Long Over-due Update

Gentle Reader,
Hello, it's been awhile. Life has been on fast forward here and the blog has been at the bottom of the "To Do" list. But things have settled for the moment so let me catch up a bit.

First, my camera went on a mission. Shayla has always liked my camera--mostly because it's red and we both love things that come in red. (I just realized that I regularly dressed her in red when she was a little girl--perhaps my color preference spilled over to her through her wardrobe. Hmmmm)

Case in point....

Anyway--she also likes its many features which are sorely underutilized by her mom.  So, I sent it with her to record her adventures on the mission. I haven't replaced it yet and in the meantime I have been using my phone to record the daily Gale Adventures. But, being technically challenged as I am, I haven't transferred the pictures from phone to laptop yet. So, reason number one for the lapse. 

Here are some pictures taken with that pretty red camera before it went off on a mission--

so I can do some catching up with those for now...

We said good-bye to Sam and sent him off to college.

(That event will get its own post--it's one of those half-finished ones hanging out in my archives) 

Mason!

Shanna came to visit and we went apple picking.

Mason was a dedicated apple picker

He worked hard to fill that bag

Sweet Miriam was her usual adorable self--she gets that from her Mama.

It was fun to hang out with Shayla before she left 

So there's a partial catch-up--

to be continued...

A Short Sabbatical

We are heading back to our little cabin in the woods tomorrow for a family vacation--with what is left of our family. With only 3 kids in the car, you would think it would be a very peaceful, quiet drive. We'll see. I think the youngsters are worried that I miss all the crazy hubbub that goes along with a big family so they do their best to keep the noise and chaos level high. They are so thoughtful.

I'm looking forward to spending some time in the green, green greeness that is Washington. Hoping for a little rain even, just for old time's sake. Looking forward to some Burgerville --we won't get into any In'N'Out comparisons--it's all good. I'll pack up an extra suitcase of sunshine to share up there...maybe I can bring back a few clouds. I would bring back some apples but you know how California is about  fruits and nuts crossing  their sacred border...though they keep letting us back in.

PS The cabin is 'off the grid' so it may be awhile before we get back to civilization...don't worry I'll be back with an update on my garden before you know it!

An Ode to Apples and a Restrained Shout-out to the Old Home State

Autumn in California may not be the cool, crisp, rainy Fall I had grown

accustomed to in the Northwest,

But Washington was good enough to export their delightful apples

to share one of the great pleasures of the season.

So I stood in my kitchen in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops,

the sun blazing in the excruciatingly blue sky right outside

my windows.

And I bit into a Honey Crisp apple.

Autumn comes at last to the Golden State.

Note that these apples EXCEED US EXTRA FANCY...

Just plain old FANCY is not good enough for them.

Oh, and I've said it before:

They are better than candy.

Trust me.

The Apple of My Eye

Fall in the Northwest means a fresh crop of apples. After suffering through the final month of summer with a pitiful offering of the 'bottom of the barrel' scrapings from last season's apples, I get giddy with excitement. I check the store each day--turning the corner into the produce section holding my breath in anticipation. A week ago, I was fooled by a nice display and a fancy sign: Fresh Apples. I took them at their word and brought home a bag of apples only to find that I had been duped into helping them get rid of the old inventory. They were mealy and mushy. FRESH WHAT!

But today was the day! Shayla got her braces off (she can't stop running her tongue over her teeth!) and she wanted an apple to celebrate. We turned the corner into the produce section and I could have cried. Mounds of beautiful, fresh-off-the-tree apples! Our favorite: HONEY CRISP. Better than candy, I promise.