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It’s apple season in Maine and though I don’t know how they managed with the terrible drought we’ve had this summer….
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Our two mature trees are loaded with fruit.
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Which means…
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It’s time to pick apples…
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And bake pie.
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🍎👍🍎
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Have you ever visited a military cemetery and wondered why there are coins on top of the headstones? I get asked this a lot and thought I’d share.
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I once saw a bratty little boy removing coins from graves in a veterans cemetery and while I don’t normally interfere with parents and their children…. you can bet I did that day.
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Judging from the ad photo, I’d say that one.
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I could do without a lot of things in this world, but never my books.
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This is one of our large backyard apple trees. It’s a Granny Smith and has provided us with 20 years of spectacular autumn pies. But last year a massive wind storm ravaged the right side of her and we had to have an arborist in to give her a massive prune. He assured us all would be well but the harvest will be nonexistent in 2022. Sadly there wasn’t a single solitary bloom this spring …. which means a lot less pie this fall.
😫
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The following are three things I can find absolutely no reason for being.
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Meat is not and can not be made from plants. You want a kale sandwich? Fine, but please identify it as such. Impossible is an apt name.
Here’s something that should be near and dear to my heart – a wine purse.
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So why in the name of Bacchus are they filling it Gatorade? Epic fail.
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I’m sorry, but you have to be a special kind of stupid person to pay $14.99 (plus shipping and handling) for a single apple. I don’t care how cute the box is.
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I often cruise the Facebook page of the wilderness rehab where we donated apples. They do wonderful work with wounded animals, and I like to check on the progress of the little guys we saw on our visit. This time I stumbled across a photo of ‘Pinky’ enjoying the fruit from our trees.
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Now that makes my heart swell.
And speaking of swelling…
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Today’s acupuncture treatment found 19 pins in my injured knee… and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say my pain has decreased by a good 30% since starting this prickly journey.
Looking like a porcupine twice a week?
That’s just an added bonus.
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Remember when I asked if anyone in our town wanted some apples on Facebook a while back?
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And a nice woman with two children came over to harvest some of the bonanza?
Well, she left me a nice surprise in the mailbox the other day.
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A jar of homemade applesauce. And while that was thoughtful enough? The best part was this…
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Proof of awesomeness to show my husband. … because for some reason he never believes me when I tell him.
🤣
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I’ve eaten apples.
I’ve baked with apples.
I’ve given apples to friends, to neighbors, to a pig, to workers and to strangers.
The deer have eaten apples. The raccoons have eaten apples. Even the fox have eaten apples.
And yet…
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We’re still loaded with fruit. There was only one thing left to do.
Gather up enough to fill the trunk of our car and take them to a wildlife rehabilitation shelter in the neighboring town.
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Oh. My. God.
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I fell in love a dozen times over.
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And my heart broke a dozen times as well.
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Abused animals. Sick animals. Animals that had been hit with a car on purpose.
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How can people be so cruel.
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If you’ve ever looked into a porcupine’s eyes and heard his little squee ( it sounds just like a baby)…. you know what I’m talking about.
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More marshmallow please.
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Seeing these little guys chow down on our apples?
Almost brought me to tears.
❤️
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Ours trees are bursting with apples….
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So what better thing to do on a perfect fall day than bake?
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Deep dish apple pie for dessert. And while I was at it?
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Deep dish chicken pot pie for dinner.
You can’t go wrong with pie.
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We haven’t seen a woodchuck for weeks now.
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And while my flower gardens are sighing in relief…
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I have to admit I miss the fat little buggers.
( note – spellcheck always changes buggers to nuggets… and is that really better? )
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It’s ironic that now the ground is littered with apples from our trees, the apple munchers have left the building.
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This is the fourth year in a row we’ve had a woodchuck family move in.
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So I guess we’ll say so long chuckers.
( which spellcheck changes to chiclets every damn time )
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See you next year.
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Fall.
Autumn in New England.
Cooler temps, brightly colored leaves, pumpkins and yes…
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An abundance of apples from our trees which means….
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It’s time to bake.
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Apple fritter bread.
So damned good.
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I’m going to bore you with more autumn photos.
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Because even walking around the backyard is lovely during this season.
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Blueberry bushes aren’t very attractive most of the year, but the red is pretty striking now.
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And you’ll be happy to know the un-manning of the man cave porch continues… with 5 chrysanthemums and two pumpkins complementing the wreath.
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Apples?
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Our trees are bursting with more than we can use. But why are the best ones always so damned high up?
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