Halcyon Days

We awakened to a 55 degree morning today; the sky is blue, the sun is shining and the air is cool. We're enjoying a typical October day on September 9. If all our days were this beautiful, everyone in the world would move here! As it is, half the world already has but that includes us so can't complain. In celebration of the cool weather break, the crock pot is simmering with pinto beans and ham, yum! I just might stir up some cornbread...

Our cup runneth over!

N.C. will be presenting us with a " bambina" in February. She is feeling a bit less queasy and ready to enjoy pregnancy. I had been thinking of" snails and puppy dog tails" but can readily entertain "sugar and spice".

Maria has passed the halfway point in Army basic training and after much stressing, has passed her marksmanship requirements. Keeping her head down during live fire exercises and the grenade throwing is yet to come. She is on schedule to graduate October 7.

Leslie, Mr. Blue Desert and Mr. Dooglesworth are basking on the beach with their toes in the Pacific.

At last report, our granddaughters are back in school and lovin' it. It's just reading, writing and mathematics with "no making nonsense" for these two.

The gala apples are yelling for attention. I peel apples as I watch old movies of evenings, cook them all night in a crock pot and can apple butter the following morning. We've given apples to neighbors, cooked apple crisp for a neighborhood cookout and frozen apples for future family get-togethers. Now, we must climb a ladder to reach the biggest and brightest and keep on peeling apples. The prickly pear fruit has a nice burgundy edge showing; another harvest is in sight. However, prickly pear is a great favorite of javalinas so can't count the proverbial chickens before they hatch just yet.

AAAH!

FROM THE KNOTHOLE: My, oh my. Is that ever a 50-cent word. Halcyon. I say, hmmmm. Yup, it's in the dictionary, so I guess we will have to go with it. It means a good day, or maybe, an especially good day. Like when all you want to do is have a picnic with your lover, or go sit on a cloud, or lie on a beach and watch the waves come and go, or just do nothing but day dream. Perhaps, as summer turns into autumn, that is what we are supposed to do: pause and contemplate how wonderful life really is.

a parting shot from bbman: in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth. first words in the bible, genesis 1:1

Apple Crisp in the Oven

When David and I were married, starving students in a university town, it was possible to throw our belongings into our red VW bug and move when a better opportunity arose. That happened twice before our first baby arrived and moving became ever so much more complicated. Thanks to the US Army, we studied the art of moving during the Viet Nam years when waiting for housing was standard operating procedure. We lived in temporary housing, apartments, and one trashy trailer as we made the mandatory waits. Just because David got a new assignment didn't mean one more move, it frequently meant two or three more moves. During those thirty plus moves, there was never an apple tree.

A few years ago, we determined that a Gala apple tree would adapt best to Yarnell's climate so we purchase a bare-roots, toothpick sized tree (we're not the last of the big spenders) and hoped that it would grow. We felt success two years ago when we shared twenty-four apples with the birds. One year ago we marvelled that apple tree branches were swaying outside our second floor window. Last winter we were blessed with twenty inches of rain; compare that to the average rainfall for Arizona at four inches annually and it's quick to see why I used the verb blessed. This year the Gala apple tree is weighted down with fruit. I know that we should have pinched off some tiny "applets" to produce larger apples but it just wasn't in my novice heart to do that. We have used no chemicals of any sort and so far have not experienced any pests.

Today I picked Gala apples from our own tree, peeled them while they radiated summer's warmth, and now await a cinnamony apple crisp.

Those Army days with the many moves afforded us traveling experiences, friends from all over America, opportunities to learn other cultures and languages, and a few apple crisp recipes.

Today's crisp has less brown sugar with agave nectar as a sweetener for both the apples and the topping. In a quest for healthier dessert, I now use soy flour, whole wheat and ground flax seeds to make the crumbly topping. Butter went by the wayside long ago and I find olive oil to be quite tasty.

Retirement's grand--I won't be planning any moves as I sit on our deck and enjoy the first apples of the season.

FROM THE KNOTHOLE: Okay, let's hear it for apple pie, motherhood, and old glory. Well, leave it to Badboulderlady. She sure slipped in a lot of nostalgia while telling you all about our Gala apple tree. But, let me tell you the real secret of our gorgeous Gala apple tree: gray water, from our kitchen sink. Living green here at Badboulder.

a parting shot from bbman: a man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.