When Life Gives You Lemons...

...well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Bringing a new hydrangea tree home from the nursery.

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THIS WEEK:

• Guess who’s back. Guess who’s back. Guess who’s back. Guess who’s back…

• BEHIND THE PAYWALL: “Where Are They Now?” Driving around in John Voight’s car.

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I’ve stopped looking at our lemon tree.

We purchased it in December during one of our rare, bi-annual dates. We came home from the garden center and proudly introduced Frega’s mother and our kids to the newest addition to our family. A stunned silence took over the room.

It wasn’t an impulse buy. We’d talked about it for years and we thought that after all of our experience caring for and maintaining indoor and outdoor plants, we were responsible enough to care for an indoor lemon tree and it would yield us much fruit.

We were wrong. Here’s a picture of it not two months later, in February.

Looks terrible.

But better than the alternative. Here’s a picture of a tree outside that same week…

If you’d like to read more about the slow, sorry indoor demise of our lemon tree, check out our rather popular post on the subject from February 5th.

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I moved the lemon tree outside in April, put it out in the rain for two weeks and essentially left it for dead. Most of its upper branches shriveled and turned light tan. Despite all of our lemon tree dreams over the past decade, as far as I was concerned, bringing this dream to life (or death) was the worst money we’ve ever spent.

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Take a look at the branches. Dry. Yellowed. Dead.

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Last week, after tending to our thriving flower garden, I heard Frega’s voice call out with some urgency to come quickly to see the lemon tree.

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There!! It lives!

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“And you wanted to throw it in the woods!”

-A delighted Frega to a stunned DiPerri

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Speaking of surprises, we got our latest CartoonStock earnings statement today. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t speak of it. But I near did a spit take when I read who recently bought one of our cartoons. More on that behind the paywall.

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In case you’re new here, this summer, DiPerri is sewing individually handmade Buddy and Romeo stuffed toys.

These dolls will not be for sale. Rather, they will be exclusive to paid subscribers of this Substack.

If you want both a Buddy and a Romeo plush doll, please become a paid subscriber. It’s the only way to get them.

We hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber today to give your very own Buddy and Romeo stuffed toys a home.

If you’re already a paid subscriber, thank you. Your orders are in place. Stay tuned as the toys are brought to life and we chronicle DiPerri’s sewing adventures this summer.

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