Sunday, October 21, 2007

Apple-ocalypse

As I was making my way home from my weekly tussle with the carts and other shoppers at the grocery store this morning, I was rather taken by the sight of four little girls. They were enjoying the morning sunshine, jumping on a trampoline in their backyard and were nothing short of a vision in their bright shorts and t-shirts. It was like something out of a story book or a really good insurance commercial. I half-expected the whole scene to go into slow motion and be accompanied by the lyric strains of a single violin.

Springtime in Maine...'tis truly a lovely thing.

Except it is not Spring. It is Fall. Late October, to be specific. And temperatures in the 70's for extended periods are not the norm. In fact, it is downright strange and smacks of that apocalypse I keep mentioning.

We are reaching the point where I am periodically gathering small groups of young whippersnappers around me, taking up The Talking Stick and telling of The Before Time when there were distinct and easily identified seasons. I tell of things like mittens and warm woolly socks. Their little whippersnapper eyes go wide when I speak of how, as a child, I used to walk to school uphill, (both ways) in the snow, year-round with nothing but the soup in my Bobby Sherman, glass insulated thermos between me and a frozen grave.

Note: The aforementioned Talking Stick is a Brittany, size 17 straight needle as I can't seem to find the other one and it seems a waste to not find a use for a Brittany size 17 straight needle. Those of us from The Before Time were forced to use all parts of the animal and were frugal in all things.

In an effort to remind myself of the season so that, when Fall returns for real, I won't be thrown into a shock so deep that there will be no recovering, I decided that I should do something Apple-Related. That is not only seasonal, but will help me in coping with my Apple Amnesia. This affliction is little known, barely researched and one for which there will be no telethons. The symptoms involve purchasing apples even though you already have apples. Then buying more apples. Soon, you have many, many apples. You think you will eat them. But they are apples. They are not cookies. I can eat more cookies than I can apples.

I have a lot of apples.

I broke out my new and very fun apple peeler/corer/slicer thingie and proceeded to empty out the produce drawer in the fridge. In short order, I had a whole bunch of the little buggers all ready for dehydrating. In not so short order, (dehydrating takes a while) I had this:




The fruits of my labors! (hee-hee!!)
I probably should have taken a picture before the now leathery fruits were subjected to further torment in the Food Sucker (aka The Vacuum Sealer Thingie). But, you get the idea. These will keep well in the dark cupboards and I have now bought myself a little time to decided what the heck I am going to do with them. Dried fresh apples are actually rather yummy so I suspect there will be a few smuggled out of the bag before too much longer, though. I may try to do a few more to make trail mixes as holiday gifts...we'll see.
Lest you think that it has been all apple-drying and force feeding groups of children stories about my long ago childhood days, I will tell you that there has been some knitting here. Like I said, the dehydrator takes a long time and it's not like I was going to just sit there and watch the apples age before my very eyes. The Invisibility Shawl is behaving beautifully now that I have come up with a better system for checking my work on previous rows. And the spinning wheel even came out of the corner to creak its way through some whirling of the wool. It was a big day here at the farm! (if you expand your definition of "farm" to include a small, second floor condo, grocery store apples and superwash wool roving, that is.) I'm feeling that rather smug sense that comes from preparing for the dark days of winter while the sun still shines.
And by "dark days of winter" I mean "that season that used to come after Autumn back before the apocalypse forced us all outside to our trampolines in shorts."
SA

12 comments:

sheep#100 said...

I remember those days.
And I ate an apple today.
Do I win anything?

Kate said...

Sheepie I'm telling you! Slather some-o-that chocolate and get a bit of caramel for your plethora of apples! You won't be sorry! ;)

Anonymous said...

Mmmm, apples. They will never replace cookies but they are yummy. Not as yummy as cookies, though. Why doesn't someone invent a chocolate chip apple?

Donna Lee said...

We are having a bulb crisis here in NJ, a further sign of the coming apocalypse. The crocuses ("yes children, these flowers are a sign of SPRING"), are coming up and getting ready to bloom. They are so confused. And how will I know when it is spring without my crocuses (croci?) blooming? Does this mean there will be no winter? I haven't even gotten the warm clothes out yet.

Alwen said...

It was 78 degrees here today! This is crazy stuff. The sun is all low in the sky, like almost-November, and the temperature is more like almost-July.

I cannot knit mittens in 78 degree weather.

Anonymous said...

I went to the beach today (in Maine!) and there were people there in bathing suits sunning themselves. We should be lighting fires in our fireplaces by now...

Ronni said...

Hee hee hee. I have apple amnesia too. I'm finally learning to not buy fruit if I can't remember eating any in the last week. That will eventually fail me when I run out of apples but I figure I have at least two more weeks before that could possibly happen.

Jeanne said...

Ooooh I love apples. I have a great recipe for apple-egg curry—yes, sounds gross, but the flavors mingle enticingly. The warm weather doesn't bother me so much because I can get stuff done outside. But crocuses? Hmm. Though I really wouldn't mind skipping winter this year.

Anonymous said...

The leaves are falling and I have the urge to knit a sweater but no need for one so I shall wait. It's just too warm. Do you think we'll still be saying "it's too warm" in January??
Karen
http://nothingbutknit.blog-city.com/

Anne P said...

I covet your apples. You know, I should probably be asking you - who seem to have similar food/eating habits - about good suggestions for taking on a camp-out. I am the world's worst eater. Give me a good idea of something yummy to take.

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

I made apple crisp with all my apples. Apples, oatmeal, brown sugar and butter. yum!

hey! I remember the Before Days too! We're getting cheated out of our Fall here in the Midwest too, it was 85 yesterday!

Knitting Linguist said...

The apocalypse is most definitely here. It's going to be 93 degrees tomorrow, and the whole county is burning down. This is not fall, it's Hell. I want fog, and warm sweaters (when will I wear Kauni, assuming I finish it?), and apple pies that don't make my kitchen so hot during the baking that I have to open all the doors and windows. The Before Time was better (must find my own talking stick, apparently). :)