Why do people in Eugene hate Columbus Day and heart Halloween?
I mean seriously, no one batted an eye at one of our few national holidays and today everyone, including professors, was dressed up.
It is crazy to live so far from the Atlantic.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Apples
Eugene is filled with changing trees, shortening days. Fall is definitely here. Fall is my favorite season. Maybe its because I grew up in Vermont and fall to many of its residents and most outsiders its most beautiful time of year. I think this is true although in recent years I have begun to find beauty even in mud season. (This is made much easier by the one good thing Bush did in the past eight years which was pushing back spring daylight savings.)
I love fall. I love the start of school. And all of the hope, new goals, new perspectives fall brings. Sort of buckling down in cold and commitments with a very fresh memory of all of the goodness of summer.
Today I went apple picking. (I've been urban apple picking a few times in the past six weeks. There is rotting fruit all over Eugene and sometimes on walks with Diesel I pick apples and make crisp or sauce or whatever. ) And it was beautiful. I went with a new friend from grad school and the yellow dog. All I could do was smile. I think apple picking might be a perfect activity for me. All things I love come together: manual labor (ok, fine, a stretch), being outside, changing leaves, crisp air, bright colors, buying local, planning for baking, kids, dogs, honesty, america.
Today I made plans for the future: everything from I am going to eat two apples a day this week to I am coming back next weekend to buy more apples to I am going to bring my kids to a place like this every year and take pictures. I also thought of my childhood: picking apples at Chapin Orchard, the honey sticks and apple press and the amazing scraps of smooshed apples, loving the idea of being allowed to eat as many apples as possible, seeing friends from school and knowing home I was so close.
Recently, my grandparents gave me some pictures of me as a kid. And there are a bunch from a day my family went apple picking. My grandparents, my parents, my brother, and I. I am maybe 2 in the pictures. I look like I just learned to walk and have blond hair just around my head, it hasn't grown out yet. I am wearing red, canvas mary janes, white stockings with the crotch at my knees, a corduroy dress and a little sea breeze cardigan. And I look so happy. And everyone else does too. And its 1983 and everyone is wearing the right costumes. I wonder if we all really were. I am sure that I was and pretty sure Michael was too. But the rest, I don't know. Maybe apple picking always has and always will bring joy. Maybe its something to remember when I am in a fight with a future husband, or a current mother, or a future child... I think I will.
Another thing we did when I was growing up (maybe age 7-12, I don't exactly remember) was have an apple crisp making competition. Erin vs Michael with Momo as the judge. Always fun, always epic, I don't ever remember really winning or losing. This was a good play on Momo's part or I always lost and have blocked it out. Tonight I am making apple crisp. It is in the oven. I have found the perfect recipe and it is killer. It is from The King Arthur Cookbook (like the flour.)
4 cups apples (peeled, sliced)
3/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup butter, softened
pre-heat oven: 375, cook for 35 to 40 minutes
and smoosh together with hands, this is key, and it will clump well, stirring does not work
Ok. Happy fall. Go pick apples. Make crisp. Be well.
I love fall. I love the start of school. And all of the hope, new goals, new perspectives fall brings. Sort of buckling down in cold and commitments with a very fresh memory of all of the goodness of summer.
Today I went apple picking. (I've been urban apple picking a few times in the past six weeks. There is rotting fruit all over Eugene and sometimes on walks with Diesel I pick apples and make crisp or sauce or whatever. ) And it was beautiful. I went with a new friend from grad school and the yellow dog. All I could do was smile. I think apple picking might be a perfect activity for me. All things I love come together: manual labor (ok, fine, a stretch), being outside, changing leaves, crisp air, bright colors, buying local, planning for baking, kids, dogs, honesty, america.
Today I made plans for the future: everything from I am going to eat two apples a day this week to I am coming back next weekend to buy more apples to I am going to bring my kids to a place like this every year and take pictures. I also thought of my childhood: picking apples at Chapin Orchard, the honey sticks and apple press and the amazing scraps of smooshed apples, loving the idea of being allowed to eat as many apples as possible, seeing friends from school and knowing home I was so close.
Recently, my grandparents gave me some pictures of me as a kid. And there are a bunch from a day my family went apple picking. My grandparents, my parents, my brother, and I. I am maybe 2 in the pictures. I look like I just learned to walk and have blond hair just around my head, it hasn't grown out yet. I am wearing red, canvas mary janes, white stockings with the crotch at my knees, a corduroy dress and a little sea breeze cardigan. And I look so happy. And everyone else does too. And its 1983 and everyone is wearing the right costumes. I wonder if we all really were. I am sure that I was and pretty sure Michael was too. But the rest, I don't know. Maybe apple picking always has and always will bring joy. Maybe its something to remember when I am in a fight with a future husband, or a current mother, or a future child... I think I will.
Another thing we did when I was growing up (maybe age 7-12, I don't exactly remember) was have an apple crisp making competition. Erin vs Michael with Momo as the judge. Always fun, always epic, I don't ever remember really winning or losing. This was a good play on Momo's part or I always lost and have blocked it out. Tonight I am making apple crisp. It is in the oven. I have found the perfect recipe and it is killer. It is from The King Arthur Cookbook (like the flour.)
4 cups apples (peeled, sliced)
3/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup butter, softened
pre-heat oven: 375, cook for 35 to 40 minutes
and smoosh together with hands, this is key, and it will clump well, stirring does not work
Ok. Happy fall. Go pick apples. Make crisp. Be well.
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