Jim, my father in law, in his later years, had a number of routines in his life. That’s not unusual. We all have our own ways of living life and we develop habits and patterns.

For Jim, when it was time to buy bananas, this is what he would often do. He would drive from his retirement home in St. George and go from one grocery store to another. He would go to Wal-Mart and check the price of bananas. Then he would go to Smith’s and Harmon’s and do the same thing.

There may have been other stops. I don’t know. After he checked everywhere, he would buy bananas at the place with the best price.

I thought of “Grandpa” when I saw in the news over last weekend about the $120,000.00 banana. I suspect many of you heard about it.

Last Saturday, at an art fair in Miami Beach, Maurizio Cattelan taped a banana to a wall with a piece of duct tape and titled it “Comedian.” The Italian artist then set the price of $120,000.00 on the “work of art.” It sold.

Not only that, there was a second edition of “Comedian” which also sold at the same price. I saw one report that the third edition was eaten.

My dad would have probably been someone who would have eaten that banana on display. He cut them up on his cold cereal frequently. He also, on occasion, would slice them on bread for a banana sandwich. And since “the banana doesn’t fall far from the tree,” every once in a while I will do the same thing. Sound weird? It’s good. Try it.

As to the question of whether a genuine banana taped to a wall is art or not, I just don’t know. I mentioned art in this space not too long ago when a Monet painting sold for mega-millions. There is a principle that comes into play with both that painting and the banana on the wall.

It’s not always a matter of what the work of art is; it’s a matter of who created it. I could easily tape a banana to a wall, but who would want to buy it – or even eat it, for that matter?

I could splatter paint onto a canvas and make the case that it looks better than a Jackson Pollock piece. But, guess what, I’m not Jackson Pollock. Therefore my “painting” would be accepted as a gift from a relative who felt sorry for me and a Pollock goes for millions.

Cattelan, the banana artist, is kind of famous. He’s not Leonardo DaVinci famous, but he’s a living, kind of famous, artist. That fame makes the difference.

He’s best known, I gather, for creating an 18-karat gold functional toilet. That art piece has the title: America. The impression I get is that he was making a statement about our country. I didn’t care to take the time to research what that statement might be.

Interestingly, that toilet was stolen this past September. It had been installed as part of an exhibition at Winston Churchill’s birthplace, Blenheim Palace, in England. The toilet is valued at $6 million.

But, let’s get back to bananas. I’ve become fascinated with them. I’ve found that reading about bananas is a captivating subject.

I’ve learned that there is a museum, the Banana Club Museum, in Mecca, California (south of Palm Springs). It has a collection of more than 17,000 banana items. It’s the world’s largest collection devoted to any one fruit. I think I have a new destination on my bucket list.

After reading dozens of fun facts about bananas, I’m going to give you just ten interesting facts:

1). A banana is botanically classified as a berry.

2). Americans eat an average of 27 pounds of bananas per year. (In Ecuador, it’s 218 pounds of bananas per person every year)

3). “Banan” is an Arabic word which means finger. That’s how we get the name banana.

4). The scientific name of banana is musa sapientum, which means “fruit of the wise men.”

5). Rubbing the inside of a banana peel on a scrape or burn will help the pain go away, keep swelling down, and keep the wound from getting infected. (Avoid monkeys when using this advice)

6). Hawaii is the only place in the U.S. where bananas are grown commercially. (At one time, some were grown in Southern California and Florida)

7). Bananas float in water, like apples and watermelons. (75 percent of the weight of a banana is water.)

8). David Evans Strickler, an employee at Tassel Pharmacy, invented the banana split, in 1904, in Latrobe, PA.

9). If you peel a banana from the bottom up, you will avoid the stringy, clingy bits.

10). Wrapping banana stems tightly in plastic wrap will make them last three to five days longer. (As opposed to just taping them to the wall.)

When I was a junior high school kid, I told a gullible neighbor boy, that we had a banana tree in our front yard. He was a year younger than me. He fell for it. The seeds on the tree looked like tiny bananas. It was an Ash tree.

I have an Ash tree in my yard now. Having those little “bananas” falling off every year is a nuisance. But it is fun to think of my friend being so impressed that we had a banana tree that wasn’t able to grow mature bananas because of our short growing season (so I told him).

To finish up today’s subject, I’d like to share one of my favorite riddles:

Question: What does a banana peel on the sidewalk have to do with music?

Answer: If you don’t C sharp, you’ll B flat.

And my final advice is: Invest in art wisely. I recommend non-biodegradable works of art.

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