the metafictional blues

It’s that time again already … on Saturday we made our yearly trek out to Stribling Orchard. Even though we set out later than we did last year, the leaves have barely started to change here and the weather is still trying to decide if it’s late summer or post-Thanksgiving. Driving out to the edge of Shenandoah is an easy trip, and the contrast from start to end is striking — both from point a to point b and in the change in attitude even after you’ve returned. It’s like a peeling away of every overcrowded thought with each mile further out you go. When we finally got out to the orchard, the apples were fairly picked over, since it is the middle of October already, but there were some really nice Rome, Red Delicious and Stayman apples to be had … and really, you can’t have too many apples since you need at least one a day. So somehow we ended up picking 13 pounds of apples. I guess I need to start making some pies soon. Of course while we were there we had to pick up some cider, jams and other things … and then got a nice lunch at the food shack. (Yes, shack.) Oh sure, I probably brought home too many apples, but really, what better way to spend a fall afternoon than walking through an orchard with a cute 9-year-old plucking apples from the trees?

With all this talk about apples, I should also mention that we did pick out a pumpkin, so I think that means we’re totally set for autumn.

And speaking of orchards, I wanted to take this opportunity to mention another orchard. The Cherry Orchard is a relatively new blog penned by none other than my boyfriend. At first glance, you may think to yourself “oh not another political blog”, but the guy is pretty smart (I mean, he is with me after all) and has a unique, considered approach that deftly combines history, religion, philosophy and human emotion to attempt to define and understand the somewhat overwhelming state of the world today. So you know, if you’re into that sort of thing, stop on by and solve a world problem or two.