The Red Delicious Empire

After football Saturday we once again traipsed through the apple orchards and trod the beaten paths of the great corn maze (Maize Maze?). We ate apples (they probably should have weighed us before and after) and drank cider and crammed donuts in our sticky faces. All in all, a great fall day. One bummer though: Jay hurt his back and had to go home. :( We'll try it again soon Jay!

Miss Ruth, Losing It

I pretended to be an adult yesterday and chaperoned a field trip Maddie's school took to an apple orchard. It was the usual crazy mix of ear-splitting noise and bewildering chaos that we all know and love. Her poor teacher, Miss Ruth. I saw the look of quiet desperation in her eyes at several points in the day, the look of fleeting sanity that usually precedes the onset of a debilitating panic attack. One of the boys took off and wandered through the orchards as Miss Ruth counted the children again and again, hoping to get the right number this time (26). She didn't seem to like my reminder that "25: close enough" was probably not acceptable for a count like this. The boy was eventually found wandering in the playground area a quarter of a mile away. Apparently he didn't realize he was lost, he though the rest of us were lost.

The other kids, oblivious to Miss Ruth's pain, had a blast.

Why Is This Man Smiling?

Apples & Penguins

In other news, we went with the Weiss' and Zach's mom Sheri to a huge apple orchard/cider mill on Sunday, along with at least 45% of the population of southeast Michigan.

Parking was about like playing musical chairs with three thousand people. When at last we found our little patch of grass and parked, we were ready for adventure!

After paying our dues waiting the appropriate number of hours in line, we got our apple bag and went into the corn maze (maize maze?) in search of hidden symbols. Eventually we found all six and received the prize of a coupon for a free donut and glass of cider each
Next we hitched a ride on a tractor trailer and were driven out into the orchard to pick apples. I tried my usual trick of eating more apples than I picked, and nearly accomplished it.


There is one "Empire" apple tree that is stripped of all life because of me. I had misjudged the time we had left and just before the last tractor came I noticed my bag was only half full. So I went into action like an apple picking machine and filled that thing up pronto. That tree is still wondering what hit it.

Incidentally, when they listed the apple varieties we would be picking, Empire, Mutsu, etc, I couldn't help but think they sounded like a list of Penguin species. But maybe that's just me.

After our migrant worker duties were complete, and when we had just about breathed our fill of diesel smoke, we returned to the barn to get our cider and donuts.

We all went home tired and sore, but it was really great to get outdoors.

So...anyone want any apples?