Summer in a Fuzzy Peel

The Essence of Summer,

What could possibly say summer better than ripe, juicy peaches brimming with flavor and bursting with distilled sunshine and sweetness? Every year I keep my fingers crossed that I haven't just imagined how delicious and satisfying a tree ripened South Carolina peach is. It's always with some trepidation that I bite into the golden yellow flesh of the sun-warmed fruit until I'm pleasantly astonished with a deliciousness even better than I remembered.

Waiting for the inaugural bite this year was exceptionally nerve wracking. Much of the peach crop was ruined by late freezes and inauspicious weather so bringing home that first basket of fruit to find not a single sour or flavorless bite in the bunch was a hallelujah moment.

There may be fewer peaches this season but every single one I've had, and I've had plenty, has been superb. I can taste the heat of sun baked soil on bare feet and hear the buzzing of lazy bees and smell the warm breezes that cool off sweltering days. The rough fuzz on a perfect peach as it offers just the tiniest bit of resistance to appreciative bites reminds me of the perfection of lazy vacations and the thrill of the first cool dive breaking the surface of the river.

There's a thirst that can only be quenched when treasured memories are realized completely in real time. Perfect peaches recreate those in every sense. What a blessing to know that some things, no matter how fleeting, live up to your recollections by being just as good as they ever were. What a joy to find them even better! Summer and peaches both reach their peak in shades of pink and gold then disappear. How wonderful to have the time and ability to appreciate those astounding flavors and sensations from the past again, recalling the contentment wrapped in the sweet aroma of years gone by.

Summer time and the living is easy, at least for a little while.