temperatures in the mid 20s. a hot and dreamy day.(the crickets are singing like august now as i'm writing) we drove along the lake to the orchard that tom remembers going as a child. there were orchards all along the road, with pickers in the trees. ladders against trees. hot sun with a breeze off the lake. all under the october blue sky and the october golden tilt of the sun. it was idyllic. we wandered along curving field roads. in among the orchards. we found a horse barn with the loveliest gentle faces, licking my hands even though i didn't offer them any apples. pushing their big, edgar-like heads into my hands. we found a little building where they were boiling cider doughnuts. sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. they gave us fresh ones, still steaming hot. and we bought a dozen when we chose our apples. our apples...we bought russet, northern spy and honey crisp. my favorites are the russet, little thick-skinned browny green rock like spheres, with crisp sweet white flesh. my father remembers them as a boy on prince edward island. they look like the apples a farm boy would pick. like they might not even be apples.we made it home with our bags of apples. my aunt and my mother sat in the sun peeling them, while i juiced limes and squished together butter and brown sugar and cinnamon. and we threw together 5 of the most delicious apple crisp. we ordered chinese for dinner and deserted on apple crisp, forgetting the birthday cake. so then we had to have some cake as well. and it was a most wonderful day.
the photos of the day are lovely and you can see my favorites here on foblographie.
Annette, sounds like a wonderful wonderful day : )
ReplyDeletei`ll pop in the other blog to take a look at the pictures
What a perfect birthday! I am so glad and I love that Tom still goes to his childhood orchard. I understand the pull. We built our house in mine. Now I think I have to make some apple crisp. Yum!! But fist I will stop by to look at your photos.
ReplyDeleteI'm walking with you, tasting apples and feeling grateful. What a day. What a menu... I've never had cider doughnuts. On the to-do-list for sure... Along with everything else you wrote! :-)
ReplyDeleteFrom John Keats' poem, To Autumn, 1820:
ReplyDeleteSeason of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Looks like you had a lovely day.
oh rosemary....what a perfect way to sum up this weekend. so beautiful. thank you for finding that and sharing it here.
ReplyDeletebpp....they are delicious. sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.
lisa....it was a perfect day and the apple crisp was amazing. lime juice and lime zest the secret weapon.
demie...the pictures only captured a fraction of it's loveliness.