Rationing cherries

You may or may not know that the weather has been rather freakish this past winter and spring.  Spring came really really early, causing the fruit trees to all blossom early.  I wish I had taken a picture to post here to show you how beautiful it looked with trees all covered in soft pink and white flowers.  And it looked like there would be a bumper crop of everything because there were just so many many blossoms on all the trees.

Then the frost hit in mid-April, and there was snow.  So lots of those blossoms, didn't make it.  Including lots of the blossoms on the giant cherry tree that grows in the small back garden behind our building.  Normally, everyone in the building can reach out and pick cherries right from their balconies (me included!).  But this year is different.  This year the tree is sadly quite light in the fruit department.  No sagging branches with sweet cherry bounty.  No bowls full of huge burgundy fruits waiting to be eaten with gusto.

This year there are approximately 35 cherries ripening outside my balcony.  Thirty-five.  I know.  I counted them.  And I've been watching them.  Noting their size and colour, so that I can pluck individual cherries at the peak of ripeness.  I get to eat them one, or maybe two at a time.  In essence, I am rationing my cherries.  Very carefully.  And I savour each and every one.  Making sure to enjoy every note of cherry deliciousness from every cherry.  Because they'll be gone much much too soon.  And I'll have to wait an entire year to (hopefully) get more.

I am hoping against all odds that the fig trees have been spared and that come August, they'll be  producing buckets and buckets of sweet nectary figs of all shapes/sizes/colours.  I have to be patient and just wait for time to tell.  But if I'm forced to ration my figs this year, I seriously do not know how I will manage. 

Cherry countdown begins.

The cherry tree behind our building blossomed last week!  As you can see in my picture, the cherry has white blossoms.  Thousands of them.  And in just 30 days, the tree will be covered in dark red, sweet, fat, huge, juicy cherries.

The cherries are here!

The cherries have finally arrived. They are about 6 weeks late, and not as sweet as they were last year due to the not-very-sunny and not-very-warm spring we've had here. So the cherries are a bit more tangy, firm, and lovely.

Here's the evolution of the cherries on the tree in our backyard:

The first little cherries look like small green olives.



Then just about 10 days later, they start looking like not-quite-ripe cherry tomatoes.



Until another 10 days goes by, and then they are big, juicy and this gorgeous burgundy colour. At this point, they are ready to be eaten right off the tree!