The Chinese associate them with immortality…as for me….I associate them with the poisoned fruit* of the first Mary Stewart novel about Merlin and King Arthur (‘The Crystal Cave’). They are wonderful, without peer, when perfect and ripe. Fresh peaches, peach pie, peach cobbler, peach jam, all glorious.

But fleeting and prone to treachery. For a lovely peach tree can turn to rot. As ours did this year. A long battle with some sort of disease has meant that unless perfectly pruned (which it is not) the peaches mold before they ripen. Consequently, pretty much every available bit of counter space is covered with peaches right now (let its generosity not be questioned). I foresee much freezing, and some canning of the more perfect ones, in my future. Hopefully, as they ripen off the tree, we can work with them.

*I know, it was apricots, but the connection holds! Besides, I have never been sure that immortality wouldn’t be treachery in the long run, or at least a very bad joke, on someone’s part. Or maybe using peaches to symbolize immortality is an illustration of the paradox?