Wild Plum Harvest

I found some wild plums, a blushing golden treasure hanging drooping under the trees near a small lake. I have been watching this thicket for three years, and have missed their ripening, or been beaten to it. I now know one does not see plums and come back next week! I was so excited to finally get a few. When I found them, I didn't delay, but filled my skirt. They were enough to can a small batch of jam! Funny how once I finally find a fruit, I find it everywhere; I found another thicket in a park we frequent, also ripe. Seeing the spot where they grow, what kind of a place with what companions, how the plants actually look, touching the branches, is so much more instructive than the field guides! Having seen, I can think of many similar spots to check next year around Labor Day.
Even with a fully laden tree, from twenty feet it mostly just looked green. The one visible plum I had taken for a stray yellow leaf, and all the rest were hiding, back under the leaves. I once was blind to wild plums; but now I see.