passing them along

growing up i knew summer was coming to an end when we returned home from our week "downey oshin". i would spend the drive home in the back seat pouring over the back to school issue of "teen" magazine. when we got back to catonsville the temperature would have started to let up, and the humidity somehow wouldn't seem as bad as before we left for the vacation. there was only one thing left to do before school would start - go peach picking! my mom and a few of her close girlfriends would load their kids into the car and we would head up interstate 83 to a pick-your-own place near ms. pat's childhood house. it was a definite marker that summer was coming to a close. ms. pat would show us how to split a peach in half and eat it right there in the orchard, juice running down your arms. there was nothing as sweet as that! i have fond memories of those days spent in the orchard, filling bushel baskets full to the top of sweet, juicy, end of summer peaches. we would head back to the farmhouse and play with the animals including the beautiful husky they owned while the mom's would "put up" the peaches. like well honed machines, they would sit around the table, paring knives in hand and fill metal bowls with the sliced and peeled chunks of the days bounty. i can picture it now, like it was just yesterday. i hope that when my children get older they will recall memories like this and want to share them with their own children.

today, j. and i took the m. & k. peach picking on the eastern shore (f. was at camp - his last week). although, i dont remember eating peaches right out of the dirt as a child, it is ok with me that my boys are making their own memories. i just hope they had fun - i sure did!