Picture a Day - Day 275

Spending the last 8 years or so flitting from dorms to apartments I never really felt a great pull to get to know my neighbors as there was a good chance in a year either I or they would be moving on to bigger and hopefully quieter things.

Tack on the whole introverted slight persecution complex of no one would ever want to be my friend (it's amazing just how much grade school can really mess someone up) and I really have no idea how one goes about introducing oneself to the neighbors.

Do you show up with a bag of sugar so you can then ask to borrow a cup later? Maybe fake a trip in their driveway and playfully threaten to sue?

Every time someone visits our place for the first time and takes a trip to the backyard they inevitably spot the large pear tree in the neighbors yard just about but not quite inching it's way over our fence and the questions begin.

Do any pears ever fall in? No, at least I hope not or we'll have one very sick puppy.

Are your neighbors in a very sharing mood? No idea, we never see them.

So, any chance you're gonna get any pears?

Finally I am happy to say that yes, we got two entire bags full of tree ripened pears:We traded our horde of cherry tomatoes for a few bags of pears (we actually had a ton more but I gave a lot up to my friends at the Puppy Shower because I'm just nice like that. He he he).

But herein lies the problem, we have a bag of pears that I have no idea what to do with. I like pears okay, but I was never OHMYGOD I MUST HAVE PEARS NOW kind of person!

They were always a sometime fruit to be enjoyed when the moment struck, like watermelon, pomegranates or scurvy. (I would however gladly sell a few sets of false teeth in exchange for an apple tree though -- well I got to keep mine to be able to eat the apples, right?)

So I come on bended knee to beg for a little help. It's cooled down a lot and with the big weekend coming up (Happy Labor Day everyone, don't forget to pose randomly throughout the street with your hammer and sickle) I really want to get into a baking mood.

What are some of your favorite pear baked goods? What other fruits would you combine pears with for that extra fruity flavor?

What do you do when you wind up with a few extra bags of produce you never saw coming?

Seriously though, I can get you a really nice deal on a set of dentures if you can hook me up with an apple tree. I don't even care if it fell off the back of an Earl May truck.

Happy Labor Day everyone! I won't be going anywhere but you don't have to talk to me anymore. Hurray, commenting free day!