low-hanging fruit

Happy Place, Happy Space

Spotted this banana plant on one of my easy runs this week, as I cut through the One Tree Hill residential neighbourhood.

The huge banana flower & comb of fruit caught my eye and I had to squat under the leaves to get a better look at them. This led me to think of the very droll expression, low-hanging fruit.

The expression low-hanging fruit is used to describe an action that takes almost no effort. The idea comes from the very literal task of picking fruit off a tree … (that) does not require the harvester to climb the tree or to use a ladder, he simply reaches up and plucks the fruit with little physical effort.

Grammarist

Which then made me to think of my pulled calf muscle last week (huge segue here); it happened mid-week on our trail run. Curiously, although the pain was in the region of my calf, it seems my difficulty originated from a tightness of the litobial band (which is located on the side of one’s thigh).

The low-hanging fruit in this part of the story was to regain normal walking gait. Loving Husband had to release scar tissue from the affected areas several times a day (read: extremely painful deep tissue massage), and I worked on bearing weight & walking slowly, maintaining as normal a posture as I could. From there, it has been a slow, cautious return to running.

After about a week of recovery, I had a minor setback when the calf muscle spasmed again, and we had to begin the process all over. I did manage to get a slow run in this evening. Low-hanging fruit, baby steps.

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Since I am thinking of banana plants, banana flowers and banana combs: we had great fun as we baked King Arthur Flour’s Wholegrain Banana Bread twice this week. This recipe is a great way to use up lots of bananas: 2 cups or about 5 medium bananas for each batch.

We baked some in loaves, some as muffins; all gifted away, in case you are wondering.

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Is there a turn of phrase (like “low-hanging fruit”) which you find whimsical? Did you bake or cook something this week to use up a leftover in your fridge/freezer/pantry?

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Reading your Joyful Posts brings me to my happy place. I hope having them in one place makes it easier for you to find when you need a bit of happy therapy, too.

If you would like to join in, ping back to this post and I will include you next week.

• Amanda at Something to Ponder About‘s Finding a Kinder Inner Voice: advocates our kinder inner voices as a way to counteracting negativity
• Carol Ann Siciliano‘s Delights: brings curiosities this week – the “pipes, braces, coils and innards of a new church organ, helpful signs, sticky pine cones, a gorgeous hand-made teapot, a miniature oil painting
• Deb’s World’s Destination Wedding: takes us back in time to a wedding in Fiji as the lovely Mom Of the Bride
• Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland‘s Mushroom Collages: gets artsy with mushrooms
• Lavinia at Salmon Brook Farms‘s Autumn 2021: updates us on the goings-on at the farm, and sings us 2 beautiful songs
• Little Pieces of Me‘s Grateful Fridays: shares her fun week
• Nancy Loderick‘s Road tripping in Vermont- Sir Oliver, Sir Angus & Toby: brings an illustrious crew along for the ride
• Natalie the Explorer‘s My Best Trip to Niagara Falls: brings us stunning views from her visit; and a delicious lunch
• Reflections of an Untidy Mind‘s On Creating a Myth: poses a weighty issue together with a haunting rendition of Gilgamesh Lament for Enkidu, sung by Canadian singer Peter Pringle
• Thistles and Kiwis’This Week’s Small Pleasures: delights in culinary endeavours as well as the signs of spring
• Trent’s World‘s The Weekly Smile: makes the most of the weather to enjoy nature

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This post is my contribution to Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie The Explorer.