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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Thinking of Apples


I'm never far from nostalgia I suppose. And a change in season always brings it on.




It's been a rough year for many. And one who lost a home and most of their business in a wildfire was our region's most famous and beloved Dixon's Apple Farm.




There won't be loads of their wondrous and sweet champagne apples to haul home this fall, or to ship to loved ones far away. The apple wood bundles we used to gather for our first hearth fires have already been consumed.




For a lot of folks it's an enforced season of an unsettled rest, and then a new beginning. And our own hearts journey with them.
 



It's also nature's time of turning inward, and I'm going with the flow. Picking the last of my own small harvest. Gathering seeds for a new season. Taking joy in the coming of autumn pleasures and its bounty.




Gathering up memories, instead of apple wood, to cheer me by the fire.










After Apple-Picking
by Robert frost 

MY long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.       
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass       
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,       
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.       
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound       
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,       
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap       
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it’s like his       
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.




Ciao! for now!
Jacqueline


Join me at


French Country Cottage 





20 comments:

  1. apple cider, apple pies, fried apple pies, caramel and apples...apple chips....we enjoy apples too...but today it's stew and cornbread...sweet corn bread...check out the recipe at Mel's Designs from the Cabin...Mel

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  2. Beautiful pictures. The apples remind us that's autumn a time for remembers and dark evenings.

    A big hug from Sweden

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  3. Your beautiful photos do a wonderful job of inspiring me. Sometimes I forget about my lonely apple tree that produces apples that
    only my mother-in-law likes. They are very sour.

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  4. Hi Jacqueline,
    I love this time of year. We took my littlest to an orchard two years ago. I have been wanting to go back. Love your vignettes with the apples. Wonderful! Thanks for joining me at Home Sweet Home!
    Sherry

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  5. So so sorry to hear about the loss of your apple orchard owner's great losses. Like you, I love this time of year with a nip in the air, visiting the orchards for apples, and fall decor. Yours is lovely.

    Mary @ Redo 101

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  6. Your post and your word are so beautiful and comforting, a reminder of newness, eventhough there is sadness in what is lost. So sorry for the loss of the apple orchard. It's been a difficult season for so many.

    Thank you for linking to Potpourri Friday. Your participation made for a more successful party. I appreciate you!

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  7. Apples are such a big part of fall. My apples are falling off the tree right now.... can't eat them, they are crab apples. yuck! But the deer love them .
    Blessings~

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  8. Lovely post. So sad that orchard was lost. We had a wealth of apples on our trees this year. I love the little dish with the ducks. Dianne

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  9. So sorry to hear about the lost of the apple orchard in your area. Here in Michigan we are a huge apple growing state so I can imagine how hard that loss must be. Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing, Laura Cottage and Broome

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  10. Hi Jacqueline,
    Such a pretty post and there I see the little cow topped brown transferware piece I love so much!

    Sorry about your orchard. I have fond memories of climbing the trees in my grandfather's apple orchard when I was little. One more of my find fall memories.
    :)
    xx
    A

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  11. I enjoyed this beautiful post so much. I can't wait to have some mountain apples. So sorry to hear about the loss of your apple orchard.

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  12. I Love the pop of green on the brown transferware. Classic Fall! :)

    I'm having a little giveaway...come by and say Hi!
    ~Liz

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  13. So sad about the apple farm! I live fairly close to one and love to visit each year and pick fresh apples! Beautiful poem by Frost...so appropriate.

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  14. Sad news about the apple farm....we visit apple farms every Sept in our area. Nice poetry!

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  15. Such a lovely post, apples do the same thing to me.. you can smell Autumn in the air here x

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  16. Such a beautiful and inspiring post. Autumn is my favorite time of year and your photos and words definitely get me ready for it all. We built our home in a vintage orchard that I used to pick apples in as a child. I love being surrounded by all the old trees. My heart goes out to those who lost so much in the fire.

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  17. Jacqueline, so sorry about all the sadness...always sending prayers.

    The apples are wonderful. One of my favorite things in the world. Great pictures!

    Barb

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  18. Oh how sad, I am so very sorry. This year has been tough everywhere. I hope mother nature calms down.I just love going to our local orchards to pick apples and enjoy the harvest festivals. I just adore that duck dish, reminds me of my brother. Also thank you for taking the time to print that poem out, it was a great read.
    Hugs,
    Ellen

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  19. Calling by to visit your blog for the first time as I am also a participant in 2805 Potpourri Friday. I have enjoyed your post today,so sad about the apple farm.

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  20. I loved the poem. I'm sorry about the orchard. I absolutely love the fragrance of burning apple wood also. It reminds me of my childhood. We used to heat our upstate NY home with firewood. We would work all summer to get the wood. It would take years to get it nice and dry so you always had to work ahead. I still love the scent of freshly cut wood! Hope you find another orchard to enjoy.

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