Almond Orchards in Bloom

There are fewer and fewer of these orchards along State Route 99 of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Valley. Farms and orchards are being sold for commercial developments and wireless trasmitters. These vanishing landmarks call to mind the similar demise at Seine-et-Marne countryside in Nancy Mitford's book, "Don't Tell Alfred (1960)":

"I love this country so much, but now it makes me feel sad to come here. We must look at it with all our eyes because in ten years' time it will be utterly different...no more stooks of corn or heaps of manure... no more horses and cart... Last time I came along this road it was bordered by apple trees--look, you can see the stumps. Some admirer of Bernard Buffet has put up these telegraph poles instead."