Recipe for fall, apparently: many soggy days, followed by cold gusty winds, sunny crispy days and crunchy frosty mornings, add in another soggy day for good measure, and presto -- fall perfected. The naysayers (Kirk included) describe the colors as muted and burnt. I say they are lovely.
The rain moved through Friday night and left us (and all the tourist leaf peepers in town) with an unexpected lovely Saturday. Morning soccer followed by the exploration of a local park and it's mountain bike play track and basketball evaluations and finally, off to Sky Top Orchards for apple and pumpkin picking.
The orchard is on the other side of Flat Rock, a postcard of a town in fine autumn glory right now. You climb up a hill, past a few trailers side by side with million+ mini estates, and roll up to this fantasy of an apple orchard spreading across the mountaintop. A little twinge in the back of your mind says enjoy this now - for soon it could be mowed over, paved and portioned out.
For now, it's lovely. We were a little late in the season, and the wind and rain from Friday night stripped the trees of all remaining apples. Undeterred, the kids collected about 20 pounds of perfect apples off the ground. Current favorites -- Arkansas Blacks, followed closely by the Mutsus and old favorite Fujis. Somehow, 30 minutes in line for the homemade apple cider donuts -- dropping one by one from the donut machine into the vat of oil below and taking a quick turn through the cinnamon sugar -- wasn't too long to wait.
Pumpkins? Oh yeah. Forgotten. Been there, done that. This year we're making applesauce. Who says you can't have an Apple-Jack (no'lantern...)?
No comments:
Post a Comment