The backdrop for this handsome man's workout is a patch of prickly pear cactus, aka opuntia. My sister got thrown off her horse once into a prickly pear thicket, and it took our mother hours to pull all the thorns out of her. The upside of having all that stuff around was that Mama made really good jam out of the fruits. Processing the fruit was an arduous process, though. During severe droughts, I had every 12 year old boy's dream job, riding around on a tractor with a flame thrower to burn off the thorns so the cows would have something to eat. I had an interesting childhood.
After reading all that, Jerry, we have to hope this male did not fall backward into that thicket.
ReplyDeleteHe would have been worse off than my sister.
DeleteYears ago we use to buy cactus candy, acitrón, from Hispanic markets in So Cal, haven’t seen it for sale in a long time. Turns out the cactus candy was made from the biznaga barrel cactus that is now an endangered species from over consumption, and its harvest is prohibited in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteNow we settle for prickly pear cactus candy, but it’s not the same as the delicious acitrón….:)
"Waste not, want not" as my Mum would say. There is a book somewhere in there Jerry!
ReplyDeleteI'm working on it in fits and starts.
DeleteThey're all over the place in Sicily, my folks' homeland....my dad raised it here in California, too. Americans don't know what they're missing! 🥒
ReplyDelete