Do you remember that classic scene in Forrest Gump, where his friend Bubba outlines all the ways shrimp can be cooked?  It cracks me up every time I see it, and it seemed a good way to start this post.  

 

But if shrimp is the fruit of the sea, then cherries are definitely the fruit of Door County.  There's cherry jam, cherry jelly, cherry pie, cherry tarts, cherry ice cream, cherry fudge, cherry soda, cherry wine.  There are dried cherries, cherry scones, cherry muffins, cherry cupcakes, cherry pancakes, cherry strudel, cherry kuchen, and cherry kringle.  And don't forget cherry juice!

We were in Door County at the height of the cherry harvest this year, and we drove past this beautiful orchard.   I just admired the view, but of course the next morning I was kicking myself for not having stopped for pictures, so my ever patient husband drove me back to the spot (some of the roads up there can be a little confusing!)  Thank you, sweetie!  So here you go...cherries, cherries, and more cherries!

Pictures just can't convey how beautiful the orchard was, filled with ripe red cherries and creamy white Queen Anne's Lace blanketing the ground. 

Happiness is sharing a bowl of cherries and a book of poetry with a shade tree. 

---Terri Guillemets

When I sound the fairy call,
Gather here in silent meeting,
Chin to knee on the orchard wall,
Cooled with dew and cherries eating.
Merry, merry, Take a cherry
Mine are sounder, Mine are rounder
Mine are sweeter, For the eater
When the dews fall. And you'll be fairies all.

                                      ---Robert Graves

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste. 

---van Goethe

  Don't give cherries to pigs or advice to fools. 

---Irish proverb

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.---Joseph Addison

And for an added bit of sweetness, here is the link to Julie Andrews singing this delightful English folk tune in the 1982 movie Victor/Victoria.  Click here to listen to Julie's marvelous voice, and have a 

"cherry-licious" day, my friends!

Cherry ripe, cherry ripe,
Ripe I cry,
Full and fair ones
Come and buy.
Cherry ripe, cherry ripe,
Ripe I cry,
Full and fair ones
Come and buy.