Mmmmmm, what a wonderful memory for the senses.

Another surprising fact that I had never thought of was Yuma had cabbage fields, MANY cabbage fields.  At the time we lived there I was not a fan of cabbage but loved to see the luscious green rows of cabbage stretching out in very long lines.  As I passed the cabbage fields I would often see migrant workers hacking at the bottoms of the heads and throwing them into the back of field wagons.  That had to be back breaking work as they stayed bent over all day hacking and throwing, what a workout.