Fruits of Summer

I have always had a love/hate relationship with summer. Summer is just plain hot and I really don't like being hot. Sweating is not something I cherish. I spent all my summers during college at a camp in Alabama so trust me when I say I know hot. And humid, too. Oh, it's humid here. We tried to have a picnic at the park today but it was just too hot to stay more than 30 minutes. The kids weren't thrilled about having to leave but Mama couldn't handle the heat any more. So we took the picnic home.

On the other hand, there are the wonderful fruits of summer that I just love. Blueberries, strawberries, plums, tomatoes, blackberries and peaches. Of those, peaches are, by far, my favorite. I have fond memories of driving down the interstate to get to the closest peach orchards. We'd stop at the farm stand and get their fresh, homemade peach ice cream. Oh, it was heavenly. And our local farmer's market always had lots of Chilton County peaches that I still prefer to any others. (I realize there is much debate about who grows the best peaches but I'm an Alabama peach fan.)

So when my in-laws stopped in South Carolina on their way down here and purchased a boat load of peaches, I happily took some of them off their hands. Oh, were they good. (Not as good as Chilton County peaches but close.) A friend of mine called them "back porch fruits" because they were so juicy that you had to eat them on the back porch to keep from making a big mess inside.

I found a recipe for a peach pie and knew these delicious fruits were destined to be baked in a pie, surrounded by caramel, encased in a buttery, flaky pie crust. I had enough peaches to make the pie with some to spare. Those were cut up and served with breakfast the next morning. There were no leftovers.