When I was a kid, I sometimes got a tangerine in my Christmas stocking. I didn't know the difference between a tangerine and an orange. I didn't understand why I got a piece of rather uninteresting fruit. I did understand the idea of asking for something I coveted and I did understand that people who loved me would get things I said I wanted and some things I hadn't mentioned but seemed likely to be fun for me. I hadn't asked for a tangerine and it ranked below new clothes as fun or pleasure.
Over the years, this has changed. I still prefer a good, juicy orange to a tangerine but they can both be genuine pleasures. When visiting various places in England, I learned that some estates had sections of the building or free-standing greenhouses that were "orangeries". Oranges in large orchards in Florida have been a sign of a different climate since college. Between growing up where oranges would not grow outdoors and seeing that wealthy people built separate facilities for oranges, I grasped the idea that oranges were not like apples which could grow in many places I was part of.
We usually have a piece of fruit at lunch and a good orange is indeed a juicy pleasure. Since we have to watch our blood sugar level, we don't drink orange juice around the house. There was an article in the New Yorker recently about a solitary Russian lighthouse/weather station. The place gets supplies once a year by ship. One of the photos showed some oranges and explained that the seamen on the ship get an orange a week as a special treat. If you want to visit a ship in the cold Arctic for a while, give "Polar Star" by Martin Cruz Smith a try. You will be glad to get an exotic orange after a few chapters.
The blend of acids and sugars seems just about right for a pleasure. Wrestlers and soccer players are sometimes given a section or two of orange to re-hydrate them after vigorous efforts. Biting into a cold, sweet orange restores the fatigued and makes life seem good again.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
