The Irony of it All

I've talked to friends and co-workers that live in my valley and most of them don't seem very alarmed about the bulldozing of all those pear trees.

"Oh yeah... I know whatcha mean. I used to live in Walnut Creek in the (San Fransico) bay area. But there aren't any walnut trees there anymore."

"Why do you think they called it 'Hopland'? Nowaday all you see are vineyards. There haven't been hops there in 50 years."

"Sebastopol used to be known as one of the few regions that grew Gravenstein apples. In the last 15 years they've all been torn out and replaced by vineyards. But ya know? Before the Gravensteins it was Prune orchards and before that it was Hops... so it doesn't seem to matter which crop it is..."

The sign on the left hand says Pear Tree Center - on Orchard Street.

I guess this is the evolution of a community, but it still seems like a huge irony to me.