August 6 - August 10 Nectarines

2010-
Shivering poplar,
And the ash keys soft clicking
Give the wind its voice.

Of the dozens of nectarines that formed on the tree, I have tasted not a single one. Most of them fell prey to a mold when they were little more than a pit with a skin.  The tree is abnormally dense, almost genetically mutated in appearance, and I’m thinking I should, in future, prune it back to open it up.  The few fruits that escaped the mold grew to ping pong ball size and fell victim to the resident chipmunk before they were even ripe.  He liked to bite into them and test for ripeness and then leave the ruined fruit lying on the deck. I finally picked the last four and brought them into the house to ripen but they seem to be just shriveling up. I bought the tree for its flowers and told myself that the fruit was just an unnecessary bonus, but to have seen so many form and to have lost every one is definitely frustrating.
The hummingbirds are in full force and charging at the feeder all day long.  It is too early for stoking up to migrate, it must be that the heat makes them extra thirsty.  With their constant buzzing, dive-bombing and u-shaped shrieking commotion, they seem the very essence of pure life force highly concentrated in that tiny feathered form.  Then every so often when one sits quietly on a branch tip, it seems unbelievable; and the stillness doesn’t last long.
Last night I saw two monarch butterflies mating in the grass. After several minutes, they clumsily flew up into the ash tree, still joined.  I hope it is a sign that their numbers will increase and that the warnings about their sudden population drop was just a misunderstanding of some natural cycle.  Though can anything now be said to be natural (if what I mean by that is ‘untouched by man‘)?
2011- I’ve since learned that the fruit needs to be thinned out on nectarines though this year none formed at all.  The monarchs do seem to be slowly building their numbers though I haven’t seen one bat. Can they disappear without the whole circus collapsing?
2012-No nectarines this year either though I blame it on the early frost just after they had flowered. I have had an insight into what an affirmation feels like when you take it inside and are not merely mouthing it. Very tentative though and it feels like I might lose it. An explosion of hummingbirds this year too-perhaps the babies.
2013- More nectarines than ever before this year, even after thinning them out. Waiting for them to ripen, I watch one after another fall prey to shriveling, rotting, molding or cracking. Will any survive to harvest?