A Plenitude of Apples

A dear friend has a magnificent apple tree in his backyard. He has been bringing me the bounty of this tree in large bags for the last several weeks. I think I have received at least a peck of beautiful, wonderful and very yummy fruit. We think they are Gravensteins, a variety that has a short season and a short shelf life and may be particular to California. They are slightly tart.

Here is a picture of some in a bucket.



I also have two drawers full in the refrigerator, but wouldn't dare to take pictures! The state of my refrigerator is not publishable.

Sunday afternoon a friend made apple sauce and apple chunks that are frozen in my freezer, waiting for cooler weather and company to make a pie.

Last week, we had a truly killer heat wave for several days. I had forgotten how miserable I could be in my un-air-conditioned house! So I have not fulfilled my intentions for this blog, or for much of anything else. Hopefully, this week's heat wave will not be so bad and next week things will be better.

I am grateful for the apples, for the kindness of friends and for the respite that cooler weather brought.

Missing Days

The last three days have gone by so quickly that I have missed two posts and not even realized it.

The painting is nearly done. The last wall is primed ready for color tomorrow and M will finish it with time to spare before she leaves for college. We are both pretty excited, although tired of the smell of paint. I am so happy to have the new fresh look in my house.

Meanwhile, I have been decluttering and throwing things out. In the process I have rediscovered the novel that I started over a decade ago and that I should finish. It has good parts and not so great parts and since I am the editor as well as writer, I figure that no one really has to see the not so great parts!

My kitchen is full of apples given to me by my kind friend L, who is a member of the "greatest generation." He served in the Marines in World War II and reminds me a bit of my late father. The apples are from his tree, a Gravenstein, the best apples in the world, in my opinion.

Tomorrow we finish painting. I should make an apple pie, but will probably just enjoy the apples as is with yogurt cheese.

The days are getting shorter, the shadows lengthening and Fall will be in the air soon. Fall is my favorite time of the year because I was a student for such a long time. It is a time of new beginnings. It also means that the Holidays will be here soon.