orange ball 5
A friend has 5 sloping acres in the hills behind Byron – half of which holds a 30 year old orchard of oranges and mandarins. About 20 trees in all and the ground is littered with ripe and fallen fruit.
Yesterday the old boy hammered 4 posts into the ground about half-way down the hill – Aussie Rules fashion – then he invited his two grandsons (3 & 4) to pick up as much of the fallen fruit as they could.
With their buckets full they all proceeded up the slope and towards the top house, the one that looks down the hill and through the orchard – and right over the goal posts.
Where the adults were gathered, being 3 pm on Friday afternoon. Beer o’clock.
Everybody up there totally primed. This is what you do in the hills when the week winds down from slow to easy. You engage. Pass the whatever.
Game delivery was lob, chuck, roll or throw.
– and the scoring was easy .. entirely manageable.
1 point for an orange rolled down the hill and between a big stick and a little one.
6 points for an orange between the two big sticks
Half a point if it (the orange) hit the big old mango tree (that’s a slice btw)
10 points if someone knocked the plastic cap off the town water control lug half-way down and a pat on the back if the orange rolled all the way down to the Maccanut farm next door.
The boy’s grandmother won the game, and it’s her birthday today.
She was the only one who didn’t hit the dog.
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