Two Pairs of Pears

Although it wasn’t very sunny, we sat outside in Christine’s garden for our house group in the morning. Right next to me was a young pear tree, which only had one fruit on it last year but has managed to produce four this season. Did you know that pears should be picked before ripening? They ripen from the middle outwards, so if they are left on the tree too long the middle will turn coarse in texture, even becoming mushy or mealy. Pears picked under-ripe and chilled will ripen better than pears that are left to ripen on the tree. When checking stored pears, the neck (the end with the stalk) may be pressed lightly. If it yields to gentle pressure, the pear is ready to eat.

I started (re)reading my latest book club novel in the afternoon, ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ by Gail Honeyman. I’ve read it before quite a long while back with my Chesham book club and enjoyed it, so it’s nice to have a little revisit. It was a Costa Book Awards winner in 2017.