The chica and I have friends who live in Modjeska Canyon, which has amazingly held back the county's rapacious developers all these years. We visited them last week–it was my first time that far into OC's backwoods since taking a field trip to the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary as a kiddie so long ago.
As we drove into the canyon, we noticed olive trees: a bunch of them. On the road and in backyards. Heavy with the fruit. Big ones. Olives, obviously, aren't native to Orange County, so how did they became part of the flora of Modjeska?
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Those trees got there, of course, via the canyon's namesake and most famous resident: Helena Modjeska, the Polish actress who also has a Kentucky confection named after her. Her husband planted them over a century ago, although I can't quite remember why or what kind of olives they are. But look at them: big, plump, perfect for preserving and curing. My chica plans to do this with the bag we picked from our friend's batch of trees, but an update will have to wait for a couple of weeks–we forgot the bag after fleeing a swarm of yellow jackets. Details to come…
