I came down Highway 6 this afternoon and decided to check out the fruit stand I have been seeing for several months. Several hand-spray-painted signs touting mangos, coco frio, and freestone peaches lead up to the makeshift stand. The “freestone peaches” notice is the one that got my attention.
Actually, my oldest daughter got my attention with it when she was going back to Austin a couple of weeks ago. She called me and relayed the message that the spraypaint and plywood advertised. I just never had the time to stop.
This time, though, I did. This stand consists pretty much of some posts and joists with something nailed on the top. I’m not even sure what it is; either plywood or scrap tin. I think it’s the latter. I was locked on the “peaches” message too much to pay undue attention to the structure.
A skinny, sweaty thirtysomething guy was doing some busy work when I drove up. When I came under the rafters with not much clearance for the top of my head, I scanned the baskets and little piles of produce for the peaches. I was wearing my sunglasses, so tomatoes kinda looked like peaches for a second, but I finally made my way down to the sweet end of the display.
There they were, baskets heaped up in little maroon and gold hills according to ripeness. The quick-thinking salesman hurried over with a peach and a knife and as soon as the words, “Where were these peaches grown…” crossed my lips, he was at my side with a slice of one. He said, “Heck, I don’t know, maybe the moon. I had to cover these up over here so nobody would know they’re moon peaches”.
Kinda weird and smart alecky at the same time, which I am not averse to, and that coupled with the sweet nectar-y goodness of the sample he gave me, sold a bucket of them moon peaches. 
So my lunch today consisted of several peaches at the peak of ripeness. The only thing that kept the golden juice from running down to my elbow was the fact that I cleverly ate it over the sink and slurped it loudly. The taste and aroma took me back many years to my younger days.
That’s summertime, folks.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Summer Has Arrived, Finally
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
You made my mouth water aA. I had a similar experience recently while driving through Hempstead. I asked myself: "When's the last time you had a ripe, cold, genuine Hempstead watermelon?" It had been so long that I could not recall the time, so I found a stand and bought a big, round, ripe, seedless Hempstead melon. That first slurppy bite was so delicious that I wished the melon was 10 times bigger so I could just take a bath in it. Brought back childhood memories of barefoot boys eating so much watermelon that our tummies poked out, and then spitting seeds at each other, and having "watermelon fights" with slimy pieces of the watermelon rinds. Those were the good ol' days.
Hmmmmm, taking a bath in an oversized Hempstead, sounds like a trip to paradise to me...
Glad you liked it Mr V!
0h I must have one!
0h I must have one!
Happy Summer, Geezer, thanks for the props in inno's contest. Those peaches look yummy. The ones for 10 for $1 in Chgo don't taste so good.
Post a Comment