Sweet Fruity Fun

I had driven past them half a dozen times on the way to the park. Two trees, heavy and full of goodness were calling my name.

Then finally, one day I did it. 

I wrote the note and it went something like this.

I was noticing that you had a large amount of fruit on you tree. If you are not going to use it, I was wondering if I could pay you for any you might not use. Just call me and let me know. 

Thanks for your consideration,

Julie

Two days went by until I got the message.

He said I could have them.

FOR FREE!

The next Saturday morning, I gathered my buckets, a ladder and a large jug of water and headed off for my adventure.

I found the "perfect" place to park.

Then I got to work.

First task: Sampling of the goods. 

We discovered that even warm grapes and nectarines are absolutely divine!!! 

Next, the fun started. This is how it went.

Pick, sweat, sample.

Pick, sweat, sample.

Pick, sweat, sample.

REPEAT

The fun lasted for over an hour and a half.

All the while I sang the song...

"Millions of Nectarines, Nectarines for Me. Millions of Nectarines, Nectarines for Free."

And I was happy.

I only had to escape from the 105* temps once in the air conditioned car.

It was a hot, sweaty, exciting, YUMMY morning.

I got lots of long looks from curious drivers.

Hmmm....Roadside fruit picking isn't all that common in these parts I suppose!

Then, as if there wasn't enough excitement for one morning, the cops showed up just as I had full buckets of sweet deliciousness in my hot little hands on the way to the van. One of those curious drivers had even called the cops for me.

There were lectures and threats of the confiscation of the fruits of my labors.

It's pretty sad when the most exciting thing for a couple of arrogant cops to do on a Saturday morning is to protect produce and be rude to the pregnant fruit crazy mom. They treated me as if I had just robbed a bank and was loading up buckets of gold coins instead of over ripe golden fruit.

Silly cops. 

I'm just thankful the nectarine tree owner was home to verify my story....

AND that I wasn't ticketed for parking on the curb.

AND that I didn't speak my mind and tell them how ridiculous they were behaving.

It was a fun fruit filled morning for sure!!!

It was all worth it to enjoy that real, yummy, drippy ripe fruit for days on end. 

And the dried stuff is pretty dang wonderful too!