Sometimes you don’t even need to go to market to find the fresh stuff. These sour cherries appeared a few weeks ago outside Piroska néni’s house. There are hundreds of cherry trees in our neighborhood. Some sour (perfect for sour cherry soup). And some sweet.

Most of the sweet have been picked clean. People just get out their ladders, baskets and shears and go to town. On our street alone not even one sweet cherry is left except for the few that dropped early and now rot in a dark purple stain on the sidewalk. I won’t put all of the harvest hoarding blame on Gyorgyi and Barnabas, but I imagine they deserve a good 80% of it. And that’s pretty restrained. After all–peach and nectarine season are on the horizon and the golden and ruby orbs are currently fattening on the branches. Everyone is sweet with anticipation.