The smell of apples and cinnamon is still lingering in my house after a weekend of making applesauce and apple pie filling. We pick our own apples. They come from a tree Rick and I planted in our yard a few years ago. Actually we planted three trees that year. Due to various problems (mice, deer, flooding etc…) only one of the trees is still growing. The tree is a Granny Smith. I found out today that a healthy well tended apple tree can produce 100 lbs of apples per year. I don’t think Rick and I will re-plant any of those lost trees. We have plenty from the granny smith.
Picking apples is the doorway into autumn. Even though I look forward to summer every winter I think autumn is probably my favorite season. Autumn comes softly. The kids go back to school. The evenings are filled with homework, football games and waning evening sun. It becomes chilly outside but cozy inside. Hot dishes are prepared for evening meals, hot beverages warm you up and sometime there is a fire in the wood stove to aid in the warming. The family gathers together.
Outside the trees start to turn…quietly at first only a yellow or an orange flicker here and there but soon trees become a blaze of colors. There is the smell of smoke outside from burning leaves (and our wood stove). My neighbor sells big fat orange pumpkins, perfect for pies or jack-o-lanterns. We have walked down the street to his vegetable stand with our girls for quite a few years to pick the perfect one! Neighbors don’t seem as rushed in the autumn. Someone always takes the time to talk…they ask things like” how do the kids like being back in school?” or “How did your garden do this summer?” and the inevitable “How about those Packer’s?” There’s more time to talk and be neighborly.
I love autumn because of its beauty and it’s slower pace. I love autumnal gatherings of family and friends. I hope you take time to find your joy in this new season: Autumn.
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