August 3, 2009 ~ Peaches? What Peaches?? (Updated)

Seems like everybody around here is talking about peaches.  We’ve heard from so many family and friends that the peaches offered for sale now are ripe and delicious.  We’ve heard the ones at H.E.B. are great, the ones at Kroger are fantastic, and the Texas peaches at the roadside stands in Conroe are even better than the ones filling the produce bins at the supermarkets.  John and I were practically drooling for those luscious beauties when, Friday night, he asked me if I wanted to make the trek all the way up to Conroe to seek out those perfect juicy Texas peaches.  We decided that, if I felt up to it, we’d take the little road trip to bring home the season’s bounty.

Saturday morning came and our eldest son asked us if we could go out for breakfast together.  What a treat!  We met at a local cafe and had great food together along with a giant helping of what most families have around the breakfast table:  stories and laughter.  It was pure heaven for me to have such an outting after being cooped up in the hospital and then at home for almost an entire month.  After breakfast, John and I left for our rendevous with Texas peaches.    

We drove to Conroe uneventfully, and while I realize that I was mostly just sitting in a new place (the car,) it felt as though I was making progress back to a more active life.  And I suppose I am, but it just felt so good to be out-and-about even if it was just mostly sitting in a new place seeing new scenery.  We drove around Conroe all afternoon looking for those darn roadside produce stands that had been described.  In all our driving, we only saw one, which we passed at first because we were convinced there would be others farther into the country that might look more promising.  Even so, that one produce stand had a big, handpainted sign that read “TEXAS PEACHES.”  Well, we drove to the countryside.  A lovely drive it was, too.  We had lunch at a Subway sandwich shop right on Lake Conroe and stayed a long while watching the water and the beautiful boats passing by.  I’ve never seen such a nice Subway with boaters stopping to get their own sandwiches to eat, picnic-style, on the water. 

After lunch we drove a bit more, stopped for an wild cherry ICEE, and decided eventually that the one roadside produce stand that advertised “TEXAS PEACHES” was the only one we were going to find.  Feeling eager to finally get ahold of those deliscious peaches that everyone is talking about, we drove back to the little ragtag stand.  I was too tired to leave the car, but gave John instructions on how to find the best peaches among the lot, and he went to retrieve our fuzzy ripe fruit.  Before I could finish listening to CCR’s ”Born on The Bayou” on the radio, John was back in the car – no bag, no bushel, no peaches.  Disappointedly he told me that, even though they are advertising “TEXAS PEACHES,” they only have California peaches, and California peaches we could get anywhere.  Sadly, there were no Texas peaches to be found.  So, knowing that I needed another dose of meds at 6pm, and it was already 4:30, we headed home.  Sans peaches.

We told each other that we’d stop at H.E.B. and get some peaches on the way home.  But we didn’t.  We just went home.  It’s two days later, and we still have no peaches.  I really kind of think the whole point of our little roadtrip didn’t have much to do with the peaches after all.  All in all, I think the trip was a huge success!

UPDATE:  John arrived home from work tonight with a big bag of peaches from the supermarket!  Can’t wait to have one!