nectarines

we have this tree in the backyard that didn't do anything last year-- it lost all its leaves a month after it got them in spring. about 2 weeks ago we finally figured out what all the little green fruits on it this year are: nectarines. before we went to sydney a few of them had started to turn red/yellow but they were still hard and we only got to try 2 of them before we went away. while we were away they ALL seemed to ripen-- dozens of them. zac's sister didn't really do anything with them so we came home to a tree full of them. i finally remembered to pick them 2 days ago (the birds have been having a great time eating all the ones high up and have left several pits dangling from the tree). i picked a 10L bucket full (and thats only as high as i could reach up the tree, i probably could have filled another bucket if i could reach to the top). tonite i spent some time cutting them up so we can freeze them to make smoothies and soy ice cream and whatever else i can think of. i even caught the landlord (who lives nextdoor) picking some this afternoon while he was over to grab some of his extra bricks that he stores down the side of our house (not that i minded cuz we have more than we can figure out what to do with and he did fix a broken light switch for us just before that and his wife had me over for coffee and homemade pastries while he was doing that. i don't think we could ask for better landlords to be living nextdoor).