Figs and a Fiddle

I play the fiddle for fun, not professionally…been playing violin since I was in 5th grade so I’ve reached a level of proficiency that makes it fun to play and, apparently, fun to listen to.

One of our neighbors has a glorious fig tree, whose fruit is large and luscious. We love figs and I promised that I’d fiddle for figs whenever there was a crop. They love fiddle music as well and I’m delighted to accommodate them when our schedules permit. I had played for them several weeks ago (pre-fig season)  for the joy of it and they and their guests were very appreciative.

A short time ago, one of them came to our door during the work week and left a couple of perfectly ripe figs from the tree, with a note “fiddle for figs – we hope you enjoy these although the had just fallen from the tree”, Those figs were divine.

We hadn’t seen them since for awhile. One recent late afternoon, I chose to pick up the fiddle and play for awhile. It is a great stress reliever for me and it had been several weeks since I played – and of course I accompany myself with a glass or two of wine. After an hour had passed, with tunes played a couple of glasses drunk, I was inspired to go to our neighbors house and play a couple of tunes for them on their porch. If they were home, great, a favor returned. If not, I was prepared to leave a note and a promise to stop by again soon and play for them. I played for 15 minutes on their porch without a response. With both their cars in front, I decided to knock on the door. We all were surprised to find each other! They were watching a movie and thought the music I played was part of the soundtrack even though it didn’t quite fit the story. I shared with them that I was returning the favor – leaving a few tunes on the porch for the figs they left on ours. They were dumbfounded as just that afternoon, they had picked a bunch of figs for me and here I was fiddling for figs. After hugs and smiles around, we toasted serendipity, went back to the porch and I fiddled for figs…again.