Thursday 29 May 2014

A Cherry Saga

It has been neverending. Cherry after cherry after cherry. I'm not complaining. Substitute breakfast snack with: Cherry Snack. Substitute coffee break with: Cherry Break. Substitute lunchtime fruit with: Lunch Cherries. Substitute afternoon tea with: Cherry O'Clock...

Get out your ladder girl, and get some Cherry Belly.

Nature is really stupendissima. We are given these gifts every spring, year after year, despite doing not a thing. No pesticides, no pruning. And they stand so helplessly bare all winter, bereft. The fog is so thick here that you can just make out the one furthest from the house in a blur of cotton wool. Then, come March, you have blossoms. Beautiful white blossoms shimmering in the air. And in May, in time for your spring appetite, these red treasures.

Living in the country is hard work - yes! Try getting teens to push a lawnmower or help prune the pines. Or clear the side fence of grapevines scooting every which way. But isn't it good for a child to see a tree grow, to know the journey of a tiny piece of fruit? I remember an American teacher of friend of mine taught horticulture to rich American kids sejouring in Florence. She asked them, Where does lettuce come from? They looked at her blankly. They did not know.

Ahh I love my cherry trees. I've become such a cherry snob I look at cherries at the fruit stand and wrinkle my nose. Bah! Old wares! Give me something I can sink my teeth into and swivel around in my mouth. Let me choose between the top branches with dark burgundy fruit, or the lower ones with red rich cherries - still a little tart but give them a few days... Then let's do jam for breakfast, jam for cherry summer flans, cherry vodka, cherry grappa for when next winter rolls around.

Does anyone else have a cherry fixation?



In other local news two different men on bicycles tried to pick up this jogging writer who was actually THINKING UP HER NEW STORY LINE AS SHE JOGGED. How could they not see I was still 'working'? Why oh why did I throw on a pair of shorty-shorts instead of my baggy cut-offs that were in the wash?

Salve Signorina, You have a good pace going there. You know you are fast.
Yes the supermarket is about to close.
Will you be here again tomorrow night? I live just by here.
Yes. With my three sons !

Next time I will be jogging in a tent.

18 comments:

  1. Oh that's hysterical I can just picture those men with the smooth pick up lines.
    We had a cherry tree in out back yard when I was a kid, I'd totally forgotten about it until just now reading your post. We used to use it to climb the fence into the neighbors yard.
    Not many cherries here but we do have strawberries xxx
    sending love x

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    1. Well not so hysterical if you are a-huffin and a-puffin..

      I am so attached to my cherry trees I am wondering if I can ever leave them.. How high up are you? Perhaps you could plant a tree. I ate cherries from a friend's tree in the Dolomites at around 1400m. In August, mind you!

      Sending lotsa love xx

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  2. I used to eat bags of cherries when I was in Vicenza. I even used to buy a cherry cordial drink (dilute with water!) from the greengrocers of the city...not to mention one with almond flavouring. I think Paola was appalled at my taste for such rarities to my Anglo-Saxon taste-buds! I will enjoy your cherries in my mind's eye! Lucky you!
    P.S. Run faster! You'll terrify those chat-up merchants!

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    1. I am appalled too! Cherry cordial? Why not cherry grappa!!

      Andrew I cannot outrun a bike. Yet.

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  3. Cherries mean Christmas to me. They can also be earrings, ma, I have never had the pleasure to climb a cherry tree and pick them myself. Enjoy the admiration from the opposite sex. Ahh Italian men, they are not afraid to flirt.

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    1. Not a good idea to climb cherry trees as the branches often snap.. though I've been dumb enough to do it just to get those dark fat sweet ones at the top. Cherry jam-making today.. I will probably eat a gazillion of them..

      Not sure I am enjoying the come-ons at the moment. Sometimes you just want to run in peace!

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  4. I would have loved to see the stare you gave your (not so) smooth-talking admirers! And no jogging in the tent for you --- make them suffer! :-)

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    1. I'm not sure my stare was all that withering.. I was bright red and puffing! That's what I just don't understand. Can't they leave a girl alone??
      Too hot for a tent anyway..

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  5. I totally have a cherry fixation. We got a bag at the farmer's market on Saturday and they were pretty good, but we're holding out our highest hopes for the Rainiers which will come out in a month or so. Now THAT's a cherry.

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  6. I don't care for most fruit--Cherries are the one exception! LOVE them! If only I had visited Italy a bit later this spring, I could have come to your place and gorged myself on them!

    Next trip?

    And, can you promise it won't rain? ;-)

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