We went apple picking.

My friend and I.

I used to take my little ones to the apple orchard in the Fall.

There are pictures in the boxes down in the archives of this house.  They show three little people wearing boots and eating apples that are big and shiny and we are close to a tree that is full of fruit.  Those times in the orchard made  memories.   For me and for them as well.

Sensational is what memories often are.  They encourage remembrances of tastes, smells, sight and even sound.  When I go to the orchard,

it is a different orchard  because That orchard is now full of houses, 

the smell makes me happy.  It isn’t just because of memories.   I love Fall.  Some people call it Autumn but I like Fall.

Not sure where this time of year got it’s name but maybe it’s because leaves and apples and other fruit and nuts fall off the trees.

Fall smells good.  We live in this place where green leaves turn to orange and red and it is beauty beyond words.  I sometimes walk and just look.

So on Saturday we picked Two, half bushel bags of Cortland apples.  They are my favorite for baking and stewing and even eating fresh.

Yes, a bushel IS a lot, for a city girl who is shy on time for “putting Up” this Fall.  I couldn’t resist them and it took 10 minutes to fill those two bags.

I drove home thinking about what I would do with that many apples.  Pie, crisp, sauce and I didn’t worry about the work.

I have a friend who once, years ago was telling a story about her son and how he wanted to be excused from work and get to playing.  I doubt I will ever forget the sound of her voice when she said, “I just looked at him and said, Nick, LIFE IS WORK.  PLAY is a BONUS.”  Well I sure laughed.  Hard.  I found it funny because it was  true and  direct and  No Nonsense.

I kind of live by those words too.  At our house, years ago,  when there was work to be done it got done.   That was the House Way.   I don’t worry too much about work although I am guilty at times of procrastinating.

 I like to get the work done so I can enjoy the fun without thinking about the work that needs to be done.  

My newish friend who is the future Mrs. Staley’s mother, sent me a text a few weeks ago.  She said she wanted to read something I had sent her but was saving it until her face was washed and her teeth brushed and she was tucked into bed.

Yep!   I understand!   Get the work, the mundane, out of the way, first!

Business before pleasure!

So, I have a bushel of apples in front of me and I made a list of jobs I need to take care of over the next two days.  Hopefully by the end of those two days these bags will be empty and in their place will be jars and pie plates and cake pans, full.

Saturday, I headed home from the orchard and stopped to pick up a few things for dinner.  This time I didn’t need to wander the meat department.  I went straight for what I wanted.  I knew what was on the menu and grabbed one of those cute compact carts.  I filled it with a bag of long grain brown rice.  A bunch of fresh carrots.  One garlic bulb.  A bag of cooking onions.  a carton of vegetable stock.  a package of 6 small V8 juice cans.  a bunch of celery AND a package containing two small beef tenderloins.    I hauled my supplies, including those bags of apples, to the kitchen and got to work.

It may sound rather prideful but that was the best beef stir fry I have ever made.  When it was gone we ate our Hot from the Oven, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.

It wasn’t  officially Fall yet, last Saturday, but you would not have known that, what with the picking of apples and then the smell of them baking.