My upstairs neighbor

knocked on my door to drop off a plate of fruit. She is from Korea. She is very thoughtful. Give fruit and make a friend for life. If I were more talented, I'd make her a fruit pie to reciprocate the gesture.

Most loved ones know I love fruit more than chocolate and my biggest gripe with getting sick is you gotta limit the cold food. Pure torture. Nothing like a good summer harvest - berries, cherries, peaches and plums. Summers in Southern California, the family would drive to Cherry Valley for cherry picking - all you can eat ladders in the trees spitting out pits in the cherry orchard. We never spent any time picking apples, but spent many weekends in the apple orchards just beyond Yucaipa. Heaven was a caramel granny smith apple on a stick. And than I got fillings. Spiced cider was the best. When Kort and I went up to Oak Glen in December with my mom, I had forgotten the petting zoo and the bigfoot tracks leading thru the tourist attractions. There used to be 25 cent machines that would spill out a handful of corn kernels to feed the zoo's ducks. My brother and I could sneak under the turnstiles of the zoo's entrance b/c we were so little. There are many orchards in the Taipei area where fruit picking is allowed. I've been warned off the strawberries - they look delicious but are soaked in pesticides.