Apple-tastic

A few weeks ago Jacqui and I went apple picking. It was a surprise in honor of her 23rd birthday. Surprises like that can be interesting in part because I wasn't super confident on the location of the orchard. It somehow lessens the dramatic surprise tension after you get lost once or twice and are continually cursing your mapquest directions.

However in the end we safely made our way to Lynd fruit farm located in picturesque Palataska, OH. It was truly beautiful. The day was crisp, clear and gorgeous. I'm sure you've noticed but I feel like there's just this thing about fall that makes every color, every leaf, every patch of sunlight just a little more real, a little more in focus. Do you ever have that? I know that for Jacqui and I spending last fall in Vancouver the City of Brotherly Rain was definitely a different than the saturated autumn glory of the Midwest.

The u-pick schedule for the day featured the dainty and delectable Jonathan's and the behemoth and bland Yellow Delicious. I'll let you guess which ones we chose to fill our 7 lb bag with...

The trees were full, the sun was out and we were ready to pick. We were only getting a smallish sized bag so each apple was important. We moved from tree to tree like highly trained apple connoisseurs.

"That one's perfect!"

"Hmm maybe not, that one's got a tiny spot."

"I don't know...Do you see the way that one is sort of crowding the other apples? The last thing we want is bossy fruit."


And other things dramatized apple connoisseurs may or may not say.

After the picking we went to the little concessions stand they had. I had a brat, Jacqui a hamburger and we both had as much fresh cider as we could hold. It was delicious.

Later that night we made a pie with our hard won produce and watched King Kong on DVD. Just like mom used to do. The pie, the apples and the Kong were all great but even better was the whole experience. There's just something that felt right about apple picking in the fall. I think somehow it made me feel like a kid again to get so excited and to enjoy so fully something so simple. I think that part of me really longs for real experiences like that. Sometimes I get too caught up in being passive entertained. TV, movies, even reading can fall into this category. It was just nice to be able to engage in something in a way that felt real; in a way that was physical, emotional and so sensory all at the same time.