Something happened today that turned me into someone completely irrational. (My husband will argue that this is no different than normal, and he’s probably right, but today was over the top.) You see, I woke up and it was blustery and downright chilly. And here’s where something started to crack in me. You can’t mean, it isn’t possible – is summer gone? Yesterday it was 100 degrees! Today it’s 65 and windy? NOOOOO!

The end of summer to me is defined by two things: the end of my summer garden, which has brought me countless joy for the past 3 months, and the end of my favorite summer fruits and veggies. So, you can imagine my horror when it tried to sneak away without even giving me a proper goodbye.

This could not be. There were things I had not eaten, or things that I had eaten, but not nearly enough of. So, I drove to the produce market instead of doing all the other chores I had planned for the day. And I drove, instead of biking, because one could not be sure what I might find there. And if there were peaches, and if they were a good deal, one could not be sure if I could stop myself from buying them by the bushel. And they were a good deal. And they were huge and yellow and I swear they audibly called my name. I had to do something about this.

So I bought 20 pounds.

This is only the beginning of my irrational journey, though! Because then I had to come home and figure out what to do with all these delicious golden globes. This is the end of the season. These had to be put to use in something wonderful, something delightful, something new and exotic – something from my newest library book called Pie.

Pie is thicker than most Bibles. We’re not messing around, folks. Name a pie and it’s in this book. My search on “peaches” yielded about 20 options. I ate a bowl of ice cream as I went through them, as a kind of mental dessert preparation. And then I found it – tomorrow night’s dessert there in black and white. Using a maximum amount of peaches for one pie, it’s called a Peachy Peach Butter Pie with Sour Cream Topping. Perfect. Heavenly. Wonderfully peachy. Only, there was one problem. What the heck is peach butter?

My google search took me to www.pickyourown.org. And I wasn’t disappointed. This website offers step by step instructions to making my own delicious peach butter. At least, I assume it’s delicious. I have never even heard of peach butter, but how could one go wrong with this? Peaches plus my favorite spices cooked for 6-12 hours in a crockpot? Sounds delicious to me!

But wait. It’s already 11 at night by this time, and this peach pie has to be tomorrow’s dinner dessert. And I need 12 hours to make peach butter. It doesn’t take long to do the math. If I’m to have Peachy Peach Butter Pie, and I AM going to have Peachy Peach Butter Pie, I am going to have to make the peach butter tonight.

It’s 11:30 by the time I really decide I’m going to do this. No big deal, right? I mean, you dip the peaches in some boiling water, peel off their skins, remove the pits, toss the peaches into a crockpot, add some spices, and voila. Done, right?

Right.

Except that my peaches are of some kind of insane variety that does not peel when placed in boiling water. So I have to peel them by hand. And they aren’t free stone either, meaning I cut around the pit. And they are not really ripe yet, so I get to process them a bit in my food processor to make them cook a bit faster in the crock pot. At this point, this is insane. I’m tired, my back hurts, I’ve done two other canning projects today, and I am staring at a bag of peaches that stares back at me audibly laughs.

I’m doomed. I have to make this pie. Don’t you see? It’s Peachy Peach Butter Pie. It’s gotta be amazing. And I have to have peach butter. Homemade peach butter – not just something you buy off the shelf. And, no, I won’t make it on the stove even though it would only take a half hour and I could wait until tomorrow to start such an insane project. Instead, I will do it TONIGHT darn it, even if I’m already well into tomorrow by the time I finish.

And so, now it’s done. Well, not really done, but simmering. And I’m not even going to include photos or a recipe until I taste this thing. But I thought you might appreciate knowing that if you’re occassionaly a bit irrational, you’re not alone.

Oh, and summer, I have a few words for you. Next time you leave, give me some warning, okay? I’d like to say a proper goodbye to tide us over until we meet again.

<<<<UPDATE: Peach butter makes a LOT of peach butter. I canned the rest and will use it in future pies. >>>>